Hi all! 

Today I am sharing my experience playing Resident Evil 2 (remake) for the first time. I’m currently working my way through all the modern games, including the remakes. Eventually, I will rank them all. I have been a big fan of this franchise for years; having seen many a playthrough on YouTube. However, I had never played them myself. RE2, as mentioned above, was remade in 2019 by Capcom. I played it on casual mode (amateur gamer here!) and these are my thoughts. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

The Story

We follow rookie cop, Leon Kennedy, and college student, Claire Redfield, as they attempt to escape a zombie-infested Raccoon City. After separating, they navigate the Racoon Police Department, uncovering an Umbrella Corporation conspiracy involving the G-Virus and a deadly, mutated scientist named Dr. William Birkin. 

Full transparency: I only completed Leon’s campaign. I did not undertake Claire’s. I will eventually replay the game as her. I’ve heard it’s worth finishing both to get the complete story/experience of RE2. 

Casual Mode/Gameplay 

By a country mile, Resident Evil 2 has the best puzzles. I loved the different coloured keys/doors to unlock, the symbol cipher statues, searching for codes to various safes, the frequency transmitter in the ARK Laboratory, the chess piece riddle in the sewers, the timed furnace trap and more. They were challenging but not so difficult you want to give up. Furthermore, I adored the entire structure of Leon’s campaign. Exploring the vast police station was equally fun and terrifying. Every single time I ventured into a new area, I had to brace myself for the zombies waiting in the dark. There was something so satisfying about retrieving a piece from the east wing, bolting back to the safe area, then travelling to the west wing to use said object. If you took your time, you could spend hours upon hours on this game. The RPD has that labyrinthian quality to it, reminiscent of the Baker House from RE7. Maps are your friend! Use them well. 

Did I find it difficult on casual mode? In my opinion, RE2 got trickier as it went along. I always had plenty of resources but the enemies became progressively tougher to take down. I struggled with the final boss the most. It took several tries to finish him. I highly recommend stocking up as much as you can before entering his area, because once you’re there, you can’t backtrack. Whatever you picked up along the way, must be used to fight him.

Mr X 

Let’s talk about the massive, imposing elephant in the room: Mr X. At a certain point in the game, he will appear and once he does, you better run far and far. This iconic enemy will stalk you throughout the entirety of the police station. He is relentless. It doesn’t matter where you go (aside from a couple of ‘safe’ zones), he will find you. There is nothing more terrifying than locking yourself in a room, thinking you lost him, only to realise you can hear his heavy footsteps approaching. You cannot kill Mr X, so don’t bother trying. At the most, you can slow him down. Save your ammo for his dedicated boss fight/s. I will admit, on casual mode, he has a much more leisurely gait. It takes a lot longer for him to catch up to you. I was able to evade him quite easily and progress with my objectives.

Having said that, if you play Leon’s campaign (which I did), you eventually end up in the sewers, acting as spy, Ada Wong. Needless to say, she’s a lot less combative; relying more on gadgets than weapons. Out of nowhere, Mr X will reappear and you’ll need to dodge him once more. That was where I really struggled. He almost killed me several times. I had to work out exactly where to go, whilst running around in circles to ensure he didn’t take me out with one punch. His re-emergence at the ARK Laboratory was the easiest interaction (minus the boss battles). He chased me for a like a minute and it was over.

The Sewers

I breathed a sigh of relief once the Racoon Police Department was behind me. I thought the worst was over. How wrong I was! Enter the sewers – a place so disgustingly foul and horrifying, you’ll wish you were running from Lickers crawling on the station’s ceiling again. That was child’s play compared to the G-Adults (pictured below). These mutated, gigantic tortoise looking things will spew poison, so you better have some blue herbs handy in your inventory. My advice is to use grenades and don’t shoot at them with anything smaller than a shotgun. You’ll waste your ammo and probably die. Once you retrieve the final chess piece, you’ll get access to a flamethrower. Let loose on those suckers but remain at a distance to avoid toxic waste. Futhermore, walk, don’t run through the tunnels. These things lay dormant in the water, waiting to spring up. You can typically get the jump on them first by attacking their lumpy flesh floating on the surface. They aren’t difficult to detect and luckily, there aren’t many of them to fight.

I don’t have any real negatives about RE2, aside from the ARK Laboratory section. I just find this part to be quite dull. It’s the last area in RE3 and Requiem as well. The developers love to end the game there. I understand why from a story perspective but it’s never anything new or exciting. It slows the pacing down quite significantly. I appreciate Village and Biohazard for giving us something different.

Overall, Resident Evil 2 gets a 8.5/10 total score. It is an incredible remake and a fantastic game. One of the best.

Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know your experience playing Resident Evil 2. I will be back very soon with my review/breakdown of Resident Evil 4 (remake).

Peace & Love xoxo