Resident Evil

About Resident Evil

Resident Evil is Capcom's high-definition remaster of its 2002 remake of the original 1996 game, released on PC and consoles in January 2015 and on Nintendo Switch in 2019. In 1998 a special forces team, S.T.A.R.S., is sent to investigate bizarre murders on the outskirts of Raccoon City. Attacked by a pack of blood-thirsty dogs, the survivors run into a nearby mansion for cover, and the doors close behind them.

You choose between Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, whose games differ in inventory space, weapons and the help they get. The mansion is a maze of locked doors, crests, keys and mechanisms, and progress means mapping it in your head, carrying the right items and coming back to rooms you have already cleared. Saving uses ink ribbons at typewriters, and spare items go in boxes found in safe rooms.

The camera is fixed, with each room shown from a set angle over detailed pre-rendered backgrounds, so you often hear an enemy before you see it. Ammunition is scarce enough that you choose which zombies to fight and which to dodge. Zombies you put down without burning or destroying the head can rise again later in a faster, more dangerous form, so the mansion becomes more threatening as you go.

The remaster adds widescreen, higher resolution backgrounds, remastered sound and a modern control scheme next to the original tank controls. It suits players who want the slow, puzzle-driven survival horror that the series started with, and anyone curious about where Resident Evil began.

How to play Resident Evil

1. Pick Jill or Chris; Jill has more inventory space and a lockpick, Chris is tougher.
2. Explore the mansion room by room, picking up keys, items and documents.
3. Fight or avoid zombies, using your limited ammunition on the ones you cannot get past.
4. Store spare items in the item boxes in safe rooms and save at typewriters with ink ribbons.
5. Solve the mansion's puzzles and use keys and crests to open new areas and find a way out.

Screenshots

Tips

• Plan your route before leaving a safe room so you carry only what you need.
• Do not waste ammunition on zombies in rooms you rarely pass through.
• Save ink ribbons for after big progress rather than saving in every safe room.
• Read the files you find; many hint at puzzle solutions.
• Try the modern controls if tank controls feel awkward; both are offered.

Questions