RE2 Remake (PS4)- Impressions So Far

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I’ve been playing RE2 remake since its release and I wanted to make a video giving my impressions of the game so far. I’ve spent about 20 hours with it, and currently into my second playthrough. But I don’t want to give a review quite yet, as there I still a lot do in subsequent playthroughs, unlockables, and achievements. I hate it when outlets publish reviews when they rush through a game or worse yet don’t even finish the game, so I’m not doing that here.

To give some perspective, I grew up with the original RE games. The first RE game and silent hill game were so terrifying to me as a kid that I watched as my brother play, as I would panic and not be able to control the character on screen. I have since revisited the original, but RE2 was the first in the series I completed on my own and my favorite in the series had to be Code Veronica and RE4. While I disliked RE5 and 6, I loved 7 and was anticipating the RE2 remake knowing that it was using the same engine.

While I never had expectations that the remake would be as good as the original for its time, the remake does a lot of things right that make it a success, a frighteningly enjoyable experience, and make fans of the franchise happy. The core mechanics of the original game are successfully updated. Inventory management will have you carrying only the essentials. While limited ammo has you avoiding enemies if you are running low, especially during the 1st half of the game. Boss battles are a major highlight as I wondered if I had enough ammo to make it through the fight. Playing on hardcore difficulty is definitely the way to go, as you will need an ink ribbon to save and enemies take more bullets to take down. While I was never without ink to save, it did give me pause when I walked by a save point thinking how long it has been since my last save. A new feature I liked was how your knife would degrade and break as you used it, and any sub-weapon could be used to avoid taking damage from zombies but reducing its damage potential. It was also frightening running away from Mr. X, who would chase you from room to room, while you also had to avoid other enemies in rooms you haven’t cleared out yet.

Some things that I didn’t love about the remake were the new voice actors for Leon and Claire. I played through the game first with Claire and wasn’t initially digging her new redesign. Her higher pitched voice I thought was annoying at first, but It didn’t bother me by the end. Her thirsty dialogue with Leon seemed out of place, but it got better in her separate story arc with Sherry. After multiple playthroughs, the relationship between Claire and Leon kinda grow on you, and I didn’t hate it as much as I initially did. Another thing that may be off-putting to new players is inventory management. You eventually find optional upgrades to expand your inventory slots, but when you are starting the game, and finding multiple weapons, ammo for specific weapons, sub-weapons like knives and grenades, you find yourself constantly backtracking to the item stash to put things away. There’s no way to drop something once you pick it up and destroying it is the only way to get an item out of your inventory. So I ended up leaving items on the ground, only picking up the ones crucial to progress. However, the game does label all items you encounter on the map, so you can easily see where they are when you need it. This feature is nice, but can also make exploration less interesting. I would find myself opening the map often to check if I collected everything in the room instead of actually exploring it, as the color of the room on the map would change from red to blue when everything obtainable was collected.

The sound, visuals, and voice acting all make for a frightening experience, but the absence of those things in the original is why my imagination filled the gaps and made for an even more terrifying experience. Sometimes witnessing something scary in silence and not having it pointed out is a lot more terrifying, then seeing the same thing and having your character say how terrified they are, or explain what just happened.

Any fan of the original knows that the game is to be played multiple times with a different story unfolding for Leon and Claire. They both have different weapons that change how to take out the enemies. The remake also introduces a 2nd playthrough feature that unlocks for the 2nd character that plays out a little differently, which includes taking a different path with key items in different locations that makes the second playthrough not as repetitive. So you essentially have 4 different storylines, your first playthrough as Leon or Claire and then your 2nd play through as the other character. Together with great unlockables like concept art and models, as well as timed runs for each playthrough, this game has a lot more content than I expected. This remake is truly something the fans of the original have been waiting for, while also being a great entry point for new players.

Let me know what you guys think of the game. Definitely worth a buy if you are a fan of the original and other games in the franchise, and would encourage everyone to try it once it goes on sale around the $40 price point.

Thanks for watching/reading and I hope you join me again soon.