#I wanted this to read as sort of dehumanizing and a manual from someone who likes the idea of witchers

[witcherheadcanons]

Should you be worried? (Understanding a witcher’s perception of danger based on actions- or lack thereof)

Having a witcher as a companion can either lengthen your lifespan or significantly shorten it, depending on how fond a witcher is of you and how observant you can be. Witchers are intelligent creatures that may protect you if they grow fond of your company- so always be willing to make friends with a witcher.

Some have more agreeable personalities than others, but be aware that witchers have run into many unpleasant humans that makes them suspicious of all polite contact- expect long days of enduring suspicious and veiled threats before a witcher ‘warms up’ to your presence. Witchers seem to struggle with understanding common folk, so always make sure to watch your actions and tone of voice, just as you would around an unfamiliar hound (a very, very smart and deadly hound). 

There are a few signs to tell how tense witchers (modeled after the infamous Geralt of Rivia, White Wolf) are, in order from he-looks-pretty-calm to I-believe-there-is-imminent-danger. If you are not a companion/friend of the witcher and you notice these signs that the witcher is uncomfortable or ready to fight... adjust your behavior or risk injury/death. 

Does not eat.

It is pretty standard for witchers to avoid eating around others. They will not eat with company unless the witcher knows he cannot get through the day without it. Talking about contracts over meals is hardly ever an option witcher can take advantage of due to the negative public perception of them. To be polite he might pick at his food, but since eating is seen as a personal and vulnerable activity, witchers will not enjoy a meal unless he is around good friends (even though witchers are almost always hungry). It usually takes acquaintances of any witcher numerous interactions before they realized that they have not seen their witcher eat. 

His back is to a wall.

It is a common habit among fighters to keep one’s back protected whenever possible. Having swords across his back offers some protection, but a solid wall is never scorned by a witcher. In most instances, a witcher can get his back to a wall without others putting two and two together and realizing he is eliminating the need to watch for threats behind him. But if you can notice that your companion witcher is keeping his back to the wall, do not immediately panic. It may very well be a habit the witcher has picked up or you are traveling with a very suspicious witcher. (But if a witcher was content without a wall at his back and then moves to find a suitable wall, try to figure out what the witcher is responding to and keep an eye on that person. A tip: a witcher will face where he perceives danger to approach from, so keep an eye out in the same direction your witcher is). 

He has positioned himself to be in a corner to best observe the room.

Picking a corner to reside in is a tactical move that hardly goes unnoticed by anyone who is even somewhat aware of their surroundings. It forces everyone to approach him head on- discouraging many from trying to bother a wary witcher. Your witcher may be uneasy or feeling threatened (but if you know your witcher companion is injured, you might be able to relax. He is just attempting to control who sees and approaches him when he is not a peak fitness). 

Does not drink any alcohol.

Geralt* will drink unless he has slight doubts of needing to fight in the very near future. It usually means he won’t drink anything strong (and for a witcher, a glass of wine or a shot of vodka won’t affect him at all), so to see a witcher turn down all drinks means something is keeping him on his toes. 

(* I believe Geralt of Rivia is more lax on drinking around people he doesn’t know, either because of personality or because his different body chemistry to other witchers makes him even less susceptible to the effects of alcohol). 

Declines a seat or stays standing when others sit down but leans against a wall.

If a witcher declines a seat offered, either he is not pleased to be in the current company, or the urge to be ready outweighs the offer. He might, instead, lean against the wall. This may imply to others that the witcher is relaxed if he takes up a casual stance, but if the witcher stands instead of sitting despite one insisting he sits, then his instincts say to be wary.

He stands up from sitting or straightens up from leaning.

A witcher straightening up from slouching against the wall is not always a sign that danger is imminent. Someone important to the witcher or someone of great authority may have entered the room (or is approaching the room- never forget that witchers have very sensitive hearing and will hear someone or something approaching far before you do). However, it could also mean the witcher is preparing to react to something. Standing up from sitting down is either a signal that the present witcher wishes the conversation to end, or he believes there is something going on that is suspicious.

Visibly looks around the area.

If you notice that a witcher is scouting an area that you perceive to be safe, it probably isn’t. Witchers have such superior senses that he is always checking his surroundings as a passive, constant evaluation while you think he is paying attention to something else. So if one can see a witcher repeatedly look around, he has decided that something about his surroundings is concerning enough for him to expend more energy gathering information. Be ready to fight/flee, and maybe you can ask your witcher if you should be on the lookout for anything. (Only do this if you are ‘friends’ with the witcher, otherwise, the witcher will be suspicious that someone is paying close attention to him and will hide everything from you. A good tip to follow is if you are not friends with the witcher, wait until he tells you what he is doing). 

