LogFAQs > #946602994

6. Resident Evil REmake (25.5 points)
Nominated by: wallmasterz (1/5 remaining)


Importance: 7
Fear: 8.5
Snake: 10

I won't beat around the bush here: Resident Evil Remake is my favorite game of all time. It's the perfect horror experience of any medium in my eyes, and a testament to flawless game design that is absolutely ageless and timeless. Released only 6 years after the original Resident Evil, REmake was everything Shinji Mikami wanted the original game to be. Scarier, better graphics, better translation and voice overs, it was all here and then some. Everything was overhauled and practically nothing was cut, in fact there was way more stuff added to make the experience even beefier. Though the story is essentially the same, better presentation went a long way towards making it feel shiny and brand new. Gone were any live-action scenes or cheesy "Jill sandwich" line, direction was smart and film-like, lit like the most gorgeous Gothic horror film you've ever seen and shot with Carpenter-esque tension and suspense, from the totally reworked opening to the action-fueled climax. This of course extends to the game's fixed camera, every angle made with care and precision, illuminating what you need to see and hiding what they don't want you to see. Every frame of this game is a Renaissance painting, the detail in the Mansion and beyond is immaculate thanks to amazing pre-renders that hold up to this day. You'll go through grand marble-floored entrances to dingy hallways soaked with so must dust and decay you can feel it in your throat. Step outside onto moonlit cemeteries for some fresh air, as the soft muddy soil squishes under boot and small puddles splash in the aftermath. The Residence is a house taken over by mother nature, in what could be a beautiful scene maligned with corpses and dangerous vines peeking out through every wooden floorboard and wall panel. This careful attention to world design ties perfectly into gameplay; every room is memorable, giving this otherwise sprawling maze of inter-connectivity an intimate feeling where learning all passageways and short-cuts becomes a reward in and of itself.

And you will need this knowledge, because REmake is not an easy game. Zombies take a lot of hits until they're felled, and even then you have a potential Crimson Head problem if not you're not burning the bodies. Cerberus move fast and pin you to the ground, rewarding quick reflexes and careful shots. In later game, Hunters take on the role of zombies as the common enemy, with the speed of the Cerberus mixed with hard hitting bites of zombies. Every battle is a choice, to waste precious resources or to conserve and avoid. Any damage or misstep can almost always be avoided, though defense items do even the score a bit if a mistake is made, but even then that's another potential item lost. The up-close and personal nature of the Mansion means taking precaution, walking slow, and thinking before any action is made. It just has a way different feel than any other RE I can think of; it trades hordes of ammo-draining zombies which makes it seem like ammo conservation matters, for singular enemies where fighting could always mean the difference between life and death. Again, as room layouts become ingrained in your subconscious, so does enemy placement, because no zombie is wasted in obscure areas and no Chimeras are left hanging in the lab. REmake is always rewarding you or punishing you, and that is simply an awesome way of teaching the player through experience and potentially making anyone a pro zombie dodger zooming through the mansion at world-record speed.

I do want to talk about the story a bit more too. While as stated it remained pretty much intact from the original, REmake's most noteworthy addition to the story is the arc of the Trevors, told primarily through files. George Trevor, the Spencer Mansion architect, is betrayed by his employer and trapped in the house of torture that he himself created. His daughter and wife, Lisa and Jessica respectively, are also captured by Umbrella. While Jessica is murdered, Lisa only around 15 at the time, is subjected to decades of torture. While Resident Evil tends to err more on the B-movie cheesy side of horror, these stories are injected with pure Argento-style horror that makes the imagination run rampant due to being told primarily through the written word. However, you do encounter Lisa, and though she's slow and cumbersome, the files make you remember how terrifying she really is and her rattling chains and heart-piercing wail is always a good excuse to run the opposite direction. Otherwise, across the board, characters are improved without changing them too much. Barry is still jovial and kind of a goofball who will still always gets Jill out of a jam, but this time he's played much more jumpy and paranoid and Jill catches on quick. Jill herself is a lot tougher and self-assured, thanks in no small part to better voice direction. Chris is still a blank slate, while Rebecca is often seen frightened (which makes no sense due to RE0 but hey we'll jive with it) but given constant assurance by Chris and proves her skills as a medic and pianist. Finally, we have Wesker as the last of the core cast, and I can't tell if he's extra shady as a writing choice or because players might already have advanced knowledge of him being a traitor. I'm willing to bet on a bit of both! While overall the dialogue of original RE1 will always be more memorable, REmake just perfectly nails a distinct, serious horror atmosphere which i think was a good change for pace for one game at least.

I could talk about REmake all day and every tiny detail the game pulls off just right, but players of this masterpiece already know that, and I wouldn't want newcomers to be totally spoiled either. REmake is just an intricate puzzle box that opens its gameplay and horrors layer by layer, demanding replay after replay and restart after restart. Modes galore, varying levels of difficulty, different types of weapon runs, speedruns, REmake is an endless treasure trove of smart game design and frightening terrors that will never get old to me and I will keep replaying it until the day I die.

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Bare feet on the tile with my head up in the clouds
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