sisslethecat
Hoo-boy, there is a lot to unpack about the remake of Resident Evil 2.
So after the amazing reveal during yesterday’s Sony press event, the news on REmake 2 simply won’t stop coming, and we got an entirely new second trailer, a ton of screenshots, posters, and even pre-order and deluxe edition details. I was up for an unreasonable amount of time last night pouring over each new piece of information, trying to gather up every clue and hidden detail to share with you guys. Holy hell, there are a ton. From comparing old and new designs, catching glimpses of new areas, and pointing out a few potential teasers, there’s a lot of stuff to talk about here. So, let’s go in order of each thing as it was shown, starting with the first reveal trailer.
Almost immediately we have our first secret, a connection back (or is it forward?) to the most recent Resident Evil, RE7. In the opening few seconds, we see an upturned bottle of Dulvey Beer — Jack Baker’s drink of choice from Resident Evil 7. The odds are good that this is more to serve as an initial clue to viewers than an indication of further connections, although REmake 2 probably will have small nods/setups to future games in the series, as REmake did before it. You see this at the 00:25 mark.
Immediately afterward, we spot a PlayStation One hooked up to an old television. There’s also a PS1 controller linked to the system a few inches away. Again, this is probably more for leading the audience (I knew the second the PS1 was on the screen that this was REmake 2), and probably won’t even appear in the final game. This pops up at the 00:26 mark.
Next up, as our rats-eye-view falls off the shelf, we get another small tease at the 00:57 mark as the squeak is the same sound clip used in the opening of Resident Evil: Outbreak, which has a similar rats-eye-view perspective.
The next thing is, again, a small tease, all building up to the big reveal. The Sheriff who gets his throat ripped out sports an all-new RPD uniform we’ve never seen before, with a Sheriff’s emblem on the sleeve. While the text on the emblem says “Sheriff Dept.”, the small star in the center has a Raccoon on it. This is likely the same uniform referred to in the Deluxe Edition as “Arklay Sheriff.” This may imply that Leon, at least, will be starting the journey into Raccoon City much farther on the outskirts of town, rather than almost smack in the middle of it like in the original game. Not to mention, this appears to be an entirely new location, fully stocked with food and supplies. Could this be the back room of a gas station? You can see the Sheriff emblem at 1:34.
Here we get our very first look at the new Leon Kennedy, who has been completely redesigned. While the spirit of the original RPD riot uniform remains, the look has been overhauled for a more realistic, functional, and less “pretty” design. Apparent clips and buckles are present, and Leon has a new radio-com on his chest, replacing the knife sheath that was present in every version of the uniform since RE4‘s redesign. I love the new look, and I feel like it speaks to the newer, more gritty overall feel of the game.
The other interesting thing is Leon’s shoulder patch emblem, which every version of his RPD uniform has had. This time it’s finally received the proper design, labeling him as “Officer.” For reasons beyond me, almost every single RPD logo since Resident Evil 2 (recreated in Outbreak 2, RE4, Darkside Chronicles, and Operation Raccoon City) has mistakenly labeled the red banner above the word “Raccoon” with “Detective”, regardless of the officer’s actual position — even on the logo painted on the RPD main hall floor. It was a weird, goofy oversight, and it’s a great detail to have finally fixed. We’ll see more versions as we move ahead, each reflecting accurate ranking and design. There’s also a new addition at the bottom of the emblem, marking the year of the RPD’s establishment, 1969. This shot is from 1:48.
Next up is our first look at the new Raccoon City at the 1:59 mark. Previously, it’s typically been depicted as a small town surrounded by forestation, with few tall buildings. The new Raccoon, however, appears to be radically redesigned into a sprawling urban metropolis, with many tall buildings occupying the center of the city. This is presumably to help make the city feel more real, keeping up with the concept that the small town had grown into a hub of business and industry thanks to Umbrella. Again, like Leon’s redesign, this seems to be enforcing a grittier, more realistic style to the original world.
