The revival of a truly legendary series, Resident Evil 2 the RE:make, represented a return to form for developer Capcom and a fresh introduction to the realms of terror for many who weren’t even glints in their mother’s eye when the game was initially released. With a GeForce NOW Powered by Pentanet Priority membership, you can experience the terror in all its gory glory, with RTX-enabled graphics bringing Raccoon City police hall to unlife in ways we couldn’t have imagined back in 1998.
With great chagrin, I inform you that I am, in fact, old. I remember playing Resident Evil 2 when I was a young'un and thinking it was just about the scariest thing imaginable, to say nothing about how realistic its unliving terrors seemed to my childhood eyes. But when I compare the original to the RE:make (I’m going to keep doing that), I can’t see it as anything but indistinct blobs.
In the 2019 remake, that terror was brought to life exactly how it appeared in my childhood nightmares, if not even a little scarier. It’s beautiful, it’s grotesque, and in many ways, it’s a dream come true. So, what makes it so special?
Cops and Zombies
Resident Evil 2 sees rookie cop Leon Kennedy (who would later become ‘secret agent heartthrob Leon Kennedy’ in later entries) arriving for his first day at the Raccoon City Police Station just after all hell has broken loose. Raccoon City is overrun by the undead, and after reaching the police station in the hopes of finding safety, he instead finds himself trapped inside with the hordes of the undead. His only ally, Claire Redfield, who also has her own story in a separate campaign.
If the first Resident Evil invented survival horror (which Capcom maintains it did, after all, they invented the term for its marketing campaign), then Resident Evil 2 polished it to a mirror sheen, and then the RE:make perfected it.
You’re trapped inside a dingy, dimly lit police station, there’s no one else around, and in the dark, something’s coming for you. You only have a single clip for your 9mm handgun, which suddenly feels less than impressive as the undead surge on towards you through round after round. A well-placed shot can down them easily, but in the dark, surrounded, a well-placed shot is hard to come by.
That’s the terror Resident Evil 2 and survival horror as a whole thrives on. You’re not defenceless, you have every tool you need to survive, but it’s up to you to use them properly. Survival is a puzzle to be solved, and a well-placed bullet is the solution, but the choice of whether or not to fire it can be nerve-wracking. After all, it’s your last, and who knows how long it’ll be until you find more.
Back from the dead
The Resident Evil series holds a special place in my heart, and though the more recent first-person entries have been excellent, they aren’t what I regard as true, classic Resident Evil. That ended with the release of Resident Evil 5, where the main character isn’t a fragile but skilled survivor. They’re a boulder-punching, catch-phrase shouting meathead. Resident Evil 2 RE:make brought the classics back from the dead in a way I never dared imagine. So much love and attention have been poured into bringing this game to life in a way we never thought we’d receive.
From the mouldering sewers to mysterious laboratories, everything looks astonishing. Flickering lights illuminate stumbling undead as they come at you from the dark, and beautiful, tension-building music backs horrific SFX, bringing the world to life. It plays amazingly, too, gone are the ‘tank controls’ of my youth, now playing in the modern third-person control scheme we’ve come to associate with survival horror ever since Resident Evil 4 perfected it in 2005.
My PC could never play this game at its best, though. That’s why I was over the moon when it arrived on the cloud. Now the stress is off my aging system, and it’s just me, stressing as I count my last few green herbs, knowing Mr X gon' give it to me, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
God, I love Resident Evil.
If you’re eager to embrace the dark, moody depths of terror, join me on GeForce NOW Powered by Pentanet today. With several other Resident Evil titles available in the cloud now, there’s plenty to keep the both of us shaking in our boots for a long time to time!
This spotlight was written by Pentanet team member “Motley” and does not represent the opinions of Pentanet or NVIDIA.
