28h Played
Played with some of these great mods: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2757461826

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. I never play through games multiple times, yet I felt compelled to play through this with both Jill and Chris. I felt so tense when I was playing with Jill that I decided to start over on very easy then play through Chris on normal. I don't buy the arguments that Silent Hill 2 is scarier than this. Almost nothing in Silent Hill 2 felt particularly threatening, whereas in this I felt desperate to conserve every ink ribbon, every first aid spray, every round of ammunition. Knowing I had to leave as many inventory spots open as I could meant taking no healing items or ammo at times, just relying on what I might come across. I almost certainly took it too far, but something about the oppressive atmosphere of this game made me obsessed with not wasting anything. Starting out in this game was truly bewildering, but at a certain point I decided to play it almost like Dark Souls. I would save, then I would feel free to explore. Dying didn't matter. I could use all my ammo or healing items feeling out where to go next. Then just reload with my new knowledge. There something exhilarating and comforting to me about learning to play this suffocating game well and executing it.

I really like some of the puzzles requiring me to examine items in my inventory and pay close attention to the environment.

All of this comes together to indicate to me that the gameplay of Resident Evil is far, far better than that of Silent Hill 2. Most people would probably somewhat agree with that. But the Lisa Trevor story was deeply unsettling and heartbreaking to me, not too far off the story aspects of Silent Hill 2. From what I understand, this part was excluded from the 1996 version, which makes this version the one to play as far as I'm concerned (in addition to the vastly improved look and sound).

I do have a few complaints. I was very glad to have the new control scheme so I didn't have to deal with tank control, but this did cause some issues when camera changes would happen. Ultimately I found it to be worth it. Fortunately you can easily use the d-pad for tank control and analog for more responsive movement, which is a smart decision. I wish the game just had like a keyring or something. The idea that these people couldn't carry several keys easily doesn't make any sense, though this didn't matter much in practice because I rarely needed to carry more than one key at a time. There are some strange story inconsistencies, like instantly trusting Barry after he pulls a gun on you, or what happens to Wesker during the Lisa encounter, but these are minor. I wish the game suggested I use Jill first, because I started with Chris and picked up everything in sight, not realizing I could screw myself over. I also think the game could have kept track of which doors required which keys, something Silent Hill 2 did. I found myself taking screenshots of maps and marking on them which keys were required on doors. This felt kind of cool but was probably unnecessary to force on me.

Overall I think it very much earns its status as a classic.

You have to wonder how many games were done a disservice by being released on the N64. I went into this confident that there's no way this game has held up. Maybe the problem wasn't the game, but the platform instead. Now it does have its problems. The AI is dumb, although the game seems designed around the idea of most enemies as mere fodder (until near the end of the game). Some of the objectives were frustratingly unclear to me. But I have a great respect for the attempt at deeper and more varied missions. I'd rather designers err on the side of frustratingly unclear than brain dead simple. Aiming is nearly useless (looking at you, floor panel on the train that I had to use the "stand just outside the room" trick to get through), though I've read this is made worse on the XBLA version. But on the whole I had a great time with this. I only completed it on Secret Agent difficulty, but the game adds more objectives on 00 Agent difficulty, which potentially adds a lot of replay value, especially given how hard this game gets near the end. In particular, the Aztec level was a beast even on Secret Agent. Much of the game was a breeze, with solid modern dual joystick controls, but a handful of levels stuck with me. The second bunker was fascinating. It was the only one that virtually required stealth. It made me wish there were more. At first I was angry that I couldn't simply blast everyone, but I calmed down and realized I actually had to think and strategize. Cradle was a very similar experience to me. I enjoyed some of the labyrinthine level designs. I felt a great balance of feeling nearly lost but generally with a feel for where to go. The graphics of the remaster are MASSIVELY better (oh god those character models). Staring down the prospect of going back through the game on 00 Agent looks like such a monumental accomplishment to ponder. I'm not sure I'll ever get there, but I know the game benefits greatly from the possibility.

This is a game that is screaming for a real modern remake/remaster, like the one Day of the Tentacle received. In my experience thus far, it pains me to say every version of this game is borderline unplayable. Which is tragic because there's so much greatness that is apparent in it: the way that different characters can beat the game in very different ways, the fact that NPCs carry on actions that the player must react to for different effects, the free roaming puzzle box nature of the mansion. Unfortunately, in the pc versions, it's easy to get to an apparently unwinnable state without even knowing it. For me, this is essentially broken game design and it certainly doesn't fly these days. I've read that the NES version fixes some of this, but it has crippling censorship. There is a hack that reverts this, but the game keeps locking up eventually. I haven't tried it myself, but apparently the version on Steam is just played via ScummVM and is hacked so that the keypads in the game don't work properly. Please! Remaster this game and fix its issues because I think there's a game I could really love in here.

Game has a ton going for it in terms of writing, voices, animation, music, etc., but actually trying to complete the game without any help was an extreme exercise in futility for me. I finally broke down and looked up a walkthrough about halfway through the game and there were some things that I could tell I probably never would have gotten. It just feels like stuff I essentially would just have to get lucky or have to be able to read the developers' mind to get. Which is too bad because I like it otherwise. If the game had some way of nudging me in the right direction I would have liked it a lot more.

I play through the whole game without fighting, feeling good, then the game requires me to fight at the end, undermining my whole playthrough, just to then require jumping through obscure hoops to get a good ending. And if I don't play perfectly then I can get locked out of the good ending without even knowing it and be required to replay the whole game. Sucks real bad. Plus the humor just doesn't land for me. Like an annoying hyperactive teenager screaming at me. I wanted to like the story and the emphasis on peaceful resolution, but there's too much pushing me away.