This game is how i fell in love with Resident Evil. Right from the beginning, Rebecca Chambers was a character that instantly resonated with me with her rookie cop spunk, and the story starts with her exploring a zombie train. The entire game was like ‘Professor Layton with zombies’, with a puzzle-driven, cinematic narrative that reminded me of classic George A. Romero films.

It’s a true horror game and any ‘action’ comes in the form of defeating the occasional creature abomination boss and dealing with slow-moving zombies that jumpscare me every time the frame changes. About that, i initially found the static camera angle changes limiting because i was so used to being able to turn the camera 360 with my right joystick, but i soon came to love moving through each setting with all the interesting angles.

Another great thing about RE0 was being able to switch between Billy and Rebecca to solve puzzles, and their dynamic! I’m a sucker for unlikely pairings brought together by circumstance/coincidence, and in this case it’s a rookie cop and the escaped convict her team was looking for. They join forces and look out for each other, and yet another thing i love about this game is the inventory management! Unlike the RE4 remake, a Merchant doesn’t randomly spawn anywhere and there isn’t a shop-type place for me to upgrade weapons, suitcase capacity and whatnot (in fact the whole credit/money system is non-existent in RE0, making for a much more realistic experience when it comes to literally staying alive against zombies). Instead it’s up to me to take or leave any herbs, ink ribbons or valuable items with the spaces i have in my inventory, which also shows my character’s health (fine, caution or danger) and allows me to exchange items with Billy (or Rebecca if i’m playing as Billy).

Something i found cute in the RE4 remake is even better here; the typewriter save room concept. In RE0 it’s entering a small room where there are no zombies and no zombies can come in. I’m greeted with relaxing, ominous music and there’s a typewriter on a table where i can save my progress with an ink ribbon.

RE0 is my kind of video game in every way, and i still get teary over Billy and Rebecca’s parting after the strange ordeal (involving leeches and a kooky antagonist) that they’ve been through