Adjusts his stance for optimal movement.

If a witcher adjusts his stance to look more casual, look again. If you can determine that he has shifted some weight off of his heels, the witcher is expecting a fight. If you are the only one in the room, be warned! Either the witcher believes he has to react to something you do, or something is about to approach.

Moves so he is either closer to an exit or puts a barrier between himself and the direction he perceives the threat. (Or, alternatively, he moves around a barrier to be closer to something or someone). 

Witchers are very quick creatures, with speeds that match one of a halfling’s. (Geralt of Rivia is rumored to have undergone more mutating that other witchers, giving him his white hair. He is quicker, stronger, and hardier that other witchers). If you can notice that the witcher is edging away to an exit, pause and consider the situation. Does the witcher look annoyed or impatient? Then relax, because the witcher only wishes to address something else that has caught his attention. But if he looks serious then your witcher is preparing to flee from something that needs him to be one step ahead.

If a witcher moves to put a table, piece of furniture, or anything else between himself and someone else then he is attempting to slow down an attack from said person. (This kind of movement can be instinctual. A witcher may do it without being aware of himself doing it if he is uncomfortable or feeling vulnerable). Alternatively, if the witcher is moving around a barrier to reach a person, then he is being aggressive. Especially if the witcher does it multiple times as the object of his focus attempts to ‘hide’ or deflect the witcher’s presence again. (A moving witcher is a major indication that the witcher is restless and there may or may not be a need for him to be on his toes).

Stops talking.

You best shut up and pay attention to your witcher companion if he stops talking or responding to conversation. (Of course, check to see that your witcher is not dozing or is ignoring you. Witchers are not terribly verbal creatures and some get exhausted with constant chatter. Be more muted than you usually would if you are a new companion because witchers are used to solidarity on their travels).  A witcher that is silent has decided that talking is too much of a distraction and has forgone it in favor of being even more alert.

There is high suspicion and chance that something will happen so be prepared.

A hand is near his belt, ready to grab a potion, bomb, or his knife.

This can be a threat, letting everyone present that the witcher is ready to fight. Witcher potions are powerful enhancers of a witcher’s senses or abilities. Bombs are thrown projectiles that can cause blindness, poison, or release a cloud of glittering dust that explodes when ignited. Witchers are very skilled in combat, and I personally promise that a witcher always carries more blades than you see. (You have the silver sword and the steel sword, a knife that is used for cutting into monsters for material gathering or for creating trophies, but there are always more knives. Always). 

Depending on the personality of your witcher, the hand-to-belt threat can be subtle to someone in the room if the witcher remains calm. Or, the witcher is staring someone down with those horrifying (but very interesting) cat eyes. If you are the one who is being stared down, take a good look at the tools on the witcher’s belt. Do you want him to use them on you? If not, think about what you are doing or saying to piss off the witcher and STOP. (If you are a companion, then be ready for a fight to break out). 

A hand is touching the hilt of one of his swords (also doubles as a threat).

Witchers draw their swords extremely quickly (you would know this if you spent time around a witcher). So to see one rest a hand or touch the swords on his back is a very unnerving sign that the witcher is expecting trouble. Geralt of Rivia does not have the habit of absentmindedly touching his sword hilts, but perhaps some witchers have the same habits soldiers do and will constantly assure themselves that the weapon is still there. (If you have not seen your witcher do this often, he does not have this habit and you need to be wary).

Stop whatever you are doing if a witcher is staring at you when he touches the hilt of his sword- unless you want him to use it on you. This witcher is making a visible motion for all to be aware that either his temper is short or he is very willing to respond to any threats with a threat of his own.  

Has drawn his sword

Fucking run!

(Unless the witcher gives you an order, then you should listen to him if you want a chance at living). If a witcher has not told you to either flee or hide and his sword is drawn, pray to your god. Either there are not exits from the threat the witcher is reacting to, or you are the reason he draws his sword.

Witchers are the creature you want to be with if you cannot avoid a monster encounter- only if he is offering you his protection. (Witchers make great guards. It is a shame they choose to wander “their Path” instead of being available for hire for lengths of time).

Sword is drawn and he has taken a potion.

However, if the witcher is facing you and he has consumed a potion and has a sword drawn, you are a dead corpse walking.