Another interesting point is that, as the shot of the city zooms out to become a reflection in a rear-view mirror, we hear a voice say “The money’s in my account, always a pleasure.” This is not dialogue from the original Resident Evil 2, and while many fans have speculated that the line could belong to Wesker given the croaky drawl, I’m going to say it’s more likely Police Chief Brian Irons. Irons was bought and paid for by Umbrella to help wash away any evidence of their misdeeds, even disbanding the S.T.A.R.S. and disregarding their evidence following the Arklay Mansion incident. Admittedly, Irons loses it once the outbreak starts, and becomes a raving maniac (or maybe he always was) who attempts to do some… pretty awful stuff to Claire. It remains to be seen, however.
Next at 2:04, we have a shot of Raccoon’s streets, starting with a cute Easter egg for classic Resident Evil 2 fans: Aruka’s, a boutique on Flower Street, where the original RE2 began. This recreation is another nice touch, and is an Easter egg of an Easter egg, as it’s a Street Fighter reference. Aruka’s spelled backward, is Sakura.
Here we have our first look at the RPD exterior, which in this shot looks very similar to the original design, but we’ll get back to it later… This is at the 2:06 mark.
Our first look at forlorn RPD Lieutenant Marvin Branagh, who fans will remember had only a brief interaction with Leon or Claire at the outset of Classic RE2‘s scenario A. While his character was expanded upon in Outbreak 2, he didn’t have much to him in the original game, giving the player a quick rundown of how the RPD didn’t believe the S.T.A.R.S.’ crazy stories from a few months back. This time around, his character and the interaction feel much more fleshed out, and I’m utterly in love with his delivery. The animation is beautiful too.
For the most part, he looks more or less the same as he always has, although he appears much more lively than he ever did in previous depictions of this scene, which showed him seemingly on his deathbed. Check him out at the 2:07 mark.
Next, after some nondescript shots of corpses in an unidentifiable area of the RPD building, we see another look at Flower Street, complete with the accident that lands Leon and Claire in this mess: the overturned gas tanker that flattened the RPD cruiser Leon GTA’d in the original game’s opening cutscene. It’s nice to see again, although instead of being smashed up against the Central Street Train station, it seems just to be lying out in the open now. It is worth noting that this shot is flipped, though. The street signs and storefront on the left side are all backward. Look for yourself at 2:17.
We get some more shots from the storage room we saw in the opening of the trailer, stacked with ramen cups and cans, and then a shot of what I think might be the exterior. Remember before, when I said that it looked like we could be “starting the journey into Raccoon City much farther on the outskirts of town,” and this could be “the back room of a gas station”? Well, this is why. The sign on the right says “Dingo Red Cigarettes” (as far as I know this isn’t a call back to an in-universe brand), with some text talking about sales. It looks more like a convenience store sign than a highway ad with all text and no pictures. Of course, right next to it is the classic “Home of Umbrella” welcome to Raccoon sign that has shown up in every recreation of the city since Darkside Chronicles. Oh yeah, and there are zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. This is at 2:20.
We hear Leon and Claire speaking: “whatever it takes to save this city”, and “I’m surprised you’ve made it this far” (odds are Claire is talking to Sherry, when they first meet). We then hear what is obviously HUNK, the USS mercenary who assassinated Birkin and stole the G-virus, not to mention the star of the 4th Survivor Mode: “Need info on my extraction,” and, “Survival’s your responsibility.” This is pretty cool, as it’s almost word-for-word dialogue from the Umbrella Chronicles version of the 4th Survivor.
Next, we get our first shot of real gameplay, featuring Leon and an over-the-shoulder camera. There’s a ton to take away from this shot. First, we’ll have access to a new section of the city. This is an iconic location, looking up at RPD from Ennerdale Street, but it isn’t accessible in the original RE2. It becomes a playable area in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Leon enters from a side gate on the far West side of the building, and Claire enters from the East side, through the RPD building’s parking lot and up the stairs to the second-floor helipad, so this is very interesting.
