Resident Evil 2 Dev Explains Why They Aren’t Calling It A ‘Remake’

The upcoming remake for Resident Evil 2 was probably one of the best and most crowd-pleasing announcements at this year’s E3. It’s a game that fans of the series have been asking for for a very long time, and we were all understandably elated when the announcement was finally made. One notable thing about the announcement, though, was that the game isn’t being branded as a remake, but simply as Resident Evil 2.

Adding “remake” somewhere in the title is a practice that is usually followed by most developers (Capcom themselves did it when they remade the original Resident Evil), so it’s noteworthy that the same is not being done with this game. And apparently, there’s a very good reason for that, too. We had a chance to speak with Mike Lunn, Brand Manager for Capcom, and he explained why this decision was made.

Resident Evil 2‘s remake is, apparently, not going to be a one to one remake of the original- there’s going to be stuff added on top of the original release’s foundation, stuff that’s going to be altered and changed around, and seeing as how this is going to be a different experience from the original Resident Evil 2, Capcom decided not to officially call it a remake.

“It won’t be faithful one to one,” Lunn told GamingBolt when we asked him about what the nature of the upcoming remake is going to be. “For someone that’s played the game, some people played it once and some people played it a thousand times because it’s their favourite game. For the people that have even played it a thousand times, we wanted it to feel fresh. That’s why we don’t call it Resident Evil 2 Remake. It’s a new game built on top of the foundation.”

He then went on to give a specific example of a well-known moment from the game that’s going to be slightly different in the remake. “So for example, there is a part where you’re walking through the police station, and a lurker walks by the window,” he said. “In the original game that happens every single time. We don’t include that because of the jumpscares, the puzzles, and because we want you to be challenged by that stuff. We want you to be scared by that stuff, not just repositioned to a new part of the building, but sort of reimagined. Because we don’t want you to know exactly how the puzzles are solved, we don’t want you to know exactly where the enemies are going to be. We want to surprise you. So, we have changed things a bit. But on the whole, the main idea, the main arcs of the story are very similar. But there are going to be some new surprises in there as well.”

Honestly, I’m personally quite excited about the approach they’re taking with the remake. It seems like an entirely new experience in and of itself. Beyond all the stuff they’re altering or adding, the fact that the game is going for an over-the-shoulder, Resident Evil 4-style camera rather than the original’s fixed cameras is also going to be a huge factor in how different the game will be from the original. It is, in fact, looking like it’s being made in such a way that it can co-exist with the original Resident Evil 2, rather than replacing it. It seems like a great approach, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the game. Not long to go, actually- it launches on January 25 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.