Resident Evil 2 (2019) (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 2 (2019).

Shortly after the release of the original Resident Evil, development went underway on a sequel, Resident Evil 2. Thanks to a rough development period, however, the game wouldn’t release until 1998 and did so to critical acclaim. Following the 2002 GameCube remake of the original game, Capcom considered a similar treatment for this one, but Shinji Mikami didn’t want to take too much attention away from Resident Evil 4. Fast forward to 2015, where a full remake of Resident Evil 2 was formally announced. This project would finally see the light of day in 2019, when the remake would gain critical acclaim like its 1998 counterpart.

As part of my goal of properly exploring the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil 2 was naturally my next stop. Instead of the original PS1 release, however, I went for the 2019 remake, as it was cheaper and more easily accessible. That means that I have no idea what the original game is like, but I can say that I pretty thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the remake regardless.

Two months after the events of Resident Evil, Leon S. Kennedy is on his way to Raccoon City to start his first day at the RPD station. He stops at a gas station, where he runs into Claire Redfield, a college student looking for her brother. However, a zombie outbreak occurs, forcing them both into the police station until they can find a way out.

Much like the original game, the story of Resident Evil 2 is told from the perspective of two characters, in this case Leon and Claire. While both of their stories share some similar beats, they diverge a bit more here. In Leon’s story, he encounters the mysterious Ada Wong, who claims to be an FBI agent investigating the pharmaceutical company Umbrella and their connection with the outbreak. In Claire’s story, she encounters a lost girl named Sherry, whom she decides to protect so they can both make it to safety.

Leon S. Kennedy (left) and Claire Redfield (right) have different stories.

Compared to Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 shows a major improvement in its storytelling. A more fleshed out plotline allows room for properly exploring the connections between Umbrella and the zombie outbreak, as well as how the new G-Virus is connected with the T-Virus still running around. While players could empathize with Chris and Jill in the first game, Leon and Claire feel like more interesting characters, as they are closer to normal people thrust into a situation beyond their control. A generally more serious tone also lets certain story beats carry more emotional weight, like the fate of Lieutenant Marvin Branagh after he makes sure he does everything he can to help Leon before he inevitably turns into a zombie and loses his humanity. Additionally, the main antagonist also feels more complex and sympathetic, as opposed to the unapologetically evil antagonist of the original. That said, there are still plenty of cheesy one-liners that give it a B-movie charm.

One other difference from the original Resident Evil is the existence of a 2nd Run campaign, available after completing the Story Mode the first time. Playing through the 2nd Run is more than worth it, as it not only shows the other character’s perspective, but also takes the events of the first run into account and compensates with certain story and gameplay changes. On top of that, playing both runs, one with each character, is the only way to get the True Ending and the true final boss, which adds a great payoff for the effort. In my case, I played as Leon for the first run and Claire for the second, which felt like it made sense from a narrative standpoint.

Since I already covered the core mechanics of the Resident Evil series extensively in my review of the original game, I’ll focus more on the major differences here.

Right away, I could tell that even though the remake of Resident Evil 2 modernizes the experience, with a persistent over the shoulder camera view, the complete absence of tank controls and removing the requirement of Ink Ribbons to save at Typewriters, it still functions very similarly to the original game. Although the inventory looks identical to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Leon and Claire still start off with eight slots and they can increase their available space by two with Hip Pouches to a maximum of twenty. It also feels smoother to manage the inventory and Item Boxes than in the original Resident Evil and unlike Biohazard, the game pauses while looking through what you have on hand, making it much easier to react to entering the Danger status. You can still discard items when they’ve fulfilled their purpose, but you now have to look at the inventory and do so manually (useless items are marked with a red checkmark). Certain weapons and key items will also take up two spaces, likely as a way of balancing the much larger total size compared to the original.

Hip Pouches are a godsend.

