If you ask me about what my favorite horror games are. I would not think long, my all-time favorites are "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill". And "Resident Evil" was the first horror game I've played at all (the only other game I can remember is "Dangerous Dave 2" but it had much simpler graphics). In 1996 the game looked far ahead of time. Despite its simple concept, it was a mind-blowing experience.
What I liked about the game was how realistic it was. Nothing supernatural was happening in the game: no ghosts, demons, or magic. Killed enemies would not disappear. They had weight and did not feel flat but as made of meat and blood. Even a pistol would feel like a real thing. I know a big gun capable of destroying walls is what the modern entertainment industry seems to prefer. Everything is over the top these days. Probably a simple gun would look like a joke to the audience. But in "Resident Evil" you could feel every bullet with splashes of blood when the shot reached its target and the enemies got pushed back. The game kept things simple and would not try to impress you with anything. Cheap jump scares were rare. Enemies were slow, they existed not to frighten you, but they just happened to be there.
And the place - a murky mansion full of living dead - such a simple but at the same time so creepy concept. Despite all that, "Resident Evil", in my opinion, will always be behind "Silent Hill" when it comes to the story. While both games are scary, "Silent Hill" went much further and entered existential territory. The plot in Resident Evil falls flat and looks more like a B-movie. Familiar horror movie cliches were all over the place. Don't get me wrong, nothing even close to what "Resident Evil" delivered in 1996 existed back then. You still would be dragged into the story and most likely would accept the rules. "Silent Hill" was different + I believe the flashlight worked very well there. Imagine being in an alternative school on a never-ending night when the only source of light you have would be your torch.
Let's talk now about the remake. While the game improved on the graphics (it never looked that real and scary), the story did not advance. In my opinion, developers did very little there. I know it was never a goal. But that B-movie look and feel is still there. I don't want the game to be yet another entry to the existential crisis topic and dive into the subconscious, absolutely not. I would prefer it to stay simple as the original. The place, the world itself you are put into as a player only this matters. Oversimplification and slipping into the B-movies league, repeating step-to-step bitten-to-death tropes from scary movies is what I did not like about the game. Probably the target audience is teenagers who don't care.
Another thing that I think was a miss is head-shots. The rules set by the "Night of the leaving dead" (1968) are dead simple. Shoot them in the head. I understand that the game would be much easier if you could kill enemies with one bullet, but then you could always make targeting a problem. It's the first Leon's day as a police officer, and he can't shoot like a pro. Another thing that ruins believability for me is that you can't defeat Mr. X even with a serious weapon. If you wanted to kill him, you should be able to.
The game reached the point of the photo-realistic picture, but the other aspects of the game could not keep up. Disallow impossible things to happen. Yes, bringing the dead to life seems impossible. But let's allow only one such thing and keep the others close to reality. So it would become just an ordinary day in Racoon City with a T-Virus outbreak. And I believe it would be enough - the setting and our imagination will do the rest.
What I liked about the game was how realistic it was. Nothing supernatural was happening in the game: no ghosts, demons, or magic. Killed enemies would not disappear. They had weight and did not feel flat but as made of meat and blood. Even a pistol would feel like a real thing. I know a big gun capable of destroying walls is what the modern entertainment industry seems to prefer. Everything is over the top these days. Probably a simple gun would look like a joke to the audience. But in "Resident Evil" you could feel every bullet with splashes of blood when the shot reached its target and the enemies got pushed back. The game kept things simple and would not try to impress you with anything. Cheap jump scares were rare. Enemies were slow, they existed not to frighten you, but they just happened to be there.
And the place - a murky mansion full of living dead - such a simple but at the same time so creepy concept. Despite all that, "Resident Evil", in my opinion, will always be behind "Silent Hill" when it comes to the story. While both games are scary, "Silent Hill" went much further and entered existential territory. The plot in Resident Evil falls flat and looks more like a B-movie. Familiar horror movie cliches were all over the place. Don't get me wrong, nothing even close to what "Resident Evil" delivered in 1996 existed back then. You still would be dragged into the story and most likely would accept the rules. "Silent Hill" was different + I believe the flashlight worked very well there. Imagine being in an alternative school on a never-ending night when the only source of light you have would be your torch.
Let's talk now about the remake. While the game improved on the graphics (it never looked that real and scary), the story did not advance. In my opinion, developers did very little there. I know it was never a goal. But that B-movie look and feel is still there. I don't want the game to be yet another entry to the existential crisis topic and dive into the subconscious, absolutely not. I would prefer it to stay simple as the original. The place, the world itself you are put into as a player only this matters. Oversimplification and slipping into the B-movies league, repeating step-to-step bitten-to-death tropes from scary movies is what I did not like about the game. Probably the target audience is teenagers who don't care.
Another thing that I think was a miss is head-shots. The rules set by the "Night of the leaving dead" (1968) are dead simple. Shoot them in the head. I understand that the game would be much easier if you could kill enemies with one bullet, but then you could always make targeting a problem. It's the first Leon's day as a police officer, and he can't shoot like a pro. Another thing that ruins believability for me is that you can't defeat Mr. X even with a serious weapon. If you wanted to kill him, you should be able to.
The game reached the point of the photo-realistic picture, but the other aspects of the game could not keep up. Disallow impossible things to happen. Yes, bringing the dead to life seems impossible. But let's allow only one such thing and keep the others close to reality. So it would become just an ordinary day in Racoon City with a T-Virus outbreak. And I believe it would be enough - the setting and our imagination will do the rest.
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