Resident Evil 2 Devs Explain Why It’s “Not A Remake”

Sony’s E3 2018 conference was different from their usual showcase, but no less exciting. We had a solid idea of what would be revealed due to transparency from the company prior to the event, but that Resident Evil 2 reveal was … it was a showstopper. Seeing our boy Leon once more, in such stunning graphical detail, was a treat. Seeing how they are revamping a classic favourite? Even better! But why aren’t the dev team calling this a remake, since essentially that’s what it is? Mike Lunn, Brand Manager for Capcom, is here to answer just that.

Lunn recently sat down with our friends over at GamingBolt to discuss why they are taking a slightly different approach with this release. “It won’t be faithful one to one. For someone that’s played the game, some people played it once and some people played it a thousand times because it’s their favourite game. For the people that have even played it a thousand times, we wanted it to feel fresh. That’s why we don’t call it Resident Evil 2 Remake. It’s a new game built on top of the foundation.”

We could already tell there were some variations from the reveal trailer, but will the differences be that much? He explained, “So for example, there is a part where you’re walking through the police station, and a lurker walks by the window.”

Lunn added, “In the original game that happens every single time. We don’t include that because of the jumpscares, the puzzles, and because we want you to be challenged by that stuff. We want you to be scared by that stuff, not just repositioned to a new part of the building, but sort of reimagined. Because we don’t want you to know exactly how the puzzles are solved, we don’t want you to know exactly where the enemies are going to be. We want to surprise you. So, we have changed things a bit. But on the whole, the main idea, the main arcs of the story are very similar. But there are going to be some new surprises in there as well.”

As someone that collectively lost her mind during the Sony showcase when this came on the big screen 10 feet in front of my face, I’m so happy to hear this! I loved Resident Evil 2 when it first came out and I have no doubt that this new vision will do just as well, if not better. I’m excited to see what new twists and turns they put Leon through, and to see fan favourite characters (and that damned alligator …) back in stunning graphic reform!

Resident Evil 2 Not-the-Remake will be arriving for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on January 25th.