So I had my eye on Capcom’s booth before ESGS had even started. I really wanted to try out both the Devil May Cry V and Resident Evil 2 Remake demo. And I’m here to share my thoughts and what I experienced during my time testing out the demos Capcom had presented for us.
Fortunately, due to the media pass I was one of the first three to be able to play the Resident Evil 2 Remake. I did however had to wait for a short while to be able to play Devil May Cry V, because a lot of people seemed to be more interested in that game.
Claire Redfield is my all time favorite Resident Evil character so I chose her campaign instead of Leon’s. Unfortunately, nobody had told us that the demo for Resident Evil 2 was measured in minutes rather than until we complete the whole demo. I wasted quite a few minutes on an area because I thought that a locked key was laying around.
After a short while, I was fighting up against William Birkin. There really wasn’t anything different from anything I’ve already seen in the Youtube videos showcasing this fight. Fighting him however was an entirely different experience. He wasn’t that difficult of a fight, but it was only made more difficult because I couldn’t hear him. The booth nearby was playing loud music that I didn’t even know that he was already behind me. He managed to grab into me a few times but I had a chance to escape as long as I either had a knife (which was breakable) or a grenade. Using either of these consumes the item and so I try to stay as far away as possible.
The environment Claire fights William Birkin in is no short of amazing and I’m not just talking about it graphical wise. It’s practically a maze. I made a couple of wrong turns and regretted it when I hit a dead end and Birkin was right behind me covering my escape. It forced me to look for a circular patter to make sure I escaped him. Though this practically just turned the whole boss fight into a ring around the rosy. Birkin wasn’t a one trick pony either. When he got angry, he got absolutely livid. He was pretty much just raging at me, missing most of the time and hitting the pipes instead. This caused the area to covered in fog and my accuracy was completely lowered and made it hard to hit his weak spots.
Gameplay-wise, it feels smooth and impressive. I really like how the game controls. But I felt as though Resident Evil 2 Remake doesn’t really do much in terms of innovating the survival horror genre…at least not from the short demo I tried. I don’t think that there’s a sense of progression for the characters (Leon & Claire) besides having more ammo and healing items and picking up new weapons. None of them ever gain new skills that can change the way players experience the game, nor is there any tactical and strategic elements that doesn’t involve don’t-go-near-the-zombie. I just wish there were more options to dispatch or get past enemies rather than just typically shooting each zombie in the face or running from it to the next door. Stealth and more environmental kills would’ve been nice editions. Then again I don’t think Resident Evil 2 Remake is fit stealth as a game mechanic due to the way the environment presents itself so I could wind up swallowing my words.
Atmosphere-wise, Resident Evil 2 Remake shares more similarities with Dead Space than The Evil Within. It’s claustrophobic and has tight hallways that can make it rather difficult to move around freely forcing you to really squeeze into tight corridors gambling with danger.
Again keep in mind that I played a very short demo. The final game could turn out to be quite different. I have high hopes for this game this coming January.