Grave Gamer News & Views — remake

Capcom Wants to Know What You Want From a Resident Evil 2 Remake [UPDATED]

Great goddamn G-Virus, people. It’s happened. Capcom is seriously considering a remake of one of the most beloved survival horror games of all time. Trouble is, they really don’t know how to go about reviving the 17 year-old classic. So they’re asking us.

Here’s what the Capcom’s R&D Team posted on the official RE Facebook today:

First off, we would like to express our deepest appreciation to all Resident Evil fans, for your passion, enthusiasm and continued support for the Resident Evil brand.

Enthusiasm for a Resident Evil 2 Remake is something we’ve been hearing from you over the years, and has drawn some recent attention in the media. [That bit’s probably in reference to this fan remake made using Unreal 4.]

However, as the team owns the RE brand, we’re not certain how we feel about this approach, and would like to ask your honest and frank opinion about the “Resident Evil 2 Remake” and what the brand identity is supposed to be about?

I can understand why Capcom is fractured on what direction the remake should take. Since 2005, the definition of a successful Resident Evil game has moved away from straight-laced survival horror and into more… shoot-stuff-in-the-face territory.

But the storied response to the post shows fans’ tastes are craving a return to old school horror. Over 10,000 comments later and the consensus is somewhere along the lines of a faithful remake – harnessing next-gen graphics, of course – that hedges close to the route 2002′s Resident Evil Remake took. Basically, a gorgeous retread that infuses just enough new to scare us all over again.

Resident Evil 2 is my favorite game of all time, bar none. I’m all in for a faithful remake rather than a shooter-y reboot, but I don’t necessarily want a prettied up version of a game from 1998. Despite its numbered title, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was intended as a spin-off to supplement RE2. I’d go fucking wild if Capcom stitched together both narratives into one giant Raccoon City Saga, especially if the story is tweaked to help the games flow into one meaningful arc.

Or, as I’ve pitched time and again, have the brilliant Scenario System – which sees you play through one set of events that affects your second playthrough – converted into a quasi co-op mode that has players tackling their stories simultaneously, sometimes overlapping to face certain challenges. Now that’s reaching for the S.T.A.R.S. (it’s okay, I vomited in my own mouth for you to pay for that pun).

Whatever it may become, I’m there, and it already sounds like a bunch of you will be right there alongside me. FFVII be damned. This is most exciting remake I can imagine.

UPDATE

This comes way of Mr. Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, longtime producer on the Resident Evil series:

Hello RE fans! This is H again!

Right after the RE HD Remaster project was finished, I actually started putting together my ideas for this “RE2 Project”. So, I just brushed it up and went to see my boss to present the basic concept of the project already…

Yeaaaah. I think this dream’s coming true, folks… My emotions can only be described as somewhere between “raging joy” and “screaming boner.”

“If REmake can be considered the pinnacle of the Resident Evil experience – and it is – then this remaster is undoubtedly the best way to enjoy it.”

The re-re-release of Resident Evil got itself a date today. You can download your copy for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, or Xbox One on January 20th.

This pivotal lesson in survival horror history will only cost you $19.99.

Resident Evil HD Hosts Entirely Polygonal Rooms

In keeping with the 1996 original, Resident Evil’s remake implemented pre-rendered backgrounds to build the Spencer Estate (and its underground “add-on’s”).

But for next year’s second re-release of the acclaimed backtracking simulator, the Remaster Crew assigned to the game is reconstructing entire areas using 3D polygons. The team’s doing this to...

Current-Gen Screens of REmake

So what if there’s a bunch of Black Friday deals next week on the new consoles? Who gives a damn that “next-gen” dominates every gaming news junket headline? “Discount” ain’t “free.” You already paid hundreds of bucks to get on the last gen when it was next-gen.

Resident Evil’s got your back, man. You don’t need no fancy next-gen console to enjoy a thirteen-year-old horror game. It’ll be on Xbox 360 and PS3…

But you know what? You’re hardcore, man. You don’t even need those new fangled pieces of yellow lighting’, red ringing junk. You still have your Gamecube and the two tiny discs Shinji Mikami spread this re-classic over like sweet, survival horror jam. It was a better time. A time when we wisely put handles on our consoles like nerdy little lunch boxes.

Where’s your response to that, Next-Gen?!