Abominations and Beards: Resident Evil Revelations 2 Gets Back to What Matters Most
Capcom has had themselves a short but sweet streak of goodwill recently, especially concerning their flagship survival horror franchise.
Resident Evil HD (or REmastered if you’re hip as shit) is finally getting its due, where once it fell into obscurity on Nintendo’s Gamecube, it’s being discovered by a new generation of players hungry for hardship, scares, and Jill Sandwiches.
Next up on the docket, the highly experimental sequel to Revelations, starring series favorites Claire-bear Redfield and Beardy Burton. Instead of marching to the monotonous action-game beat RE5 and RE6 laid down, RER2 is bringing back old school conventions like environmental puzzles and heavy exploration.
And, unlike last generation’s era of squirrel-brained AI partners, Barry’s tween tag-along, Natasha, can be controlled at any moment the player chooses and actually assist in heated conflicts – where she can spot and “tag” enemies for Barry – or help navigate through level obstacles. It’s a far cry from the days of having to stuff Ashley Graham into a garbage caked dumpster to keep her out of harm’s way.
Don’t know about you, but I feel like this series is headed back in the right direction. Not only does it harken back to the exploratory days of old, but the new ingredients seem to only heighten what works about Resident Evil in the first place.
The first installment of Resident Evil Revelations 2 drops digitally on February 24th on PS3 & PS4 with the Xbox and PC versions releasing the very next day.