I won't lie, expectations were pretty low following up the ultimately milk-toast and frequently boring Resident Evil: Revelations, but as far as I see, there's no real connection between that game and this story-wise, so that's good, I suppose.
Anyway, in the effort to chase down the "episodic game trend" of the mid to late 2010s, Capcom thought it'd be cool to piecemeal release a game that honestly didn't need to be. The scattered release of Revelations 2 isn't an "issue" anymore considering the physical releases that contain all the content being out for the console platforms, as well as all content, is available to purchase right from the get-go, now.
Confusing release patterns aside, Revelations 2 feels like a total mechanical upgrade to the first Revelations, while also fitting in with the overall Resident Evil canon quite nicely. Across 4 main episodes and two short side ones, Revelations 2 is a good, fleshed-out experience that harkens back to the horror atmosphere that was ditched a whole decade ago in this series. While not strictly "survival horror" (you maintain a rather solid inventory of weapons and ammo types consistently through the experience), seeing anything close to "horror" coming back is refreshing. Like any standard Resident Evil title, the game is fraught with camp, some good spooks, nice gameplay, and even some well-designed puzzle sections come the latter half of the game. The issue is, is that despite the formula returning back to Resident Evil's standard loadout, there isn't a lot here to distinguish itself from its contemporaries, and on top of that, it can be argued to be hampered because it's a Resident Evil game.
As someone who's enjoyed basically every Resi experience, thus far, the typical plot and location formula that permeates Resident Evil is honestly getting old; I'm not going to spoil anything, but if you've played Resident Evil, before, you know exactly what you'll be doing throughout the story, and where it'll conclude. Don't fix what isn't broken, but add a little spice to the formula to not make it feel so samey. I understand that when attempting to cater to two separate types of Resident Evil fans, compromises have to be made, and they're certainly here, keeping a consistent and enjoyable experience, but it's time for old Resi fans to just accept that times are changing, and doing the exact same thing across decades of game releases get stale over time.
As for the four episodes, themselves, each of which have a central gimmick to hone in on to deliver a specific type of experience. Episode 1 is a mysterious trek through an unknown location, fighting strange monsters and doing rudimentary puzzles; episode 2 is more of the same, drawn out a bit, and also hold escort-type mission design; episode 3 (the best one in my opinion), stacks up the puzzles for a good brain tease, but is never all-too difficult; episode 4 acts as your standard Resident Evil finale, especially if you get the "good ending", but all in all it works out well enough, but is considerably weaker than the rest of the chapters with repetitive boss designs and cheeky "all enemies have to be eliminated so an arbitrary action can unfold to progress" moments.
In terms of gameplay, Revelations 2 is solid, although hampered a bit by a few episodes that have their dull moments. The story is rather good, fleshing out characters that were rather absent for a considerable amount of time in the Resi canon (ESPECIALLY Barry), and working the overall tone back to a horror-centric experience is much appreciated. The "Raid Mode" is also considerably better this time around, with more to do and the gameplay just feeling better than the first Revelations did even in its "HD" ports, but a lot can be said about its nickel-and-diming of inventory slots, characters, and costumes for rather annoying microtransaction DLC. If you're only caring about the campaign, though, the DLC isn't going to affect you one way or another.
Anyway, in the effort to chase down the "episodic game trend" of the mid to late 2010s, Capcom thought it'd be cool to piecemeal release a game that honestly didn't need to be. The scattered release of Revelations 2 isn't an "issue" anymore considering the physical releases that contain all the content being out for the console platforms, as well as all content, is available to purchase right from the get-go, now.
Confusing release patterns aside, Revelations 2 feels like a total mechanical upgrade to the first Revelations, while also fitting in with the overall Resident Evil canon quite nicely. Across 4 main episodes and two short side ones, Revelations 2 is a good, fleshed-out experience that harkens back to the horror atmosphere that was ditched a whole decade ago in this series. While not strictly "survival horror" (you maintain a rather solid inventory of weapons and ammo types consistently through the experience), seeing anything close to "horror" coming back is refreshing. Like any standard Resident Evil title, the game is fraught with camp, some good spooks, nice gameplay, and even some well-designed puzzle sections come the latter half of the game. The issue is, is that despite the formula returning back to Resident Evil's standard loadout, there isn't a lot here to distinguish itself from its contemporaries, and on top of that, it can be argued to be hampered because it's a Resident Evil game.
As someone who's enjoyed basically every Resi experience, thus far, the typical plot and location formula that permeates Resident Evil is honestly getting old; I'm not going to spoil anything, but if you've played Resident Evil, before, you know exactly what you'll be doing throughout the story, and where it'll conclude. Don't fix what isn't broken, but add a little spice to the formula to not make it feel so samey. I understand that when attempting to cater to two separate types of Resident Evil fans, compromises have to be made, and they're certainly here, keeping a consistent and enjoyable experience, but it's time for old Resi fans to just accept that times are changing, and doing the exact same thing across decades of game releases get stale over time.
As for the four episodes, themselves, each of which have a central gimmick to hone in on to deliver a specific type of experience. Episode 1 is a mysterious trek through an unknown location, fighting strange monsters and doing rudimentary puzzles; episode 2 is more of the same, drawn out a bit, and also hold escort-type mission design; episode 3 (the best one in my opinion), stacks up the puzzles for a good brain tease, but is never all-too difficult; episode 4 acts as your standard Resident Evil finale, especially if you get the "good ending", but all in all it works out well enough, but is considerably weaker than the rest of the chapters with repetitive boss designs and cheeky "all enemies have to be eliminated so an arbitrary action can unfold to progress" moments.
In terms of gameplay, Revelations 2 is solid, although hampered a bit by a few episodes that have their dull moments. The story is rather good, fleshing out characters that were rather absent for a considerable amount of time in the Resi canon (ESPECIALLY Barry), and working the overall tone back to a horror-centric experience is much appreciated. The "Raid Mode" is also considerably better this time around, with more to do and the gameplay just feeling better than the first Revelations did even in its "HD" ports, but a lot can be said about its nickel-and-diming of inventory slots, characters, and costumes for rather annoying microtransaction DLC. If you're only caring about the campaign, though, the DLC isn't going to affect you one way or another.