Through the police station and connected areas, Leon and Claire can find ammo, which is generally more plentiful than in the original, and many other useful items. Apart from the standard items one would expect from Resident Evil, these include various forms of Gunpowder that can be combined to create different types of ammo, as well as wooden boards to help stop zombies from breaking into the police station through the windows. Although ammo is generally more plentiful, zombies, which can more easily follow you between doors this time, are a bit harder to kill in this game, as they can not only tank more rounds, but can randomly choose to not die, just like in Silent Hill 3. Often, the only way to know for sure that a random corpse isn’t a zombie is to shoot it and hope the body doesn’t react. At the same time, sometimes the only way to know you’ve defeated a zombie is to destroy its head. If you have a hard time killing them, however, you can actually shoot off their limbs like in Dead Space and limit their offensive capability.

Apart from the returning zombies and undead dogs, there are new enemies that can keep players on their toes. Lickers can not only crawl on the floor and ceiling, they also detect the player based on sound, which makes running near them or making too much noise an unwise decision. Flash grenades can help disable their hearing, making for a good option for quickly creating distance, but it’s best to either kill them or avoid them altogether if you can help it. In later parts of the game, G-Adults can give you trouble with the constant threat of inflicting the Poison status and Ivy enemies can cause an instant Game Over if they grab you without a defensive weapon, but are weak to fire.

Partway through the game, however, players are introduced to the most potent enemy, the unstoppable Tyrant, colloquially known as Mr. X. Tyrant will not stop chasing you. Even if you go between rooms, he will follow, through the wall if he has to. Almost nowhere is safe from him, except for Safe Rooms. The best you can hope to do is temporarily stun him with either a Flash Grenade or dealing enough damage with your weapon of choice. Seeing him show up right when you least expect it is genuinely terrifying and really ramps up the horror element significantly and I feared his presence on my first playthrough. For the sake of this review, however, I won’t spoil everything that happens with him, if only to maintain the surprises in store.

Tyrant/Mr. X is genuinely terrifying.

While there are some similarities between RPD and the Spencer Mansion, I found the police station much easier to navigate, as its layout feels more straightforward and less like a maze. It also helps that the player character will automatically use ladders and open doors when near them, though I understand that this can potentially cause issues for someone backing up to get a good shot. Unlike the original game, players can also come across one of fifteen Mr. Raccoon statues that act similarly to the Mr. Everywhere bobbleheads from Biohazard. Breaking all of them will earn the player a special combat knife with infinite durability, which incentivizes exploration across multiple playthroughs.

It also helps that this map is more honest about your location.

As for the puzzles, I also found them generally easier than in the original Resident Evil, though it helps that fewer of them are required for game completion. Participating in all of them can be rewarding, however, as you can gain powerful new weapons or parts to help upgrade your existing ones. Some weapon upgrades can also make them take up two slots instead of one, but if you’re playing casually, the extra power can be worth the tradeoff. For subsequent playthroughs, it also helps that just about every code for the puzzles is the same no matter how many times you come across them. I especially appreciated that for the medallion puzzle in the Main Hall of the police station, the game automatically places each medallion in the correct slot instead of forcing the player to stare at the correct space.

But the main campaign modes aren’t all that Resident Evil 2 has to offer, as there are additional Extra Modes. These generally follow the same pattern, acting as an extra challenge that forces players to go through a pre-determined route in one shot using only the character’s default loadout. Players cannot interact with Typewriters or Item Boxes and usually can’t pick up any items except for documents that help explain any additional mechanics in a natural way. Players are also timed, which encourages faster and more efficient replays.

Completing both the main campaign and the 2nd Run once each unlocks the 4th Survivor Mode. Here, the U.S.S., Umbrella’s private special ops group, is tasked with retrieving a sample of the G-Virus. Unfortunately, only one member, Hunk, survives and he rushes to escape the police station alive. This mode is very difficult, but once you get the right route and learn how to use your weapons and items effectively, it can feel very satisfying to pull off. It’s also light on story, but does neatly tie into a crucial event in the main game. Completing this mode will unlock an even more challenging joke variant called Tofu Survivor, with five different flavors.

There was also a bit of DLC content in the form of The Ghost Survivors, which I was able to access through the free PS5 upgrade. These scenarios play out similarly to The 4th Survivor and Tofu Survivor and have their own stories that take place within the timeframe of Resident Evil 2 and their own twists on gameplay. The main differences between these DLC stories and the other Extra Modes is that you can pick up items, but only from backpacks worn by certain zombies that you kill, as well as from Item Dispensaries, but you can only take one from a selection of three. Characters also generally have a smaller inventory than Hunk or Tofu. Each story also has its own difficulty rating and times the player, though there is a special Training difficulty that gives more breathing room to practice runs.