The witcher potion is the key signal here. A witcher is already stronger, faster, and more resilient that all humans and some other creatures. If he has taken a potion, it was to increase some or all of these aforementioned traits. It means the witcher perceives the fight to be a difficult one, one that cannot be won without the potion.

Pray to your god, but if you are a companion of the witcher there is still a chance he could save your life. So obey any and all orders given by the witcher to the letter and with the utmost speed.

If you are not a companion, you are dead. Either because the witcher has decided he can live without you (and thus, won’t risk his life for you), or you are what he is planning to kill.

All of the situations in the guide, however, should be dealt with the utmost caution. Tipping a witcher off that you are paying close attention to him will immediately cause aggression. You should also avoid acting hysterical when you believe your witcher is tense. Witchers do not understand stress like humans do. Good witchers live up to hundreds of years because they prepare for the worst. It may be nothing most of the time, but that one time the witcher needs to react to a threat... he will be glad he was prepared.

Another guide will be printed on how to decide if your witcher likes you, so dear readers, be prepared for some more insight into the fantastic creatures that are witchers!

[alexswak]

Production Assistants and the Production Side

A while ago a manual on the job of a Production Assistant (制作進行) was published by the Association of Japanese Animation (AJA), defining what this job is and what it entails, so I thought this is a good opportunity to talk about it and the production department in general. It’s not that interesting of a job to be honest, but I think talking about production assistants is important considering the essential role they play in the anime industry, and the production department is involved in really every step of the process. This post is mainly based on the aforementioned report, although you can find a lot of what I’m going to write here through other sources, and I generally recommend reading the manual if you can.

The main 3 roles in the production department are production assistants, Production Desk (デスク) and Producers (プロデューサー). Production assistants are considered the lowest ranking among them so let’s start there.

Production Assistants (制作進行)

Simply put it’s the person responsible for making sure that the production of a single episode is going smoothly. That means among others checking that every process is moving according to the schedule put by the Desk. Production assistants don’t handle whole projects or TV series, just single episodes, with multiple production assistants in rotation during a TV series, which helps the production assistant understand and learn all the details of every step in the process since he is more directly involved in it this way. This is important for the future career of a production assistant.

As for his/her main tasks, they include: Communication between the different departments, preparing meetings (such as a meeting between the director and the animators), transporting and preparing production materials and a lot of other organizational tasks. Hundreds of people are involved in each single episode, so there has to be someone to act as a link between all of them, which also means that production assistants need good communication skills. Transporting production materials, such storyboards and drawings, is also a vital task, since the industry is far from being all digital and time is critical, and a lot of creators are freelancers working from home. All of those “simple” tasks are absolutely necessary for the industry to function properly.

Production assistants’ work starts before production, since one of the first things he has to do is search for the remaining staff the director needs, mostly animators. Not an easy task considering the scarcity of animators in the industry, and it only gets worse when one animator has to drop out mid-production for one reason or another, and the production assistant has to find a replacement as soon as possible. You hear stories about production assistants resorting to asking sakuga fans online if they knew any animators available.

It’s also said that during the early days of TV anime and till the 80s it was even harder, because aside from the scarcity that was present even then you had the “rivalry” between the two largest anime studio at the time, Mushi Pro and Toei Doga, which led to two factions emerging in the industry that don’t cooperate with each other. Mushi Pro is said to have paid animators more than Toei, causing some talents to leave Toei, and there was the thing with Otsuka leaving Toei too, so there may have been some real “competition” to secure animators back then. Toshio Okada (while I don’t like him, you can’t deny his experience and insider-knowledge) said in a recent video of his it was so fierce production assistants actually raced each other just like the opening scene of Shirobako, explaining the scene that I found a bit weird myself, if we were to believe what Okada said at least. He also mentioned a rumor he heard back when he first joined the industry, talking about how Sunrise, after receiving hundreds of job applications driven by Gundam’s success, made applicants run a marathon carrying a box filled with paper, and hired who came first. Some of this might be exaggerated, but it holds some at least truth I think. Okada’s video is interesting and I’d recommend myself, he provides some interesting comments sometimes.

Anyway, back on topic. One more thing to mention about the production assistant role is how it acts as training for new people in the industry. It’s widely known that the anime industry lacks most forms of training institutions or anything of that kind, and it also mostly doesn’t require a certain degree or level of education to join, so most of learning the ropes is done by actually working. The position of a production assistant is an important “training job”, not only because it gives you a good overview of the whole process, but also because it allows for a lot of possible future prospects for the production assistant. A production assistant can decide to become a director, producer, scenario writer and many more. In fact, a lot of the popular anime directors started as production assistants, such as Yuzuru Tachikawa (Deca Dence - Mob Psycho 100) and Tomohiko Itou (SAO). Animators in comparison have less flexible career prospects. Sure things get mixed up in the industry and there’s no general rules, but it’s at least rare for animators to become producers for example.

