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Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 10.2 hrs on record (1.3 hrs at review time)
Posted: 10 Oct, 2024 @ 11:09pm

Have about 30 hours on PS5 and played a bit on PC. It's an excellent game that takes the source material from 23 years ago and brings it up to today's standards. One of the biggest differences outside of gameplay is the acting, with some of the best motion captured and VA'd scenes I've seen since TLOU2's finer moments. There's a lot of details seen in James' rare emotional moments that it's almost uncanny in how realistic it looks.

Gameplay is a huge improvement over the original. Exploring and using the map is as prevalent as ever but there's a lot more to be explored now. AI are also smarter now to make up for zone transition and fixed cameras, so for example, AI can now hide around corners are scurry away from James into darkness waiting to attack. It's brilliant what's been done here, especially since making competent AI in Unreal Engine is very, very tricky.

Hitting enemies with melee weapons also feels very impactful (at least on dualsense, which I highly recommend you play with that controller). It lifts what was great from Callisto's combat and improves it by adding a dedicated dodge button and cunning moves that AI can do, like dodge attack or lunge. Combat is unpredictable which ends up doing this game a favor.

A lot of the new areas are also thoughtfully redesigned. The prison, for example, is made larger and even scarier. I won't spoil that section, but it required several breaks from the game for me to get through due to how anxiety producing it was. The elements used in these new redesigned areas seem so simple on paper, but execution is key and they did a great job at it.

Puzzles are also very fun. Gone are the extremely confusing puzzles, minus the very last one which I was not a fan of. The coin puzzle at the start of the game is so fun, I wanted to reload my save to do it again. There are also puzzles that require you to scan the environment and look for clues that are inscribed on the walls and ceiling of the room you're in. These are seriously, and without kidding, some of the best puzzles I've seen in a horror game in a long time. Easily clears all Resident Evil games by a long shot.

Anyway, this letter has gone on long enough. Just buy the game.
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