House of horrors

I’ve been playing Resident Evil Remake on PS4 recently to celebrate the gameplay reveal of Resident Evil 2 Remake. I knew that RE Remake was good ahead of me playing it again on PS4 as I have already played it on the GameCube many moons ago but my god, it’s absolutely phenomenal.

I want to say that this is one beautiful looking game, it holds up very well. The backgrounds of the mansion and the outside area are gorgeous to look at, don’t get too distracted though, otherwise, you’ll have a zombie dog trying to munch on you. The lighting for RE Remake is simply fantastic and it really helps in creating a scary and tense atmosphere.

The lighting is one of the ingredients that is used to make a horrifying and nerve-wracking atmosphere, another is the mansion where the game is set. The game features several characters but Spencer Mansion is a character within itself. The grand location houses dozens of rooms and corridors and it’s very easy to get lost in the labyrinth-like mansion. I got lost a few times and this played on my fear as I was wondering if I was going to bump into something really nasty, like a Crimson Head and trust me, you do not want to meet one of them.

Many of Spencer Mansion’s corridors are long and narrow, which means there isn’t much room to get past someone of the undead variety and running away from a fast enemy like a Crimson Head or a Hunter isn’t easy as they can catch up to you and deal significant damage. Sometimes it’s best to deal with the enemy as you’ll be going through the halls of Spencer a lot. Make sure you have ammo though, if you aren’t equipped to deal with the horrors, they will slaughter you without hesitation.

The enemies of RE Remake are another element that helps to create a horror experience. I think zombies aren’t all that scary now due to shows like The Walking Dead and games like Dead Rising, they’re just horrific monsters that need to put down. The zombies in RE Remake aren’t that scary but there’s something unnerving about them. Entering a corridor and just seeing a lone zombie shambling down the corridor is creepy, there’s something about it that I can’t put my finger on. One lone zombie slowly shuffling towards me in a dark corridor is bloody terrifying, it distils a fear in me that I don’t get from many other games.

During my playthrough of RE Remake, I’ve been playing as Chris Redfield which is completely new to me. When I played it on GameCube, I only played as Jill Valentine so I went into this fresh. I need to play through Jill’s campaign on the PS4 version, not only for the completionist part of me but also because Jill is a brilliant character.

I like Chris’s campaign, it’s a far cry from punching boulders in Resident Evil 5 (seriously though, Chris went to the gym and made some serious gains before RE5). One part of Chris’s story that I’m a fan of is the reduced inventory space. Jill has eight inventory slots whereas Chris only has six. The smaller number of item slots means I have to manage inventory and take only the essential stuff. Less space means less place to put weapons, ammo and healing items. It’s a small change but it adds to the tension. If I’m low on health and I run into a Hunter, I have to get out of there quick or kill it before it kills me.

One thing I appreciated more this time around was the story. I enjoy the story of Resident Evil, even if it did go a bit OTT in the later entries. Reading the file entries was incredibly interesting and provided insight on the overall plot. I can’t remember if Jill comes across some different files if so, I am looking forward to reading them. Going through the files has made me want to do lore runs for other Resident Evil games, looks like I’ll be booting up Resident Evil 2 and 3 again soon.

As you can probably guess, I have enjoyed Resident Evil Remake immensely and I think now I need to go through each of the numbered Resident Evil games again (including Code: Veronica X), before Resident Evil 2 Remake releases next year.

Do you like Resident Evil? Are you as excited as I am for Resident Evil 2 Remake? Let me know in the comments below or tell me on Twitter – @ThatGreenDude95