This sadly leads to devaluing the position of production assistants (despite their essential role in the process) even to the point of dehumanization. It might not be as bad as with in-betweeners, but that’s not that high of a bar really, and they still get some of the lowest salaries in the industry, without a work environment suitable for you to continue working as a production assistant even if you wanted to. It’s not a job that affords you a liveable wage, and the mentality in the industry is that this isn’t a stable job, but a sort of trial period you have to succeed in. Even the aforementioned manual treats it as such. Anime fans are also kinda guilty of the same, you see all the sakuga fans praising a single animator for a single scene for hours, yet a bad animator may ruin a single scene, while a bad production assistant may ruin the whole episode. I mean, it is hard to blame anyone for not getting excited for the job of a production assistant or what they do, but that’s just the sad reality of their position in the industry.

Source

Production Desk (デスク)

It’s the person responsible for the schedule of the whole show and oversees the work of all the production assistants. There’s usually only one Desk in each project. It’s the next step of the ladder if the production assistant decides to take the production career route, and generally isn’t much different than a production assistant in what he does, just with more responsibilities and wider scope. The Desk may also get involved in choosing/finding animation and episode directors, which highly influences the quality and look of the episode.

Producers (プロデュサー)

It’s generally the top position in the production department. The main supervisor for the whole project and the person involved in all the business talks and the likes between the different companies involved, as each company in the production committee is represented by one of its producers, including the animation studio. Anime is a medium that combines creativity and business, so a good understanding of both the creative process and business is necessary. 

There are multiple types of producers, the most common among them being:

Line Producer (ラインプロデューサー): Responsible for maintaining the production “line”, as in communicating with the different companies involved such as the backgrounds studio, recording studio and animation studio etc, facilitating the work among them. 

Animation/Creative Producer(アニメーションプロデューサー/クリエイティブプロデューサー): Responsible for the production process itself and the quality and direction of the project, and sometimes gets the chance to starts projects based on his own ideas and vision.

Business Producer(ビジネスプロデューサー): Responsible for stuff like contracts, monetization, merch etc.

One producer might fill multiple of these roles, and some of them have the production assistants or Desk involved, so as always the borders between each role aren’t as clear and defined as you might think. It’s funny that despite involving this large number of people in management roles, all responsible for drafting schedules and maintaining them, the anime industry and its schedules are still a mess.

That’s all I have for this post, and I again recommend reading the whole manual if you can. It goes over the production process in detail, providing among other things the most detailed flow-chart of the anime production process I have seen.

[terryblount]

Resident Evil 2 Review: Gruesomely Gorgeous

Ah, Resident Evil 2, the 1998 survival-horror classic adored by millions! And now the 2019 survival-horror classic-in-the-making adored by ever growing multitudes. Two games, both excellent, but how does this new RE2 compare? Thankfully, it retains the original survival-horror charm while also delivering a modern experience. Unfortunately, a bit too much outdated design causes it to occasionally stumble and fall like a clumsy zombie. Read on to discover the joys and bugbears of 2019’s RE2.

Atmospheric Horror-Delight

By far the most brilliant thing about RE2 is the stunningly immersive world built for you to slowly explore and unravel. There’s a palpable feeling of despair mixed with hyper-focus on graphical detail making every room, passageway, and crevice a wonder to discover.

The famous S.T.A.R.S. room. So much 1990s detail! Much pretty!

The moody vibes of the abandoned city and desperate plights of the few survivors meshes perfectly with a spectacular visual presentation. Get ready for one visual and aural treat after another.

Setting Up the Story

You begin on the dark, rainy city streets outside Raccoon City, a fictional US city with a disturbing history. By way of one ill-fated event after another, you go from surreal police station, to the sewers, and beyond. Thanks to the cutting-edge graphics engine and superb game direction, delving deeper and deeper into this twisted underworld is gruesome, gorgeous, and mesmerizing.

Never before has such an iconic and impressive survival horror world been crafted, and RE2 exudes character and personality from the very floors, halls, and walls of its macabre locations.

Just another pleasant stroll through zombie-infested sewers. It’ll be fine! (Run!)

As far as the actual story goes, it’s best you discover it for yourself. There’s zombies, an evil corporation, corrupt authorities, and experiments gone wrong. All the usual stuff.