In No Time to Mourn, Robert Kendo has accepted his daughter’s death and leaves to rendezvous with a friend for an evacuation. If he kills enemies with glowing eyes, their bodies will emit a cloud of poison that inflicts the Poison status if inhaled, though getting bitten by these enemies has the same result. In Runaway, a woman named Katherine Warren overpowers her captor and rushes to the police station to rescue her love, Ben. Katherine will have to deal with Pale Heads, which are stronger zombies that can regenerate and are best killed with High-Powered rounds. Forgotten Soldier sees the soldier Ghost racing to escape the Umbrella lab before it self-destructs. In addition to the main game’s standard enemy types, some will also wear Bulletproof Anti-personnel Gear (A-gear) that makes them harder to take down.

While the Ghost Survivors campaigns have interesting side stories, and can be challenging in their own right, there wasn’t as much incentive for me to keep playing once I realized that getting better at their routes, or going out of my way to break additional Mr. Raccoon statues, only unlocks cosmetic accessories that have no effect on gameplay. This prevented me from learning that there’s a fourth story, No Way Out, where Sheriff Daniel Cortini must kill 100 zombies in waves until Leon can help him escape. Completing the Gunslinger Record in this mode also unlocks an accessory that grants infinite ammo, so there’s that for those who must see everything.

As for the graphics, Resident Evil 2 has perhaps the most dramatic leap since the original Resident Evil. Thanks to the RE Engine, everything looks on par with Biohazard, with photorealistic lighting that emphasizes the horror aspect of the game over its action. Enemies can more easily hide within the darkness of the police station while Herbs are now more visually distinct so you can tell what they are just by their silhouette. The game actually does a great job at exploiting the expected differences between light and darkness by conditioning the player into thinking light means safety, only to pull the rug out at a very crucial moment, increasing the tension once more. One detail I love is that not only is the current subweapon visible on the character model, much like in the first game, but modifications are also visible on the appropriate weapons at all times. Additionally, the player’s health status is visible on the controller light, including a special purple color for the Poison status. There aren’t any door or ladder animations, which I consider a plus due to their length in the first game, though I’m not sure how much this change would upset fans of the original release.

But Leon and Claire can wear costumes based on their original designs.

The only thing I never really understood was one feature of the Main Hall. On the first floor, between the Main Hall and East Wing, there’s a metal door that gets raised during the story. Despite this big gaping hole, zombies never really wander in, even when the player might expect them to at a later point. This isn’t really a major complaint, however, as it does give players room to breathe. There are also admittedly some things that look a little rough in the new style, like a burger that a truck driver eats during the opening cutscene.

Though it doesn't make sense logically, it makes sense from a game design perspective.

Along with the updated visuals, Resident Evil 2 also does a great job at using sound to its advantage. Most of the time, ambient noise will instill a sense of dread and keep players on their toes. The worst is the footstep sounds associated with Tyrant. Hearing this indicates that he’s somewhere nearby, though there are still times where you can encounter him without any warning. You can even hear him from within a Safe Room, so you’re never quite sure if he actually left. Though the soundtrack sounds more minimal compared to the first game, it’s generally used to good effect, like the music that plays whenever Tyrant is in the same room as you, as well as the Safe Room music, though for some reason you only hear that the first time you enter the room. The background music during Tofu Survivor, "Tofu on Fire", is also a major highlight for how well it fits.

Sound effects are more in line with Biohazard, which had sounds that I personally liked, though you also hear that really generic paper sound that’s evidently been in video games for what feels like decades now. On the upside, certain sounds also play from the controller speaker, which increases the immersion. I also generally liked the voice acting, which fit the tone of the remake nicely.

Whether or not you were already a fan of the original release, Resident Evil 2 does a good job at modernizing the experience while still honoring the core elements of the series. Even if you haven’t played the first game, this one is still a great survival horror title on its own.