Resident Evil 8: 10 Things It MUST Learn From RE2 Remake

10. How to Craft A Genuinely Emotional Story

Rather than an emotionally compelling narrative, Resident Evil 7's story was more of an excuse for the developers to string together a bunch of different horror influences into one cohesive game, having you trapped in a run-down mansion and taking on a family of monsters, all with their own devilish mutations and approach to torturing main character, Ethan.

It was a solid premise, of course, but you didn't really feel much other than a bit scared on your journey. Ethan himself was essentially a cypher for the audience, and his desperate attempt to save girlfriend Mia never coalesced into anything really significant. Even the classic biohazard conspiracy only came into play in the final hour or so, and it felt more like fan service than anything else.

Resident Evil 2, on the other hand, actually managed to create tender moments of emotion that supplemented the classical pulpy RE plot. Despite being based on a decades-old game, the developers reinterpreted scenes that were originally corny, and injected them with a huge amount of character and emotion. As seen perhaps most expertly in the Kendo sequence, the real human weight of Resident Evil's apocalyptic events were truly felt for the first time, and Capcom shouldn't let that slip through their fingers going forward.