The story is presented through excellent cutscenes with extremely detailed characters and facial animation combined with smooth motion capture and top-notch voice acting. There’s some standout performances here, but just know there’s only handful of story cutscenes. RE2 gives you just enough plot to make sense but not enough to sink your teeth into, just like the original 1998 game. That’s not a fault per-se; it’s just its style.

Bloody Zombie Survival-Horror

Besides the immaculate RE2 world, the enemy design is absolutely incredible. The attention to detail in each shambling zombie, ferocious dog, and other creature is best in class. Particularly impressive is the zombie dismemberment system that keeps you finding creative ways to eliminate, outmaneuver, and overcome the undead underlings found all across the environments.

This zombie’s just been hit by an acid round. He’ll be fine…feel the burn.

These ghastly and imposing enemies sometimes seem too much to contend with. At first, you often don’t have enough ammo and perhaps question how you can survive. After a while, you learn how to think quickly and overcome RE2. This empowering feeling of increasing mastery is just like how I felt when I played the original back in the day. Speaking of which, let me address this topic.

Disclaimer: RE2 is Special to Me

I should disclose that 1998’s RE2 was my first Resident Evil game. This was back when 3D graphics were young, and I adored this “realistic” PlayStation CD-ROM work of art.

I remember going over to a friend’s house and playing late at night, slowly inching forward through scary hallways on the edge of our seats. It was creepy, scary, and fascinating. I have wonderful memories of playing and replaying the game, finally unlocking the extra weapons and modes, feeling like such a pro.

Even to this day I consider RE2 one of my defining video game experiences. Just keep in mind that a new player to this remake might have that same “revelatory” experience I had in 1998, while I may be more critical of this remake than someone who doesn’t know the brilliance and joy of the original game. Back to the review!

Third-Person Puzzling Exploration

The heart of RE2 is a puzzle-like level design that sees you exploring, discovering, unlocking, backtracking, and going around in circles as you attempt to piece together the mysterious reason for all this horror. The game is quite cerebral in how you must pay very close attention to what items you need, where to use them, and how to make the most of your limited resources.

Fortunately the game provides a very helpful map, without which you’d probably go insane. The map does an excellent job of indicating which rooms are unexplored or still have items left in them.

You’ll be spending quite a lot of time deciphering the map. At least it’s a nice map.

At this point, a large warning should be issued: this is not a typical third-person shooter where you are pushed forward from one set piece to another. No, RE2 retains the sometimes obtuse 1998-style item and level design that seems to revel in hindering the player.

Each item has a specific and often unclear purpose much like an old point-and-click adventure game. For example, you might find yourself going to the lounge room to find a metal tin you must examine to find a film roll to develop in the dark room to reveal a puzzle about a lion statue that unlocks a key to a door to a secret room. Because obviously that’s what the metal tin is for! Duh!

At least the items all have wonderful detail! I love shiny medallions! I want to bite it hard!!

Some players will love this esoteric puzzling retained from the original game, but there will surely be times you’ll leave an essential item back in storage and find yourself out of ammo, isolated, and possibly very dead. Speaking of items and storage space…it’s time to discuss one of RE2’s more tiresome aspects.

Inventory Woes Like It’s 1998

For all the graphical and controls modernization in RE2, what’s confusingly archaic is the inventory and item design. For those of us who played the original PlayStation era Resident Evil games, we all remember the massive headache of organizing a far-too-small inventory with far-too-many items. Sadly, this headache is back in a lesser but still frustrating way.

Sorting through items is way more fun than actually playing the game! NOT!

Most bizarrely unforgivable is how RE2 does NOT bring forward all the excellent quality-of-life changes included in the last 14 years of RE games (over six titles). Faithfully recreating what people loved about RE2 makes sense, but purposefully taking us back to the bad-old-days of Resident Evil inventory design is not cool.

Irksome Item Issues: A Story

So what are these serious inventory issues? Let’s start with an easy one: you can’t use items directly from the pick-up screen. Think this is no big deal? Let me take you on a very scary true RE2 story that’ll have you weeping and gnashing your teeth by the end (or not).

Picture this: you’re one hit from death as you finally limp to a First Aid Spray (fully heals you). So glad to have finally found healing, you attempt to use the item immediately. Sorry, you can’t! Your inventory is full! You confusingly exclaim, “Um, I don’t need to put it in my inventory…just pick it up and use it!”

Being an imprisoned zombie is how it feels to engage in full inventory item management.

