Resident Evil Remake Review
After finishing Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster, I went straight ahead to Resident Evil 1 Remake. This has been on par with Requiem and 2 Remake. If there is one thing all three Resident Evil entries I mentioned have in common, it is that they all have original elements of survival horror: constant tension, resource management, and a sense of time running out. Yet out of the three, Resident Evil 1 Remake is probably the best in giving that feeling.
True Survival Horror With Action
After getting used to the alternate controls and fixed camera angles of Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster, I was raring to go for Resident Evil Remake. I’ve heard here and there that 0 was harder than 1, but I knew I played on Easy difficulty, so my experience would probably match up pretty well on Normal difficulty in 1. Funnily enough, the way 1 Remake lets players change the game difficulty is through a questionnaire at the start of the game, which I found very novel, albeit not really innovative or in-depth. After choosing the difficulty, comes the choice between playing as Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield. I chose Jill, because she looked cool.
The introduction showed the helicopter of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, where Rebecca was part of it. Here, we finally learn what happened to the members who came along with Rebecca, aside from Edward, who died in the train after being attacked by the dogs. If you also did not know, Resident Evil 0 directly happens right before 1 and ends with Rebecca finding Spencer’s Mansion.
Knowing that Rebecca reaches the Spencer Mansion, I really wanted to see her again and maybe even play her. However, since I chose Jill, she does not show up at all. Apparently, she only appears when you choose Chris, which I actually played as on a second run. appears when you choose Chris, which I actually played as on a second run.
Suffocating Tension
Anyway, Jill’s playthrough starts with Barry Buront and Albert Wesker arriving at the mansion with Chris missing. Having played the game for the first time in an incredibly long while, the game really set things up in a mysteriously terrifying way right from the get-go with the reveal of the zombie eating Kenneth from the Bravo Team. I was so bad at the controls that I got my health down to Caution level before I gunned down the zombie. Strangely enough, the zombie reappeared after I went back to the dining room with Barry, which was a bit of a cop-out for the sake of tension. Still, I don’t mind it, and it was a terrifying moment knowing how tenacious these zombies are. Even worse, before leaving the dining room after this incident, you hear a zombie groan and a door closing, signifying that the zombie I shot down and Barry shot down got back up again and went away. The thought that the zombie Barry and I defeated twice was still up and about was equally frustrating as it was terrifying to think of.
The terrifying start of Resident Evil doesn’t end here, as I eventually found myself cornered in the art room after separating from Barry. Even after using the dagger I picked up that bails me out of getting grabbed by zombies, I still died in the encounter. Not fully grasping the controls and lacking the mental fortitude to keep calm and fight back properly, it was a brutal but apt introduction to how the game will be. Being prepared while equally staying on one’s toes to be quick-witted and decisive was required if I was to explore and reach specific areas in the mansion. Every location traveled had to be planned, and items were carefully picked up in preparation for what monster I would encounter. The heavy tension was apparent right from the start of the game, and I absolutely love it.
I also have to give a special mention to the fixed camera angles in this game. The developers did so well in finding an angle that looks creepy while giving us a good perspective of the area we have to go through. Of course, this is not perfect, and you can still get lost or confused in where you are supposed to go, but the beautiful look and the awkward vibe that the perspective gives triumphs.
Choices Do Not Matter, And That is Fine
After dying from the second zombie encounter, I managed to replay everything up to that moment while keeping myself healthy and conserving more ammo. It wasn’t until I got to Richard Aiken that I found myself reevaluating my decisions.
Richard is a member of the Bravo Team, which ended up in the mansion and was found by us injured and dying. He was bitten by some large monster and needed something called a SERUM to heal him back up. In the back of my mind, I knew this had to be a timed mission, but I was about to end my run for that day, so I decided to do some housekeeping with my inventory. I spent around 5 to 15 minutes just picking up items in certain locations and placing them in the item box for easy access whenever I get to a safe room in either wing of the mansion.
Unfortunately, this spelled doom for Richard, as when I got his SERUM and returned to him after my break, he had already passed away. There are only a select few side moments like these in the game, which I honestly was very disappointed by. From the bits and pieces of content I have watched of the original Resident Evil 3, there were key points where decisions had to be made that branched out the story into different scenarios. Resident Evil 1 Remake also had these alternate scenarios, but they weren’t as extensive. I felt disappointed that Richard died, so I took 2 to 3 hours of my time in the early hours of the next day to get back to the moment we met Richard Aiken while keeping the least amount of resources used and killing all zombies I had already encountered in my first run.
