Resident Evil 8: 10 Things It MUST Learn From RE2 Remake
8. Old-School Game Design Still Works
As mentioned, Capcom completely overhauled Resident Evil 2 from a mechanical perspective, but the general structure was mostly maintained. Players were still tasked with moving through open areas like the RCPD prison and solving a whole host of adventure game-style puzzles in order to progress.
Even back in the day this seemed contrived, partly explained away by the prison being a former art museum, and there was a worry that modern audiences wouldn't be able to take this kind of obtuse formula seriously.
Like Doom proved in 2016, however, there's a way to return to these archaic gameplay loops and make them feel fresh again. After years of action-oriented survival horror titles, fully embracing this kind of puzzle solving and exploration-heavy gameplay was the best thing Resident Evil could have done. While other areas needed updating, this core structure absolutely did not.
To its credit, Resident Evil 7 did make an effort to move back to this formula, but it eventually gave way to a more generic style of linear play during its final hours. The success of 2 proves the developers didn't have to hedge their bets on this with their last game, and can fully embrace it going forward.