The game smiles and patronizingly says, “Nope, sorry, we didn’t build ‘Use’ into our interface…you’ll need an empty inventory slot, you pathetic player.” As the game mocks you, you attempt to find a solution. Every second gone by you can feel the dehumanizing horror of 1998 item management coming back to haunt you.

Suddenly a brilliant idea sparks your mind. You guardedly ask, “Ok…well, can I quickly drop another item to make room and then pick that item back up from the ground?” RE2 begins boisterous, unnerving laughter… “No, silly player! Feel free to drop an item but it’ll be PERMANENTLY deleted as punishment for your full-inventory sins!”

Now you’re livid. You shout furiously, “What about RE4, RE5, RE6, and Revelations 1 & 2?” [Deep breath…] You begin to speak in a low, quivering tone: “This idiotic conundrum was solved years ago in 2005 with a simple ‘Use’ prompt upon item-pickup! How do you not know that?! How, RE2?!”

You continue and defeatedly plead, “Heck, Resident Evil 0 Remaster from 2016 even let us drop items and would display them on our map to be picked up again later! It was the best feature ever introduced to Resident Evil!”

Claire is repulsed at RE2 removing all the inventory improvements from prior RE games.

But RE2 doesn’t respond. It merely smirks, knowing that you’re going to have to PERMANENTLY sacrifice one of your items just to immediately heal yourself…and then you’ll have to stare at that newly created EMPTY inventory slot because “this is old-skool survival-horror.” More like “this is real bad design.”

Item Woes Continued

Ok, maybe I went a little off the rails in the last few paragraphs. But seriously folks. RE2’s inventory system is obnoxious, and I’m not done yet describing the issues!

Did I mention you also can’t use items directly from the storage transfer screen? Then there’s times the game isn’t smart enough to automatically combine the same ammo types when using gunpowder. Just weird.

Another bizarre design choice is how the game forces you to manually discard items with no further use. Past games like the RE0 and RE1 remasters would do this for you because why waste the player’s time? It’s strange that RE2 is so polished overall but has these dumb, rough inventory edges.

This is engineer Claire. She loves trains. Let’s be happy and forgot our item woes!

Some players will defend these design choices saying all this is “part of the experience” and it “builds tension” and challenges you. Yeah, it builds artificial and nonsensical tension. Maybe you’ll disagree, but I feel all these issues do nothing but frustrate and slow-down the actual playing of the outstanding game.

All this dubious design needlessly complicates what should be simple player-to-game-world interactions. They damage immersion and anger players. RE2 would be a VASTLY better game if it included all the excellent inventory improvements the series has seen in the 20 years since 1998’s RE2! Enough said on that.

The Stylishness of RE2’s Story: Multiple Playthoughs

Exactly like the original RE2, this modern incarnation keeps the same story-framing style: multiple playthroughs. Most modern games try to fit everything in to one playthrough, perhaps having a New Game Plus mode just for fun. RE2 defies this approach and asks, nay, dares you to play over and over to unlock the full experience.

Let’s explain RE2’s campaigns real quickly. RE2 is broken into four main campaigns, each telling the story from a slightly different angle with modified items, enemies, locations, and puzzles. Upon first playing, you have the choice of two main campaigns: Leon or Claire. Leon’s campaign is what 80% of players have chosen to begin with, according to Capcom.

The game nicely tracks your various playthroughs, urging you to go faster next time!

Upon completing Leon’s campaign, the game abruptly ends and you unlock a “2nd Run” mode, which is a slightly shorter remixed version of Leon’s original campaign that must be completed to reveal the true ending.

However, most players will want to play Claire’s campaign after finishing Leon’s first campaign, in order to break up the Leon-monotony. Claire’s campaign features a large amount of unique content, including important characters and entire environments not found in either of Leon’s runs.

Getting confused yet? RE2 doesn’t do a great job of explaining these four campaigns, and the menu system isn’t so helpful either. It makes sense that some players will get confused as to the “proper” order to play everything. Basically, the most common pattern will be Leon, Claire, Leon 2nd Run, and then you can choose between Claire 2nd Run or Extra Mode 1.

Will you be able to unlock the secret “Tofu” mode? Do you even want to try?!

Speaking of Extra Modes, if you complete the campaigns fast enough, you unlock two semi-silly modes that each take about 10 to 15 minutes and are pure run-and-gun/survival modes. There’s no saving, and you either die or reach the end. Honestly, most players will attempt these modes a few times and quit in frustration because they’re not particularly well-balanced and rely on memorizing enemy locations and behaviors.