This time around, Richard will be saved. It was, for a moment, very rewarding despite not having any tangible benefit, but when I finally was able to fight what attacked Richard—a large snake—let’s just say Richard wanted a lick back and died trying. It was a funny moment, but I was also disappointed at how that turned out. Fortunately, an actual reward presented itself for saving Richard, which was an automatic shotgun that he left after permanently losing in his second encounter with the giant snake.
Part of me enjoys the sense of accomplishment with little reward, keeping things brutal in the game. Yet, another part of me felt betrayed that I couldn’t really affect the outcome of Richard’s fate that much.
Later on in the game, another character who suffered a tragic fate under the experimentations of Umbrella is introduced, and I was hoping we were going to be able to end her suffering, but she just disappears, even when I played as Chris.
The game is tied with many definitive and loose ends. What frustrates me the most is the sense of helplessness in affecting the story, as I truly wanted to be able to affect it through my decisions. Be it by limitations of technology at the time or resources available, I still respect that things just moved along and we were—through the shoes of Jill and Chris—just playing our part in the story of Umbrella Corporation and Raccoon City. This felt very reminiscent of how I felt with Resident Evil 0‘s moving train section, a full circle moment.
Puzzles, and Enemies.
Something that also keeps on popping up in Resident Evil is puzzles, which seem to be just as complicated as they are in 0. Certain doors were locked, and the keys to unlock them could only be acquired through solving puzzles that spanned the entire mansion. This meant bringing key items from one wing to another, backtracking to sections which had locked boxes or unreachable items, and so on. While frustrating for some, it amazed me at how interconnected everything felt. While some of the key items seemed random and obscure, the locations in which they were found mostly made sense to me as to why some of them were in certain places.
Compared to all the other Resident Evil games that I have played, the puzzles here were definitely the most fun to figure out without sacrificing complexity. In fact, some of the puzzles here are much harder.
Much like Resident Evil 0, there were a variety of enemies to encounter in Resident Evil 1. There were a lot of infected animals that haunted the mansion, from dogs and spiders to snakes and sharks. There were also hybrids of some sort, such as the Hunters, which were more annoying. The deadliness of Hunters was even put more emphasis on during Chris’ run, as not being able to kill one fast enough would lead to the demise of Rebecca.
This part didn’t really make that much sense to me, as the game seemed to make Rebecca completely hopeless and weak, considering how much she has already gone through in 0. Still, maybe she was caught off guard, but I wish they had given her a little bit more agency and credit.
One animal that surprised me in the game was the bugs in the Underground Laboratory below the mansion. While not particularly strong, they were definitely tenacious and attacked in groups, which was annoying.
The hardest monster to fight was definitely the Crimson Heads, which I was not prepared for, as the zombies from all other Resident Evil games I have played stayed down after dropping dead. However, zombies killed in Resident Evil 1, whose heads didn’t explode or whose bodies weren’t burned, came back as Crimson Heads after about half an hour. I still had that same carelessness I did when I played Resident Evil 2 Remake, but instead of not using the wooden boards, I didn’t use the kerosene enough.
Is Resident Evil 1 Remake A Good Game? Is Resident Evil 1 Remake Worth It?
Yes, Resident Evil Remake is definitely a good game and is currently at the top of my list in the franchise. This entry, personally, had the best graphics and style out of all that I have played. It was bleak, mysterious, and horrifying.
The enemy encounters were hard but not unbeatable, and the constant tension in the air as you progress through the game was something I did not foresee. I even said to my friends that I felt more tension and anxiety from this game than Resident Evil 2 Remake.
I am thankful that Alternate Controls are available, as playing this with Tank Controls would definitely make things much harder.
The final parts and boss fight were pretty anticlimactic, but the entire experience was a blast, so it does not really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Barry and Rebecca played significant roles in Jill’s and Chris’ respective runs, but none of them took away the spotlight from the main characters. I also liked that we are able to play as Rebecca for a bit if Chris gets bitten by the snake, but it’s a wonder how Jill was able to stay up and get a SERUM herself if she gets bitten in her run.
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