I think this is worth a second review since the last time I played this game was more than ten years ago. I'd loved the creepy atmosphere and the outlandish puzzles, but I have to confess to looking forward to this replay with some trepidation thanks to some of its quirks that didn't age well. In a way, those fears were justified as I spent much of this playthrough pixel-hunting, getting blindsided by enemies coming from off-camera, getting stuck on corners while trying to run away from hunters, and getting frustrated as I died on the way to a save room for what seemed like the dozenth time.

A bit of jank in an early 3D game is to be expected of course, but unlike other Good Old Games TM where the game is good in spite of the jank, the aspects of Resident Evil that would be annoying anywhere else actually elevate the game experience here! I don't know if it's by accident or by design but given how Capcom was releasing so many windmill dunks of games around this time, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

The production values obviously didn't age well at all: the first FMV zombie you meet looks more sheepish than scary, as if you caught it watching porn, and the voice acting is so bad that it wraps around to being good and then becomes bad again (I cackled when a guy with mortal wounds all over his body went "ouuuch"). But while its campiness made it difficult for me to take the story seriously, the game managed to impart the sense of unease and tension to me perfectly through its so-called outdated mechanics, ensuring that the heart of its gameplay experience barely shows its age at all.

Other reviewers have already analysed the intricacies of how its mechanics tie into the mood it creates and the emotions it evokes - and far better than me - but suffice it to say that this is one of the best gaming examples of "it's a feature, not a bug".