All told, it’ll take you somewhere between 13 to 20 hours to unlock the true ending, at which point what’s left is completing optional objectives, speedruns to get that coveted “S” rank, and Achievements if that’s your thing. So RE2 is definitely a premium title, giving you short but memorable gameplay as opposed to the larger, more expansive action/adventure/RPG/sim games.

I’m so proud of my “S” rank. Let’s celebrate, Resident Evil style! (Just don’t invite the Tyrant.)

Audio: Crisp Creaking and Much Moaning

On the aural front, RE2 deserves special praise for the atmospheric audio touches placed all over the locations. From creaking floorboards, flickering and shorting electrical panels, pouring water, shattered windows, and other horrific matters, this game builds a wondrous world for your ears. It all works extremely well, although the combat sound effects aren’t quite as good as the world sounds.

And the music is very forgettable…you can buy DLC (yuck) to unlock the original PlayStation soundtrack and effects, which some may enjoy for nostalgia reasons. Regardless, RE2’s music isn’t a highlight.

Technically Near-Perfect

On the technical side, RE2 is a dream. The load times are often just one or two seconds even on a non-solid-state drive install. Seriously, how does this game load so fast?! Overachieve much? Please also note I never once had a crash or glitch, and the game alt-tab’s like a champ. Basically RE2 is too legit to quit (working).

There’s only a few slightly odd graphical shimmering effects with the lighting engine, but that’s very minor. Occasionally the game will freeze for a split-second upon entering new areas or finding collectibles, but it’s not a huge deal.

For new players, who could this mysterious lady be? For fans of the series, look who it is!

The game also features a very robust graphical customization menu. It’s wonderful to see the robust configurability that the PC platform deserves. Being able to adjust the FOV, motion blur, depth of field, lens flares, and chromatic aberration is much appreciated. So kudos to Capcom for creating such a native PC experience!

Zombie Bullet Sponges & Damage Issues

Another contentious point is how unexpectedly tough zombies are. It’s clear RE2 is trying to be a “hardcore” survival game rather than an action game, but there’s something profoundly unsatisfying when you put six to nine bullets directly into the head of a zombie and it still gets up again.

As detailed as the zombies are, they’re heads don’t realistically deform when shot with bullets. They simply have blood textures applied instead of starting to cave in and lose parts. This is an unfortunate lack of detail. Also missing are blood pools around some dead zombies. Fans of the original game will lament this omission.

Especially galling is how occasionally you can pull out your shotgun and directly blast a zombie in the head an arm’s length away and sometimes still not kill it! In this shotgun case, you only can truly count on a one-hit-kill with a fully upgraded shotgun. This makes sense in “video game progression land” but it’s contrived and unsatisfying. Watch the GIF below in abject horror.

https://media.giphy.com/media/3NxgDeGa7iQEcWPK2Z/source.mp4

When a shotgun at point blank can’t explode a zombie’s head on Normal difficulty it brings to mind the meme: you had one job, shotgun, one job! Zombie’s head should go boom.

What’s also missing is the satisfying (but unrealistic) blood spurting when you decapitate a zombie with a powerful weapon. The original RE2 was so enjoyable in this way, and RE2’s “head split” animation is just not nearly as enjoyable as the original. Oh well…

Dinky Combat & No CQC

What makes the zombie bullet sponges even more unfortunate is the little sense of power and lethality of most combat engagements, which is perhaps intended to once again “heighten tension” but doesn’t feel very good to play. Your aim is inaccurate. Bullets hitting zombies can feel more like foam darts. Your knife slashes are imprecise and feel like you’re attempting to slather butter on the zombies rather than expertly slash and murder them.

Sometimes scripted sequences override player actions, which is a big sin. At one point several zombies were around me, and one  grabbed me. I used my equipped flashbang to stun it, but another zombie grabbed me a split-second before the flash detonated. Despite a flashbang going off right next to it, the zombie played its scripted grab animation and badly damaged me. These conflicts between player input and scripted results happen too often.

Another huge issue is the player has zero close-quarters-combat (CQC) skills. You would think you could at least have basic self-defense moves when your ammo is gone. Nope. You can’t kick, punch, push, or otherwise repel zombie attacks. You just stand like a fool as zombies lunge at you. They’ve artificially limited your ability to respond to threats, which makes the game a lot less fun to play.

Claire was never taught to KICK when a zombie chews your leg. Another poor education.

It’s just too jarring to have Leon and Claire, both fit and athletic young people, be unable to duck, weave, roll, dodge, and quickly outmaneuver zombies…unless it’s in a cutscene when suddenly they stop being movement morons. I personally hate when games have characters do things in cutscenes that are taken away from you when you actually play. Not cool.