UPDATE: Another interesting note (that I somehow completely missed) is that Leon is wearing a different costume here. Fans have been quick to speculate that it’s his Resident Evil 4 outfit (potentially unlockable), although it’s so dark it’s hard to tell. There’s of course always the chance this isn’t actually Leon, but that sure looks like his hair. Thanks to Adrian, below in the comments, for pointing this (and a few other things) out.
We also get a much better look at the RPD building’s exterior, and we discover that it has been given an entirely new section, and from the looks of it, new third and fourth floor areas. The large protruding section on the East side of the building with all the windows is entirely new, having never been featured in any previous version of the location. I have a sneaking suspicion that the West wing second-floor library from the original game has moved to this new section, but that’s just speculation. Regardless, this is for sure confirmation of new places to explore in what may be the single most explored location in RE history (appearing in seven games to date), and that is exciting as fuck. You see this at 2:28.
Next, we see another entirely new location: a bathroom with shower stalls. I’ve often mentioned how inconsistent bathrooms have been throughout the series: one bathroom with one toilet for the entire Spencer mansion, only urinals in an entire Spanish village and surrounding farmland, and back to only one bathroom in the Baker mansion again. I’ve found it particularly noteworthy that RE2‘s RPD building didn’t have a single bathroom. Not one. Well, I’m betting this is the RPD’s new bathroom, complete with showers (which is relatively typical for police stations, actually). This is from 2:32.
Next up, this room was revealed to be a new version of the hallway that adjoins the Detectives Office waiting lobby. All the way at the end of the hall, we see a lit up sign for an emergency hydrant. This is at 2:34.
Here we go, our first look at Sherry Birkin, daughter of the beast. While she’s still in a school uniform, it’s been modified slightly with a vest and darker colors, whereas before it was yet another Easter egg shout out to Sakura from Street Fighter. She does still have the golden pendant that her parents gave her, which classic fans recall holds a dark secret. We’re also clearly in the sewage treatment area the player escapes through in RE2‘s second half. This is at 2:38.
Immediately after, at 2:40 and possibly in the same scene, we get our first look at the new Claire Redfield. Out of all the characters so far, Claire looks the most radically redesigned. Other than her hair still being up in a ponytail and her primary color scheme being red (ever notice that all the RE characters are color coded? Chris is green, Jill and Leon are blue, Claire is red, etc.), she’s completely changed. Claire now sports a bright red leather jacket (somewhat similar to early concept art from the transition between Elza Walker to the final Claire) and a necklace with both what appears to be a small metal feather and a small blue stone. The giant bowie knife sheath that was a permanent mainstay of her RE2 design is now gone (admittedly I always thought it was a little silly looking, seemingly only being there to give her a visual relation to her brother who had the same sheath). Much like Leon, Claire’s photogrammetry model was clearly cast with making her as youthful and innocent as possible in mind, as she looks her age here (19), with what I feel are some definite modern Lara Croft influences.
The next shot is very curious to me. We’ve already seen what Sherry looks like now, with more or less the same short pixie style she’s always had, so this tiny child-height figure is not her. There aren’t any other child character in RE2, so we’re either getting someone new… or this game is going way, way, way darker than the original game with even children falling victim to infection. Fuck. I’m also pretty sure that’s the bus from RE2 Classic back there. If you’re unfamiliar, in the opening moments of the original game’s A scenario, the player is forced to cut through the interior of a city bus to get to the police station. Maybe I’m just weird, but this location has always stuck with me, even though it’s literally only a few seconds out of the game. This is all from 3:32.
While all this is going on, we hear a female voice saying, “impressive display of strength,” before then saying (probably from an entirely different scene) in a distressed tone, “but we never meant for this to happen!” Yeah, I don’t think it’s going too far out on a limb here to guess this is probably Annette Birkin, Sherry’s mother, wife of William Birkin, and fellow researcher for Umbrella. She’s most likely talking about her husband’s massive spike in strength and regenerative powers after turning into the hulking monstrosity, G, and then later trying to explain herself to the player when grilled on the outbreak’s cause.
