Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 1 Review

Does anyone still remember 2012’s Resident Evil 6? A title with hype as big as its budget only to be met with a scathing critical reception, with many gamers saying the franchise was desperately in need of a reboot. Another popular opinion was that Resident Evil Revelations – released earlier the same year on handhelds, no less – was actually a far better game than its numbered brethren. It looks like Capcom heeded that call as we now have Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 1, a sequel to that game with an episodic approach to survival horror that is leaps and bounds ahead of Resident Evil 6.

This time, our protagonist is Claire Redfield of Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica fame, partnering up with Moira Burton, daughter of legendary one-liner machine Barry Burton. Working for TerraSave, Claire and Moira get kidnapped and awake in a derelict prison. Derelict, but not empty, being full of sufferers of the T-Phobos Virus, the latest viral outbreak to affect the Resident Evil world. The other half of the episode you’ll play as Barry himself and Natalia, a young girl whom Barry runs into soon after arriving.

Straight away I’ll tell you that this is the closest to Resident Evil 4 any game of this franchise has been since, which is great news for the many fans of the classic title. Weapons and ammo feel scarce again, enemies feel threatening and at least somewhat organised – sure, at times it harkens back a little too much, with certain areas feeling almost ripped from the series’ most beloved classic, but luckily the fresh enemies and situations set this game apart from any other in the series.

 

Your partner characters are also very interesting in Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 1. Like Resident Evil 4, Claire and Barry’s partners, be it either Moira or Natalia, are more about playing smart and evasively as opposed to being yet another gun-toting character making the game less about scares and more about bullets. You can switch between player characters at any time – or even have a real life partner play co-op with you. Moira has a torch which she can use to highlight hidden items and blind enemies, whilst Natalia can detect monsters from behind walls and corners – and can also detect hidden items simply by pointing at them. Needless to say, with a co-op player everything becomes more interesting, with your different strengths being used to the team’s advantage – you can even force your pal to be the bait while you unload bullets.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 1 is fresh – or at least, fresher than Resident Evil has felt in a while. Enemies are unique when compared to those from other games, being smart with ammo feels more important than it has done in a long time and Raid Mode is a great Mercenaries-style romp which gives players all the action they could want without tainting the atmosphere of the main game. Puzzles are decent, breaking up the pace nicely without being too challenging.

Graphically, the game is a step up from Revelations but at the same time fails to impress in any way on next generation hardware. Incredibly enough, the PlayStation 4 version still manages to have some frame rate issues occasionally; at least the sound side is quite good, both in terms of music and voice acting (for the most part: Moira can be hit or miss).