So once again some of the combat improvements in the more modern games have been stripped out…an unfortunate design decision perhaps done because Capcom was too afraid to deliver “an action feel” after the utter disaster that was RE6.

Some Kind of Tyrant

I’m not going to say much, but during the game you’ll encounter this one guy who follows you around and tries to kill you. You might enjoy these segments. More likely, you’ll find them a bit annoying by the end. I personally found these segments to be fairly brief, so I’m not knocking or praising the game in this regard.

This guy is not the Tyrant, but this guy is also disturbingly scary. He needs serious therapy.

Keyboard and Mouse Issues

If you’re using a controller, you can move very slowly by barely pushing the analog stick (like nearly every third-person game). Sadly Capcom forgot to include a keyboard binding for this “slow walk” style, so if you’re playing with keyboard and mouse you’ll be unable to avoid detection in certain important areas. All it would take is a menu option to press down “Ctrl” or whatnot to get your creep on and safely avoid serious consequences. Needed more PC testing.

DLC Costumes, Unlockables, & Promised Content

On the very negative side, one thing they haven’t kept from the old days is quality unlockable costumes. Rather, they’ve opted to modernize things with unacceptable DLC outfits. You only unlock the original 1998 outfits by playing. The interesting outfits…you need to pay for them. I will never condone this practice in a full-price release.

No! Charging for what used to be free unlockable costumes is NOT cool! A terrible practice.

Also sad is how much more annoying it is to unlock the good infinite ammo weapons in this modern RE2. It’s just silly to lock the best stuff behind modes about maybe 2% of your players will finish.

On a brighter side, Capcom has promised three mini-stories to be released for free in the future. They’ll probably be very short, but free post-release content is nice.

Other Minor Annoyances

There’s a 20 save-game limit for some silly reason. This means you won’t be able to keep all your save games from the four different campaigns (eight counting the Hardcore modes), which makes hunting down missed Achievements or unlockables a bit more tedious. I don’t see why the game couldn’t keep separate save “folders” for each playthrough…this isn’t 1998.

Here you play as a little girl. It was the most terrifying part for me. Play it to find out why.

While you can skip all the major cutscenes (thankfully), for some bizarre reason you cannot skip other short cutscenes such as certain item placements and death scenes. When you’re playing the game for the fourth time you really don’t need to sit through a 10 second sequence seeing yourself torn to shreds…just let me load my game already.

It’s also too bad that RE2 lacks a photo mode since this would be a perfect fit for a game as visually attractive as this one! Oh well.

Overlooking Faults: Yes or No?

In reading the overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews and mostly glowing critic reviews, I think it’s fair to say most players are choosing to overlook the larger issues of RE2 perhaps out of nostalgia or relief that Capcom mostly delivered. These issues chiefly are the less-than-stellar combat, lack of CQC, muddy maneuverability, and the tedious item management.

Another gorgeous, breath-taking scene. Amazing what 20 years of technology can do.

As a critic I can’t just overlook any issues, even if I also love RE2. Therefore, what we have here is a faithful and gorgeous remake that retains the original’s mood but lacks the fluid and intelligent modern gameplay it truly deserves.

If you can overlook the faults, RE2 is as perfect a recreation of the 1998 survival-horror experience as you’ll ever get. I still love the original RE2 and the remake brings back all that I love, even if it also drags in a bit too much less-lovely archaic design.

Perfect atmosphere & mood

Optimized & efficient engine

Gorgeously detailed world

Balanced survival-horror

Super-fast loading times

Immersive locational audio

Extremely faithful remake

Free content updates

Inventory annoyances!

Lack of any CQC defense

Some flimsy/quirky combat

Bullet-sponge zombies

Some obtuse item puzzles

Semi-short campaigns

Pointless 20-save limit

Good costumes are all DLC

Playtime: 26 hours total. Nick completed Leon’s “scenic” playthrough in 7 hours. Next was Claire’s in 4 hours. Leon’s 2nd Run took 3 hours, and Claire’s 2nd Run came in at a quick 2.5 hours. Nick proceeded to unlock Achievements and collectibles for a good while more. He’s looking forward to maybe attempting Hardcore mode someday…maybe.

Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using an Intel i7-3930k CPU, 32GB of memory, and a nVidia GTX 980 Ti graphics card.

Also read the Resident Evil 2 PC Performance Analysis.

Resident Evil 2 Review: Gruesomely Gorgeous published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/