Capcom excited fans yesterday with the announcement that they will be remaking the PlayStation classic Resident Evil 2 for modern consoles. The game is in its early stages of development so no gameplay or screenshots were shown.
That has left a lot of people to wonder what the Resident Evil 2 Remake might actually look and play like on next-gen consoles (presumably the game launches on PS4, Xbox One and PC but that has yet to be confirmed).
There’s actually a fairly decent source to give us an idea of what the Resident Evil 2 Remake might ultimately resemble. Fans that have been clamoring for a remake have taken it upon themselves to create their own.
One of those projects is Resident Evil 2: Reborn from Italian-based Invader Games. The indie studio rebuilt the original game using Unreal Engine 4 and plans to release their work for free to the general public. The result is a stunning recreation of Resident Evil 2 with modern enhancements including full 3D environments, particle effects, next-gen lighting and high quality textures.
The developers at Invader Games faithfully employed some of the claustrophobic, close quarters gameplay and fixed camera angles that made Resident Evil 2 such a creepy experience. The relatively slow pace helped to build suspense, anxiety, and a lingering fear about what might be lurking around the next corner.
The more recent Resident Evil games have taken a different approach. Resident Evil 5 — and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 6 — emphasized faster, action-packed gameplay. While I found these games to be fairly entertaining, they did not feel particularly like earlier Resident Evil games. That was especially the case with Resident Evil 5, which seemed to completely abandon the idea of a survival horror game.
If Capcom is going to succeed in recreating Resident Evil 2, they need to stick to the franchise’s roots while updating the game with the modern features that have made the game less annoying, including better inventory management and vastly improved controls. What it should not mean is upending the basic and successful formula of Resident Evil 2 as a real survival horror game rather than as an action game.
With a sizable budget and a dedicated staff of developers, the Resident Evil 2 Remake experience should easily exceed the bar set by this one Italian studio. But this indie studio’s vision of Resident Evil 2 is a pretty good source to find some inspiration.
You can find more information on Resident Evil 2 Reborn at http://invadergames.eu/site/resident-evil-2-reborn-2/.
