Resident Evil 3 Will Feature a Reimagined Take on Raccoon City

After the massive success of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 remake, fans are eager to see how the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 3 stacks up to the original game. While the Resident Evil 2 remake stuck fairly close to the 1998 title, Resident Evil 3 will feature a number of new elements that weren't present in 1999's Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and that will apparently extend to Raccoon City, itself. In an interview published in Official Xbox Magazine issue 188, producer Peter Fabiano hinted at what changes long-time fans can expect to the infamous location, but how it will still look and feel familiar.

"You can explore a lot more of Raccoon City this time," Fabiano said to Official Xbox Magazine. "We have built it from the ground up, there is some reference here and there to the original, but it is Raccoon City reimagined. You can go into certain shops and see things you wouldn't have been able to see before. It's not an open-world game, don't get me wrong, but you can explore a lot more.

Hopefully, fans of the original will be very impressed by the reimagined Raccoon City. It's way more fleshed out, there's a huge attention to detail – you'll notice posters throughout the city and all these little homages to the '90s and the '80s, these little touches we put in there."

It will be interesting to see just how much exploration is expanded in the game. The Resident Evil franchise has always given players a bit of freedom to explore, and that plays a major role in the game's puzzles. That said, opening up the city in new ways could be a great way to increase the game's tension.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis takes place in 1998, and the games have typically followed that timeline closely, unlike other Capcom franchises. So, it certainly makes sense that players should see references that will reflect that point in time. In the game, Jill Valentine finds herself on the run from the Nemesis, a creature created by Umbrella to kill the remaining S.T.A.R.S. team members, since they could implicate Umbrella in the T-Virus outbreak. The game's beginning takes place before the start of Resident Evil 2, but the game ends after that title's conclusion.

As of this writing, the remake of Resident Evil 3 is set to release on April 3, 2020. Given the current coronavirus pandemic, that date could very well change, but Capcom has not made anything official, as of this writing. The game will be available in both a standard release and a special edition, the latter of which includes a Jill Valentine action figure, an art book and more.

Are you excited to see some changes to Raccoon City? Do you plan on picking up Resident Evil 3? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!