While Annette was originally portrayed as sociopathic and cold in the original RE2, Capcom has since lightened up on her character, showing her to be somewhat sympathetic. Instead of being vengeful for Umbrella attacking William and stealing his research, she becomes determined to stop G from hurting their daughter, a target of the mutated William. I’m getting the feeling this new version might be somewhere in between.
Next up, we get our first chilling look at the new Mr. X, the hulking, factory line model Tyrant who stalks RE2‘s B scenario in search of the G-Virus. While the original design was merely a big, pale, bald dude in a green trench coat, this new version… scares the fuck out of me. Yeah, so all they did was pop a fedora on him, but… Jesus, I don’t know if it’s just childhood nightmares of Freddy Krueger coming back to haunt me, but he seems way, way more alien and intimidating to me now.
Look, I know how pathetically stupid that sounds, but I can only tell the truth. Mr. X wearing a little Mr. Fixit hat scares the fuck outta me, and I wish I had a better explanation for why. I’m also fairly sure that we’re seeing the first floor — the lobby hallway next to the East detective wing. This is the same hallway we fight Nemesis in for the first time in Umbrella Chronicles. This shot of Mr. X is from 2:46.
This next shot is again, immediately familiar to classic fans. This is, of course, Raccoon City Micheal Warren’s daughter, laid out across the demented Chief Brian Irons’ desk. Irons was tasked with looking after her during the city-wide panic, but she still ended up dead. That said, it’s somewhat of a mystery as to exactly how she died. This is easily one of my favorite aspects of RE2, despite being relatively small. I deeply, deeply hope this genuinely depraved story gets more of a highlight this time around. This is the stuff that puts Evil in the title. And to think… taxidermy used to be his hobby. You see her at 2:50.
The obvious first thing that hits you at 2:52 is, well, shit; that’s a Licker. The iconic original creature that scared everyone half to death in the original RE2 and is probably one of the most recognizable BOWs in the series. Due to the Licker’s appearance, I first thought that this was the moment that leads up to the grisly scene in the first floor West hall, where we first encounter a Licker in RE2. Upon closer examination, this turns out to be the second floor West hall, directly above that one, where the S.T.A.R.S. office is. You can see the placard on the wall, right next to the door. Other than the sign swapping sides and the perp bench being moved closer to the door (they’re around the bend in the original game) this more or less looks the same as it did in 1998.
We get a quick shot of the statue set in the RPD main hall covered in blood, which is our first look at the main doors to the station (near identical to how they appeared 20 years ago). There’s also the bloody corpse of a cop, and finally a neat shot of Leon walking down what seems to be a new version of the West wing hallway that connects to the operations conference room. You know, the one with the terrifying jumpscare where arms come through the boards and grab you regardless of how ready you thought you were?
The other neat thing here is a visual shot of Leon’s belt. Like the rest of his uniform redesign, it appears more functional and has more buckles and tactical doohickies on it. Most notably, Leon’s survival knife is back, moved from that breast sheath that was stuck on him in RE4. We also see that Leon’s holding his classic VP70 handgun, which was his starting weapon in RE2. We also… see that he has a second one holstered. Don’t worry; I doubt that he’ll be getting that ridiculous dual-wielding ability from RE6 here. It’s more than likely that this is a mistake, or (like almost every other game in the series) the holster merely is modeled with a weapon in it regardless of whether or not it’s equipped. This is at 2:56.
The next shot we see is in the press briefing room, complete with a video camera. While the gist looks the same, it’s readily apparent that the small gas faucets behind the desk from the original game are now gone. Odds are this puzzle has either been replaced with an entirely new one, or the room serves a different purpose than before. This shot appears at 2:58.
Another shot of the Licker and this sucker looks big. Since he’s mostly in darkness, it’s hard to make out much worth talking about, but hey, Licker. He is walking on the wall, which wasn’t actually something they could do in the original game, only the floor or ceiling. Oh, and we’re still upstairs outside the S.T.A.R.S office; you can see the sign on the right there at 2:59.
