Horror Games Special Feature – Resident Evil: Remake

Posted on 28th October 2015 by

With Halloween just around the corner, we felt it was time to delve into some of the horror classics of gaming!
In the nights leading up to All Hallows Eve, we’re going to do a short feature of some of the more notable horror games that have been released. This isn’t a list of the best or even our favourites.
Just some Horror games which have stood out to us, for one reason or another.

A remake in the film industry is nothing new. In fact, they are painfully over-utilized.
A remake in the gaming industry, however, is something else entirely.
Reboots, sure, they happen all the time. Look at Tomb Raider.
Remasters, you hear of a new one every couple of months. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection came out just last month, ATOW.
But a remake? Can we even have remakes of games…?

The main reason we need to ask this question is the same reason people dislike remakes of films: they add little to the original experience and have almost no impact.
A remake of the original Metroid called Metroid: Zero Mission was released on Game Boy Advance in 2004. It was one of the better remakes, with updated visuals and tighter controls. But it wasn’t, to be blunt, original. It didn’t bring anything to the table that was new. It didn’t have the ‘wow’ factor.

Of the remakes I’ve played, there are only two that stick out for bringing something memorable to the table. The first is Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, an inferior but still enjoyable game.
The other, the only remake I can think of that outshines the original in every way, is Resident Evil: Remake.

There’s plenty that could be said about any game in the franchise, whether it’s in revolutionizing the genre (RE1, RE4), the amazing/terrible quality (RE2/RE5) or interesting gameplay mechanics (RE3).
But the remake does not get the attention it deserves for doing something that, I would argue, no other game has ever done before: instead of viewing this opportunity as simply a way to fix bugs or improve graphics, the Resident Evil remake played with player expectations of what a remake could be in a way that was wholly satisfying and undeniably effective.

Just one example of how this was done is embodied in the form of a new enemy introduced in the remake: the Crimson Heads.
Whereas the old game had you shooting zombies in the head to kill them, things weren’t so easy in the remake. Corpses now had to be set fire to, unless you wanted the zombies resurrected, and three times faster than they were to begin with. This meant that players who had played the original game to death (*snigger*) had a fresh challenge in playing the remake, as opposed to simply indulging in a bit of nostalgia.

With new areas, new set-pieces, new moves and a utterly sensational soundtrack, the Resident Evil remake is a notable survival horror game because it is the prime example of how to do a remake right.
Resident Evil may have popularized survival horror and will always have a widespread legacy, but the remake was no less ambitious in its development. Capcom could have made a simple cash cow, but instead they went out of their way to make…..some sort of super zombie cow. With lasers.

Best moment
As in the original game, the best moment of the Resident Evil remake happens very early on in the game. In the original, you walked down an empty corridor when zombie dogs burst through the window. It was a huge shock, and set the tone of things to come.
The remake, in a very clever move, deliberately did not do this because the jump-scare was so infamous. It made the walk down the corridor nerve-shredding.
Better again, it made you think that was the whole point, when in fact, the dogs jump out when you return to the corridor the second time…..genius.
(Here’s the original, which makes for a better video)

Where is the franchise now?
Rumours have been circulating that Capcom will be announcing Resident Evil 7 very soon, while there have been many spin-off titles since released/announced, including Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and Umbrella Corps (expected release: 2016)
In more exciting news, Capcom announced that they were remaking Resident Evil 2 back in August. As this has only just been announced, it likely won’t be released until 2017, or maybe even 2018.
Check out the trailer for the original Resident Evil 2 below.