Capcom Talks Raccoon City and Leon's Redesign In Resident Evil 2 Remake

Today during San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom dove into how Resident Evil 2 Remake – despite the name – isn't simply a remake. It's a "redesign." For it, Capcom has redesigned the entire game: the characters, the environments, everything.

Further, Capcom touched upon why Leon looks younger in Resident Evil 2, as well as adjustments made to his character and Raccoon City made possible by new technology.

According to Capcom's Kellen Haney, the team opted to give Leon a younger look in the game compared to previous entries in order to juxtapose his rookie status at the start of the game, with his hero status as the game progresses.

"Compared to later entries, the goal was to give him more of a fresh-faced rookie look in contrast to the hero that he becomes later on in the series, " writes Haney in a PlayStation Blog post."

Haney continued, mentioning the remake team spent a lot of time thinking about how Leon would look in a day of photorealistic graphics, and explained how it used new scanning technology to achieve this vision.

"Famous for having one of the worst first days on the job in history (they cancelled his welcoming party and everything), a lot of thought was put into how Leon's new, yet classic, look would work with modern photorealistic graphics," writes Haney. "As a result, the team created a physical version of Leon's costume, using photogrammetry technology to scan his clothes into the game and added minor details and changes afterwards."

Haney then transitioned to talking about Raccoon City, which is defined by its wet, dark corners that shimmer when ever they see light, and how new tech was able to bring Raccoon City closer to the vision that was originally drawn-up back in the 90s when the first game released.

"For the city itself, the team put a major focus on two concepts that permeate throughout the game: A sense of wetness, and playing off a fear of the dark," wrote Haney. "Using the powerful RE Engine, the team has been able to achieve their goal of creating a sense of dread through these visual cues. The events ofˆResident Evil 2 take place on a rainy day in Raccoon City, causing puddles and flooding in parts of the city, while others areas are covered in the grotesque aftermath of clashes with the undead and other terrors lurking in the gloom."

Elsewhere during the SDCC panel, Capcom announced the game's official collector's edition, and also revealed and talked about Claire Redfield's new design, which is complete with a Harley Davidson crossover. No, actually.

Resident Evil 2 Remake is poised to release on January 25, 2019 via the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on the game, click here.