The last shot before the logo at 3:01 is of — who else — but Ada Wong. We can’t see her face, but this has got to be her. The mysterious woman in red now sports a film noir style coat, which honestly feels like it makes a lot more sense for a secret agent than the skimpy cocktail dress she wore in the original RE2. Although, for all we know she still has that outfit underneath the coat. She’s also clearly standing in the underground parking lot where Leon meets her for the first time. Another interesting point is that the coat is actually based on a piece of concept art from the scrapped Resident Evil 1.5 build of the game.
Before we move on to trailer #2, there are some closing shots at 3:18 that are positively amazing. We get our first look at the new Mr. X’s ugly mug and… yeah, they’re going for a serious Freddy thing here, though the dull, blank expression is characteristically Terminator-esque. More recent REs have Mr. X making all kinds of faces, and I always thought it was goofy looking. The other interesting thing is that he’s attacking Claire, which means that Claire will officially be occupying scenario B unless the story is getting as much of an overhaul as the rest of the game is. But then, a second later, Mr. X is attacked and skewered by the giant claw of…
G. Oh shit boys and girls. That’s William Birkin’s mutated form, G. Not only does he look god damn grotesque, but the design looks crazy close to the original version of the creature, most notably stage 2 of his mutation.
Now we finally move on to the next trailer which has even more shit to look at.
Right off the bat, we get another look at the RPD building entrance, but now with a little more to see. Trash, sandbags, and other damage and junk liter the exterior, showing the war-zone like feel of the city, not to mention bringing RE2 up to date with RE3‘s version of the exterior, which was walled off with makeshift barricades and riot walls. This is at 00:08.
Immediately after at 00:09, we see a clip from the game’s opening, Leon driving into the city limits. I’m sure you’ve noticed the rain that all exterior scenes have by now, but it is worth noting that it’s new as well.
Approximately three frames later, we see a shot of Leon walking up to, as I had thought, a convenience store of some kind. This is probably from a cutscene, but I’ll get into that later.
We’re still hanging around at the 00:09-second mark folks, as we get a shot of what I assume is the store clerk. He’s holding his bleeding neck and pointing Leon into the back room. The crazy level of detail this game has revealed that his name is Jerry, which is written on his name tag.
WE ARE STILL IN THAT SINGLE SECOND AT 00:09. A quick shot of the Raccoon City highway exit sign, mimicking the original RE2 opening. It is worth noting that the new sign says “North” Raccoon City. We never knew exactly which end of Raccoon Leon had come from, but if the map is anything like the original map of Raccoon, this means he’s coming in near Raccoon City Zoo and Raccoon Park.
Remember when I said this had a LOT more shit to look at? I wasn’t kidding. We’re still in that single second of 00:09. I am deeply regretting taking this analysis on.
Anyway, we get our first shot of an Umbrella logo, feeling somewhat reminiscent of the opening to RE3. The hazy, warbly look and vignette effect makes me feel like this is probably from the opening, recapping RE1 and explaining that Umbrella’s experiments “were far from finished.”
We have FINALLY graduated to the 00:10 mark, where we get our first look at the iconic RE2 “evil eye,” which belongs to the mutated William Birkin/G. Ick.
UPDATE: I didn’t realize this at the time of writing, but the new look the RPD main hall has, is actually the old look: It’s inspired by a piece of concept art from the scrapped 1.5 build of the game. Thanks again to Adrian.
A single second forward, we get our first look at the RPD station main hall, which is completely overhauled. While it’s still recognizably that location, the changes are massive. The statue has been moved to behind the front desk; there are now a set of double stairs leading up to the second floor (instead of the emergency folding ladder being the only way up in all previous versions of this area). There’s now visible art hanging on the walls, and the reception desk is out in the open rather than needing to walk up a ramp to get to it. You can also spot a typewriter on the right side, so that’s exciting as fuck. Oh, and like I was talking about earlier, the set-in RPD logo on the floor no longer has the silly “detective” banner, so that’s cool.
