Kinda bought this on a whim expecting to kinda like it but wow Resident Evil 2 was great. I played through Leon A and Claire B within a few days - like this is the most I've played video games since 2020.
Great combat and level design, the tight hallways combined with the ray tracing make a good argument for the RE engine being one of the best engines out right now. Everything is disgustingly beautiful, which really helped to make Resident Evil 2 actually scary at times. Bullet sponge enemies aren't usually at all fun but here it just adds to the overwhelming dread where you really feel like the last survivor in the apocalypse. The puzzles were fun enough, they weren't necessarily difficult but they felt satisfying to solve, or rather to obtain the items necessary to open a door. The few boss fights sprinkled throughout were challenging and fun, but they lacked the on the toes puzzle solving that really makes for a great boss battle - but some of these designs are so sick that it doesn't really matter.
Story wise, Resident Evil 2's tongue and cheek corniness help to make for a near perfect tone that overtakes the generic story present. Leon and Claire are both fantastic but most of the supporting characters are pretty unmemorable - even Ada who I understand becomes a recurring character throughout the series.
At a certain point this game did become a bit tiresome though - particularly with the repetition of enemy types and how drawn out the ending was - but never to the extent that the experience felt spoiled. Overall, as a newcomer to this franchise, Resident Evil 2 was really great - and since I drunk purchased every other mainline game in the franchise aside from 5 and 6 I guess I'll be stuck with this series for the next month of so.
Great combat and level design, the tight hallways combined with the ray tracing make a good argument for the RE engine being one of the best engines out right now. Everything is disgustingly beautiful, which really helped to make Resident Evil 2 actually scary at times. Bullet sponge enemies aren't usually at all fun but here it just adds to the overwhelming dread where you really feel like the last survivor in the apocalypse. The puzzles were fun enough, they weren't necessarily difficult but they felt satisfying to solve, or rather to obtain the items necessary to open a door. The few boss fights sprinkled throughout were challenging and fun, but they lacked the on the toes puzzle solving that really makes for a great boss battle - but some of these designs are so sick that it doesn't really matter.
Story wise, Resident Evil 2's tongue and cheek corniness help to make for a near perfect tone that overtakes the generic story present. Leon and Claire are both fantastic but most of the supporting characters are pretty unmemorable - even Ada who I understand becomes a recurring character throughout the series.
At a certain point this game did become a bit tiresome though - particularly with the repetition of enemy types and how drawn out the ending was - but never to the extent that the experience felt spoiled. Overall, as a newcomer to this franchise, Resident Evil 2 was really great - and since I drunk purchased every other mainline game in the franchise aside from 5 and 6 I guess I'll be stuck with this series for the next month of so.