Capcom is continuing to head in the right direction with the Biohazard franchise, focusing on what made these games popular in the first place. So much attention to detail went into this game, and great improvements were made when compared back to the original. The environments are richer and more expansive. The story is more refined. It's enhanced in every way.

What stands out the most is the impressive pacing. There is a rhythm to the encounters you face v downtime, the feeling of safety v insecurity, the placement of items that you find v being completely devoid of ammunition. You actually have to be careful when firing at a zombie, as they sways in a way that can be challenging to hit and move at you with extreme aggression. You have to be on your toes when you enter a room, and likewise, ready to search a room quickly when an enemy rattles at the wooden door that is between you, keeping it at bay. Fleeing is a tackle option, and is actually essential in some instances.

The gameplay is utterly satisfying in so many ways. It just feels good to watch as a zombie recoils from a gunshot, followed by the shock of it continuing to push forward quickly after. Zombies lunge at you from around corners, making it so that walking is often not just more immersive but a safer option. You also can never trust a zombie on the ground, keeping you constantly on edge.

I'm currently doing a second play through as Claire, having originally played as Leon (I elected to do the 2nd option that you unlock after the first play through). There are differences between Leon and Claire's runs, though I would say not quite as different as I had hoped. Needless to say I'm obsessed with this game.

There are 2 types of resident evil games

1. Ones with Leon
2. Ones without Leon

This is the former. #bae fr

Didn’t enjoy the sewer too much, much like the OG version as the area doesn’t feel “lived in”. Yeah, it’s a fucking sewer duh- but the RPD and other area in the game let you see HOW shit got bad quick. Crocodile set piece is fucking stupid too. Big fan of the G monsters, the sewer enemies tho

Resident Evil 2 was a unique horror experience. I have like 2 unexplored game genres and that is horror and jrpgs. This again was my first resident evil game and for a person who does not fit well with horror elements it was a brand new experience, horrifying to be more specific.

Gameplay
I saw some gameplay of the original game from 1998 and boy this remake clearly made it into another game, when you first start the game you can choose between leon and claire. I choose leon because for newcomers that character is the ICON of re, the new graphics are well optimized and you get plenty of guns and attachments, even when you finish the game you get extra modes and even play with the other character, the customization is there too, you can get accessories by just playing the game. The atmosphere is amazing, it really feels awesome when you walk into some dark rooms and then you stumble across a safe room when you can save.

Story
The story is about a young policeman by the name of Leon Kennedy. He's a rookie to the police forces called to his first day to the job, while driving he had to stop near a gas station and then he found some dead bodies and our second protagonist by the name of Claire. Both of them are surrounded by zombies and they decided to drive in the raccoon city to find shelter but when they arrived only one cop was barely alive by the name of Marvin, the duo separated and so leon helped Marvin at the police departament, he knew something was off and so the cop told him that there's a way down to the parking lot and some kind of bizarre basement, after he found a way to get to that elevator by finding 3 pieces to unlock it he met down there with a mutated zombie by the name of Birkin. After fighting him he went deeper and found out the parking lot, that's were some zombie dogs jumped on Leon and found an FBI agent by the name of Ada Wong. She told him to leave the place but our protagonist refused because it was his duty to find what happened here, then he started exploring the parking lot alone and he found some prison cells and in one of them was a guy by the name of Ben who was killed by someone and has some kind of special cop permit to open the gates to the parking lot, he found an electric panel but it had one button missing and so he had to go up again but he met the a tall creature by the name of MR X. He started to chase leon but he knew that should not stop the investigation about this virus and so he found a way to move the bookshelves in the police departament so he can go to the clocktower to find the electric component for the jail, after he was done he went back in the parking lot and got the permit but immediately the alarm went on and zombies started coming out of the jail cells and so that giant monster from earlier started to chase him again, after he got out the FBI agent helped leon again by driving a swat car towards the monster and so she rescued leon. Yes they were keeping score now and together found a solution to investigate the sewers so they can find the source of this incident, after agreeing they met someone on their way in a gun shop who hold a gun to leon but turns out that man had a daughter who was infected by this virus and so ada spoke with him and they let both of them walk. After getting in the sewers leon saw a big monster lurking around and eventually he met with a big alligator but he managed to run and shot a pipe and kill the monster with his pistol matilda. Leon was pretty injured and so ada continued the way into the mysterious underground lab, she met with Annette, the wife of birkin, and so ada started to chase her but mr x from earlier came back, there's some backstory to all of this though. William Birkin was a scientist who got his hands in the G-VIRUS, but the swat team immediately raided him in his lab and he injected himself with the virus and he turned into a huge monster like mr x, and now we know that we have to steal that sample before it's too late. Ada escaped but she found a permit in a incinerator but she was tricked by annette, and so she had to use her hacking device to get out but after escaping she fell in a pile of trash and so leon woke up and started to look for ada and he fought some mutated creatures in his way but eventually he found her down there. He had to find some chess pieces to open the door to get her out and move on, after he completed the puzzle both of them get into a train down in the labs where ada left leon alone to get the sample, wondering around the lab he got some permits to have access to more rooms in the underground lab and so he took the part of a chimical tube in the green zone and then taking it to the freezer room to complete it, he had access to the g-sample but out of nowhere he met birkin again, having a last fight with him and shooting his eyes. After the fight leon learns about the truth about ada, she was not sent by the fbi, she was a mercenary who wanted the g-sample for herself and so the auto destruction sequence started and leon had to rush towards the elevator where he can take a train but he was followed by mr x, now by his real name the tyrant. A last boss fight happened and leon got a launcher to exterminate tyrant and then rushing to the train where he met claire and a young girl by the name of cherry.
And so the story ends...

Conclusion
This game influenced me to try other genres, before meeting mr x I was thinking that the environment was too repetitive but after meeting him tyrant the game opened up. Might try other RE games in the future but this one was a 5 star game for getting my senses up.

Revisiting this after a couple of months and after playing through most of the titles in the series... really a rewarding play through to get back to the game that got me hooked on Resident Evil.

Truly a fun yet terrifying experience that is the perfect blend of puzzles, combat / survival which is all set in beautiful, detailed and immersive environments which captivate me time and time again.

Would love to eventually play the original and see how this game evolved from its roots.

Impeccable atmosphere, phenomenal level design, and the hottest man in gaming Leon Scott Kennedy. While there are things I prefer in the original, like how many times Leon and Claire cross paths and how the both scenarios interact in general, when taking it on it's own it's a hard to beat survival horror experience. I also have a minor gripe about Claire's 2nd Run replacing all her regular pistol ammo with Quickdraw Army ammo. I very much did not like it's reload time but I had no option but to use it because there was basically no regular pistol ammo laying around. Not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things but worth mentioning.