Jumping ahead to 00:23, we get another look at Flower Street, as well as Aruka’s. This shot really demonstrates the urban feel this game is going for in the redesigned Raccoon City, with big brick buildings and what appear to be raised train tracks (like New York City). The pre-recorded Police emergency broadcast is also neat, sounding very similar to the one from Darkside Chronicles. It’s neat to see this game taking so much from not just the original RE2, but other versions of that story as well. No to mention all the new stuff.
We get some more shots of the streets, and eventually of the interior of that convenience store. We get a pretty cool — and somewhat classic-feeling — shot of Leon approaching the back room at 00:42.
Next, we’ve got what is presumably the actual in-game version of the reveal trailer’s opening, with the Sheriff getting killed. From the looks of it, Leon stops at this store as he’s entering the town, sees the bloodbath, and being the good guy he is (and, you know, a cop) runs to investigate. He finds Jerry, bleeding out, who tells him the perp is in the back room. Leon goes there, finds the Sheriff trying to arrest the guy who attacked poor Jerry and… boom. Enter the Survival Horror. This is from the 00:47 mark.
Okay, so this next one at 00:57 might just be me but… doesn’t think look like first person gameplay here? I get that it very well could just be from the cutscene, but given how cinematic and deliberately directed everything else we’ve seen so far has been… this feels like it isn’t at all. It looks like gameplay, especially with the way the camera swings as the player is grabbed at the very end of the shot. I could be totally off base, but what do you guys think? Whatever the answer is, these frames of the zombie attacking Leon feel… off. Especially since we see the exact same scene only seconds later in third-person. Could we get the option to switch camera styles?
Here’s another angle of Leon approaching the exterior of the police station, and then footage of Leon in that same hallway Mr. X was in earlier, the Detective’s Office waiting lobby. The window on the right and the pop machines are a dead giveaway. I simply love how dark this game looks. RE2 was a pretty brightly lit game, considering, and this is nearly pitch black. I love it.
We see some excessive gore and a bunch of dead cops, before switching to another angle of the hallway I mentioned earlier with the arms that pop through the barriers. Finally, we get our first real look at combat. Two shamblers, a civilian woman and a lurching officer (who looks nearly identical to old RE2 art), stalk straight towards Leon, and we get a glimpse of the game’s new hyper gore system. Leon’s first shot finds its mark in the woman’s throat, and by gum it fucking destroys it. The next frames show the woman’s throat a bloody, muscley mess. I love it so much. Even more interesting is how similar combat looks to a demo for a fan made RE2 remake called RE2 Reborn from a few years ago. There was a rumor that Capcom hired those dudes, and I’m starting to believe it.
Leon gets taken down by the pair in what is honestly one of the most terrifying death animations I think the series has ever shown and hits home just how dangerous these zombies are. Much like the original RE games, you can’t just mow through these things. You have to pick and choose your battles, and seeing that they can gang up to kill you instead of being killed by just one of them is aesthetically amazing.
Next, we get our first look at the Detective’s office proper (where you pick up the Valve crank in Scenario B), and it’s filled with the living dead. The office looks more or less the same as it always has, but the neat thing here is the inclusion of female zombie RPD officers, something never seen in the original RE2. After seeing what just two zombies could do before, the six that are visible here become even more daunting. Oh, and the civilian in the middle looks to be a reimagining of another classic piece of RE2 art, the sporty zombie girl.
More shots of Leon in the same hallway from before, and then some fun exterior shots of zombies at the perimeter fence of the police station.
An explosion! Leon witnesses the crash of the unfortunate rescue chopper that Officer Elliot sadly blew away when he was attacked and lost control of his automatic weapon. This is major moment in RE2, one that results in the upstairs hallways being flooded with fire and the Police Chief’s office being inaccessible.
UPDATE: In amongst the flashes, we actually see a quick shot of Leon and Claire meeting up, separated by a gate. This is most likely the gate Claire is seen standing near at the end of the E3 demo, and actually looks like it might not be the helipad (like in the original RE2), but rather the east wing emergency stairs. It’s also worth noting that the helicopter is already crashed here, and appears to explode after the fact. Thanks to Edward (from our FaceBook comments) for finding this!
