Resident Evil 2's remake was announced back in 2015 and we didn't get any news about the project until the game's final reveal at this year's E3 during the Sony press conference. Capcom's title instantly became one of the most crowd-pleasing announcements at the show, and basing just on the level of detail, it looks like Capcom puts more effort into remaking the original than actually making it.
Unlike Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2 won't feature a remake subtitle. GamingBolt recently had a chance to speak with Mike Lunn, Brand Manager for Capcom, and he explained why this decision was made. “It won’t be faithful one to one. For someone that’s played the game, some people played it once and some people played it a thousand times because it’s their favorite game," Lunn said. "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.”
The gameplay footage we had a chance to watch during E3 2018 suggests that a lot has changed since 1998, when the original game was released, including the illuminating and texturing technology. Don't worry, as the remake has a RE4-style camera, but it's still the RE2 you loved. Considering that Resident Evil 2 seems like an entirely new experience in and of itself, the decision is more than justified.
The genre-defining masterpiece Resident Evil 2 returns, completely re-built from the ground up for a deeper narrative experience. Using Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine, Resident Evil 2 offers a fresh take on the classic survival horror saga with breathtakingly realistic visuals, heart-poundingly immersive audio, a new over-the-shoulder camera, and modernized controls on top of gameplay modes from the original game.
Resident Evil 2 will return reimagined for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on January 25, 2019.