Capcom's 1996 classic BIO HAZARD is a game of dualities. It chooses to open on a rather haunting scene, of its main character being chased from behind before blood shoots at the camera, and all the focus is put on his eye, everything pausing in that moment. It's rather hokey now, but it was rather shocking for the time, alongside its full FMV after starting the game. In the original cut of the scene, it was marred by gore and violence, deliberately playing on low budget American horror (and ironically evoking it through other unintended elements). But, after both of these, instead of getting a simple hard cut to the inside of the mansion as the game begins, it instead chooses to alleviate all that tension with a cast call set to Icy Gaze (or, the I Got A Shotgun song). It's weird, off kilter, and very much Biohazard.

This idea of contrasting American style horror with an idea of optimistic action involving distinct characters is something visible from the game's earliest trailers even. As the song ramps up and becomes overpowering, the scenes continue to show what would logically be the horror elements of the title, the voice over even assuring that the horror would be completely there. So, what did they mean by all this?

Well, it's not that Bio Hazard isn't a horror game. Far from it, it is horror through and through, but it is also aware of what it is emulating. The typical American horror it looks to are ones with the sole survivor coming out at the end, disheveled and ready to collapse after a night of watching their friends die, and the game asks of the player to avoid this.

One of the themes Bio Hazard encroaches on here, and one that persists throughout the series and to this very day, is a theme of trust among comrades and friends. To give people the benefit of the doubt and to not assume the worst. To assume Barry won't come back to help you is to damn him and leave a heavy toll on his conscience. With Rebecca, the player must control her to save Chris at potentially two points in the game, and in turn the player must find and save her to even glimpse the good endings. Losing trust in Barry from the start even leads to more scenes where you see him in more compromising positions regarding his standing as an ally, the game can be very fun in this way. Having faith in your companion character is what creates the difference between the sequel hook ending, where the monster lives to terrorize once more, and the true ending, where the day is saved completely.

"What a Tough Guy!" is the ultimate affirmation of this ending. It rejects the horror cliches it builds off of for these final moments, where Chris or Jill escapes with a full helicopter, the horror completely destroyed. It's a level of catharsis few games manage to reach and execute even nearly as well as Bio Hazard.

But, that's only one of several themes at play throughout the game. Another theme that tugs at Bio Hazard's leanings away from a strict idea of horror is the pastiche of office work it ends up drifting to. While this is harder to discern in the official English localization, Project Umbrella's retranslation gets across these ideas in full. Scientists or more general employees will write detailed reports or "Such is life" memoirs, indulging in their writings while leaving the leakage of a contagious virus and the deaths of employees as an afterthought. The Plant-42 Report even plays at a bit of dark humour, with the researcher adamantly documenting the plant's rapid growth after exposure to the infamous t-Virus, before casually mentioning that it has killed several other people in the Dormitory. Even the files that complain about the conditions feel the need to go "What can be done" or "It cannot be helped". Nobody considers going to the FBI or any government agencies about the outbreak, and it paints a picture of this lab creating monsters as less-so evil, more-so standard corporate environment. The greatest joke within the game is that the virus spill was due to the lab staff overworking themselves, and senior management sends one guy to cover up the whole thing and act like nothing happened.

The man they send to clean up everything is also what ties us back to the idea of duality. If you, the player, are meant to save everyone and destroy the facility, then Albert Wesker is your complete opposite. Clad in all black with sunglasses, his design already evokes the idea that he is completely closed off. While the rest of the cast are expressive and wear their personalities on their sleeve, Wesker remains a stoic figure that only directs but never gives way to any personal moments until the final confrontation with him. That is because he never truly trusts the player, as he never wanted to. He seeks only personal gain, with the bad ending of the narrative being akin to his good ending. Everything intact, the monster alive, and only one survivor (with Albert Wesker's later resurrection, this ending becomes even more his own). In a way, Wesker is the director, he hides the MO Disks that will free the other lead and directs Barry to betray Jill's trust. The most common way to lose Barry's trust is the one that gives him the "film perfect" ending, a death just before escape, with a tearful goodbye. Albert Wesker is just as manipulative as any good film director's ought to be, I would say. He makes for an interesting foil, and to experience the game's true scenario in Chris leads to a cathartic moment of weakness from him, where Chris goes off script and laughs at his creation.

But, these are merely the tip of what Bio Hazard has to offer. Beyond these core ideas, there is visible many seeds the Iwao or Fujiwara planted throughout. The mansion, a façade, playing host to all the chemistry books, while the one notable bookshelf in the lab only holds fiction (and the MO Disks refer to Genesis), the game gives you these little things to chew on while running around, things to constantly consider.

I guess it's safe to say I prefer this to the more melodramatic remake that lacked many key staff?