Survival horror Zombie Resident Evil PS1 horror Horror puzzle

Resident Evil 2 (1998)

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The 1998 original: survive Raccoon City's police station as Leon or Claire.

Platforms: PC
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (91% of 2,319 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Capcom; PC re-release co-developed by GOG.com
Released: 1998

What frightens Rookie cop Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield reach Raccoon City as it falls and take shelter in a police station full of zombies, lickers that drop from the ceiling and worse, with too little ammunition, fixed camera angles that hide what waits round the corner and a building that turns more hostile the deeper you go.
Content: gore, violence, jumpscares.

Resident Evil 2 is Capcom's 1998 survival horror game, restored for modern PCs with GOG. Rookie cop Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, searching for her brother, arrive in a Raccoon City overrun by zombies and have to get through its police station and what lies under it with scarce ammunition and fixed camera angles.

About Resident Evil 2 (1998)

Resident Evil 2 first came out on the PlayStation in 1998. This is the original game re-released on Steam in April 2026, co-developed by GOG with Capcom: it adds an improved DirectX renderer, windowed mode, vertical sync, gamma correction and integer scaling, six languages, both the original US and Japanese versions, the Extreme Battle mode and a picture gallery. It is a separate game from the 2019 remake.

You play as Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie police officer on his way to his first day of work, or Claire Redfield, who has come to Raccoon City looking for her missing brother. Each has a scenario of their own through the same night. The city is already lost, and the Raccoon Police Department, a converted museum full of statues, locked rooms and odd mechanisms, becomes the place you try to survive.

It plays as classic Resident Evil does. Fixed cameras frame each room, so you often hear a zombie before you see it. Ammunition and healing herbs are scarce, your inventory is small, items you do not carry wait in boxes in the safe rooms, and saving uses ink ribbons at typewriters. Much of the progress comes from finding keys and solving the station's puzzles while deciding which enemies are worth the bullets.

The fright is in what the camera will not show you, in the lickers that crawl along walls and ceilings, and in the sense that the station gets worse the longer you stay. The secret scenarios, the 4th Survivor and Tofu, are open from the start in this release. It suits players who want to see the game the remake is built on, as it was.

How to play Resident Evil 2 (1998)

Choose Leon or Claire; each has a scenario of their own through the same night.
Explore the police station room by room from fixed camera angles, picking up keys, ammunition, herbs and puzzle items.
Keep only what you need on you and leave the rest in item boxes in the safe rooms.
Save at typewriters with ink ribbons, which you find in limited numbers.
Shoot what blocks your way and walk around the rest to save ammunition.

Screenshots

Resident Evil 2 (1998) screenshot: Claire in a tiled corridor as bloodied zombies shamble toward her past a body on the floor

Resident Evil 2 (1998) screenshot: Claire in a dim brick tunnel with blood on the wall as a giant striped spider hangs from the ceiling

Resident Evil 2 (1998) cutscene: a licker, a skinless creature with an exposed brain, lashes out its long tongue

Resident Evil 2 (1998) screenshot: Leon in a wood-panelled office lined with portraits and stuffed animal heads

Tips

Combine green and red herbs before using them; mixed herbs heal far more.
A zombie on the floor may not be dead; give it a wide berth or finish it off.
Read the files and notes you find; many hold the answer to a puzzle in the station.
Do not spend every save ribbon early; save before a new area, not after every room.

Questions

Is this the original Resident Evil 2 or the 2019 remake?

This is the original 1998 game, restored for modern Windows by GOG with Capcom. The 2019 remake is a separate game with an over-the-shoulder camera.

Does Resident Evil 2 (1998) have tank controls?

Yes, it plays as it did on release, with fixed camera angles over pre-rendered rooms and tank-style controls.

What does this version add?

A new renderer with windowed mode, vertical sync, gamma correction and integer scaling, six languages, the original US and Japanese versions, the Extreme Battle mode, a picture gallery, and the 4th Survivor and Tofu modes open from the start.

Is it on consoles?

This release is for Windows PC, on Steam and GOG.