The zombies talk and have cool unique routines and behaviours. Love it – back to basics, no molded, no lycans, no nonsense, but with a fun twist and some cool Return of the Living Dead flavour. The crafting is mostly concerned with ammo vs ink ribbons1 vs zombie deletion syringes, which isn’t too interesting, but I like the moments where you have to buy time to hoover blood off the ground. Resi is at its best when it sandwiches you between its nuts-and-bolts mechanics and some weird spectacle or gimmick, and the first act fits that bill expertly. One of the “midbosses” isn’t so much a lethal pursuer as just a really cranky wall, which is a pretty strong idea that I wish had seen a bit more play.
But unfortunately, there are two sides to every story. Leon’s first few brawls serve a great purpose as comic relief and palate cleanser, but the game upends its own balance and about halfway through he’s running around empty ass raccoon city earning Dino Crisis 2 points for upgrades you don’t want. The most horrifying moment is going back once again to the RPD and realising you’ve been playing a remake the whole time. AHHHHH!!!
When you’re back as Grace, we’re in The Labs again and once again contending with a diabolical lack of ideas. Stark white paneling and green lights. Lickers are back. The zombies have been reset to factory state and the crimson-head-type mechanic is no longer relevant. The RE8 DLC thought a change in perspective makes for a whole new game, but this feels like RE2 Remake with a wet vac. The last boss is a guy with a mutated arm that becomes a worse version of the RE3R last boss.
They really got me though! I really thought the game was doing a Far Cry 3, where the more interesting and charismatic villain gets randomly replaced by some guy that eats at Miller and Carter, but they flip the dick at a crucial moment. I haven’t been this happy to see a snakeskin trenchcoat and a massive sovvy ring since my uncle got out the jail.
The good part is really good and the bad parts are still playable, functional, workmanlike Resident Evil. But the remakes are so “modern” and the modern games are so “remake” that they have all become the same substance. RE7 was not a great game, but the “Resident Evil in first person!” concept was fairly new and strong – that has now been fully integrated. Feels like a post-RE6 moment where it is unclear what this series should be doing at this point.
I will probably live to see a RE1 re-remake. probably a RE2RR. God help me.
I’m sorry but I’ve peered through the veil now. I know you, game designer, would not actually leave me without any ink ribbons, so the ones scattered around the map are the canon ink ribbon supply and that blood will be spent on better things – and the many many empty ink ribbon cases, a haunted sight like a Snickers without the dick vein, are dead items. ↩︎