sisslethecat
Now that’s a lot of info, strangah.
RE2 Remake information absolutely blew up GamesCom, with an all-new demo featuring Claire gameplay and a bunch of new details straight from the devs. I’ve found as much as I can and have broken it down into bullet points for you guys so you don’t have to read like 15 different posts. Get ready, cause I believe the exact measurement for this information is a “cubic buttload.”
- Capcom optimized the tempo of the game to be able to present the story more dramatically. Therefore, some events were changed or added. For example, the arrival of Chief Irons after the first encounter with Birkin, and he will “stick around longer,” becoming increasingly “more unpleasant” than in the original game.
I’m all for this. In short, the more things stay the same, the more they change as well. I’d argue that the grand majority of what we’ve seen thus far has been entirely new, only vaguely inspired by the story of the original RE2. While the original REmake did make a lot of story changes (Richard plays a larger role, the addition of Lisa Trevor, etc), this is going way farther than that did. Honestly, while I’m sure the general gist of RE2 will remain the same (as in story beats will probably still end with the same basic results); I gladly welcome these sorts of major adjustments and additions. More (and a somehow eviler) Chief Irons? Oh my god yes, please.
- Other characters are having their looks modified. With Sherry, they want to underline the fact that she was raised in a wealthy family but is lonely and kind of weird, whereas with Ada they want to move away from the red cocktail dress and into something more subdued and realistic. The devs have also seen the reactions to Claire’s new design and look, and they stress that they have worked in this regard. They hope players will like the results once they see more of her in motion, hear her speaking, and witness her fight against all that Racoon City will throw at her.
This one, in particular, has already caused a bit of a stir with fans, specifically the comments on Ada’s look. We’ve already (sort of) seen Ada in the announcement trailer; she appears to be returning to a 1.5 era design rather than her iconic red dress. While this personally doesn’t bother me that much (I’d be more supportive of Ada’s ridiculous RE4 look being changed at some point), I get that people feel like this is sort of shitting on the original game in a way. The only characters that have stayed completely true to their original designs so far are Marvin and Irons, who aside from small cosmetic changes (Irons has his sleeves up now — amazing) they look basically like they always have. I have faith in what they’re going for and am totally in love with the idea of just ejecting the goofy side of RE completely.
- The original soundtrack is part of the Deluxe Edition and also available as DLC. It will be the original soundtrack but will work “differently.” In the original, music would play according to the rooms you enter or at key situations. Now, if you play with the original OST, it changes according to the situation. You can swap the soundtrack in the middle of the game. ALSO, there’s no title call by default, but with the original OST enabled, the “RESIDENT EVIL” title call will be back too.
It’s safe to say that fans have been very excited about this particular feature, despite how small it is. REmake 2 seems to be going for a different tone musically, that’s much closer to the ambiance of RE7 than the epic “theme” music of the original. Just swapping the new music out on the fly for the classic soundtrack is incredible beyond words, but knowing how it will work is pretty impressive too. Now, the music will bleed in and out with each track on the fly. Oh, and while it sucks that REmake 2 won’t have a title call (I guess they’re dropping it for good as … Umbrella Corps. was the last game with one – ick) having the original available in some way is rad. I’m curious if it will be the original-original title call, or the redone 2002 version for GameCube, though.
- There are no new enemies, including Crimson Heads, but zombies have received a ton of attention. They thought a lot about how they worked best mechanically and made sure they look disturbing. During combat, their movements are designed to unnerve the player. They are also way harder to kill than before and can even “play dead,” then stand up again. The player should never be 100% sure if a zombie is dead or not.
Crimson Heads are perhaps one of the most recognizably “remake” creatures in the series, appearing in only two canon games to date (REmake and The Umbrella Chronicles) and in the non-canon Operation Raccoon City. If you’re unfamiliar, Crimson Heads are mutated versions of zombies that requiring decapitation or the burning of their bodies to keep them from rising. It was unique and terrifying when you forgot they were there. That said, the strain of the T-Virus that infested the mansion and Raccoon City are two different strains, so there is a lore-based reason why Crimsons aren’t returning (one Operation Raccoon City ignored).
As far as there being no other new enemies, I’m fine with this. RE2 has a pretty dense line-up of creatures, from like six different versions of Birkin, multiple bosses, two different kinds of Lickers and Ivies, Mr. X and his unlimited form, Cerberus, and of course shit tons of zombies. It would have been cool to get something new maybe, but considering how different REmake 2 is going to play from the original, they’re basically all “new” monsters in a way. I mean, there’s going to be a pretty huge difference between just the original zombies and the new ones. We haven’t even seen gameplay of things like Lickers yet.
- With this game, they want to show that the third-person view is well suited to a horror game and that the RE Engine can create beautiful but also disturbing visuals, meanwhile using binaural sound design to wear down and unsettle the player.
Oh cool, that great sound design system they used in RE7’s End of Zoe DLC is coming back. As much as I enjoyed End of Zoe, that sound system felt kind of wasted there (EoZ isn’t horror at all really, but more deliberately campy and over the top). I’m sure lots of fans will also be happy to hear Capcom’s dedication to third-person gameplay after RE7 got some minor backlash at first. Whatever man, as long as it’s good.
- There will be no story DLC, and the Deluxe Edition content won’t be sold separately
I mean, on the one hand, great, there won’t be any waiting for additional content like we had to do with RE7’s Not A Hero DLC. But on the other hand, that means we’ll probably have a way longer wait for more RE stuff in general. This more than likely means that all the DLC we’ve seen offered in the Deluxe Edition really is all the DLC: a handful of costumes and the music swap. Odd that it won’t be separately, but that might change later on (all of RE7‘s pre-order bonuses and deluxe content was eventually sold separately)
- That clock tower area is new, and there’s more Raccoon City to explore even after the police station
This is a pretty big one. So in the very first REmake 2 trailer, we got a shot of what looked like a church or small clock tower. Fans were eager to jump on the idea of it possibly being St. Micheal’s Clock Tower, a location from Resident Evil 3. Capcom confirmed that our theories regarding what that location could be are “probably wrong,” and also that there will be more of the city to explore, at least in Claire’s campaign. Evidently, Claire will escape the police station with Sherry in tow and back out into the streets of Raccoon rather than through the sewers as in the original.
This is probably the biggest difference we’ve seen yet, other than the new opening area. After wrapping up her section of the RPD, Claire escapes via the underground parking lot shutter (the one seen in her demo). This shutter was completely inoperable in the original RE2, and it’s interesting to know that Claire will explore a different area than Leon (in theory, we have no confirmation yet as to whether he’ll explore the sewer either). REmake 2 is going balls to the wall with new content.
That’s all for now, but there’s going to be new info (and probably a new trailer if RE7‘s marketing timeline is anything to go by) coming soon from TGS.
Sources: Dengeki Online, Gamefront.de, residentevil.com.br, Silicon Era, Where’s Barry Twitter.