Another shot of Marvin and we see that he too has had his RPD emblem updated, now reading “Lieutenant.” The new gameplay shown at E3 has revealed that this scene takes place in the main hall, in front of the statue. Again, can we talk about how god damn amazing these faces are? To write this piece, I played the videos at 0.25x speed, going frame by frame, and the animation on Marvin’s face here is simply spectacular. Easily the best looking animation RE has ever had. The way muscles pull as he speaks, how the cheeks cave slightly as he opens his mouth and the skin on his neck stretches when he lifts his head… you are a beautiful, beautiful man, Marvin Branagh.
*Ahem* moving on, we get this phenomenal shot of Leon examining the corpse of one of his fallen co-workers, and the level of detail on display here is just as incredible. The stringy, ragged shred through this poor bastard’s face is something to behold, but then (again, not until I had watched frame by frame) I noticed that there are even individual drops of blood, stretching, breaking off, and raining down into the gaping throat of the corpse. Got Damn, this is the kind of gore I’ve been waiting for gaming to get to.
Much of what’s shown next has already been shown in detail in the gameplay demo shown off by Sony, but skipping ahead we see a classic moment from RE2 recreated in all its terrifying glory. If RE1 had the Headturner, RE2 has the window Licker.
Another insanely cool moment, we see REmake 2 take inspiration from the Outbreak games, which revealed a hidden passageway underneath of the main hall statue. Lo and behold, that passage is now being worked into the remake, and it’s so sweet to see something like this come back.
Now, this is the second most exciting shot in the whole trailer to me. Why? Because I have no idea what or where this is. This is an entirely new building. If it’s attached to the RPD station, it’s an entirely new part of it that has never been seen before. I’ve seen speculation that this could be St. Michael’s Clock Tower from Resident Evil 3, but I doubt that they would have a place that makes up such a significant chunk of RE3 used here, rather than left to potentially be given its real purpose in a remake of RE3 (which is of course in no way shape or form confirmed to be happening, let’s let them get this game out the door first before we go nuts with speculation or questions about that, shall we?). Not to mention, this building looks way smaller than that did. Whatever this place is, I can’t wait to go there.
And this? This is the single most exciting shot out of every single piece of video we’ve seen for this game thus far. I know it seems like it’s pretty pedestrian, another third person shot of Leon, running in the dark (probably somewhere in either the sewers or in the Umbrella elevator platform towards the end of the game)… but it’s so much more friends. Every single shot we’ve seen of Leon (that wasn’t obviously a cutscene) is of him from behind, walking or running forward. There was a shot or two that sorta looked like classic cameras, but they could honestly be waved away as “the camera is just panned back a bit” or something. But this. Nothing else in either trailer looks anything like this. Yeah, it’s a low shot of Leon running in the dark. You know what else it is? It’s a shot of Leon running towards the camera. Towards it.
I watched frame by frame. That boy is comin’ at us. This looks exactly like a classic RE fixed camera shot, doesn’t it? The way it’s framed, the placement of the character on screen. Friends, unless this is just some weird bullshit shot they stuck in the trailer for no reason… I think we’re getting a fixed camera mode. I think we might be getting a first-person mode too. I think the rumors that this game features all three are true. I cannot tell you how much I hope this single shot that lasts only a few frames near almost the very end of the trailer confirms this to be true.
Finally, the very last moment of the trailer gives us our first good look at the new Licker. This sucka’ is big, closer to the RE5 version of this beast than the spindly RE2/Outbreak-ones. The sinewy look to him is wonderful to look at. It’s always been the design of the creature that’s iconic, but 4K modern textures finally do this beast justice. I have a feeling that these things are going to be fucking terrifying.
GAH! That’s it. That’s every last drop of info I could squeeze out of these two trailers. I hope you guys enjoyed, and I hope we get even more RE2 goodness in the coming weeks. Let me know if there’s anything else you spotted in the comments!
