I don't have any brilliant new vision for the series. But I am conflicted about the seemingly forgone conclusion that is an RE3 remake.
Frankly, I'm not sure I really want another "dynamic-persistent-unkillable-threat-chases-you-the-entire-game" sort of game. Not that Resident Evil has ever done it poorly--it's actually quite the contrary. Both Resident Evil 7 and the RE2 Remake found a way to balance a persistent threat against an engrossing gameplay loop. In fact, that's mostly a credit to the original execution of the Nemesis concept back in 1999.
That balance comes from smart pacing. Knowing when to drop the monster into the world and when to cache it back in the toy box. Discrete windows of pursuit end up being so much more valuable than an entire game's worth of cat-and-mouse.
Too little and you're left wanting. Too much and your game becomes Alien Isolation--one of my favorites, for the record--whose twenty-plus-hour runtime grinds you into exhaustion.
Capcom figured it out.
Resident Evil 2's Tyrant, in practice, operates as a purer form of the Nemesis idea than even the original Nemesis itself. Sure, he can't sprint, he can't operate a rocket launcher, he can't say the name of his (least) favorite anti-bio-weapon task force. But here is a menacing creature capable of navigating the game's world dynamically, of chasing the player down on the basis of their activity, of being an indestructible wall of terror.
It's neither omnipresent nor omniscient. And while it has a way of stumbling into your business at the most inconvenient times, the monster also behaves the way it does as the result of a very clear set of rules. That's the important thing, the real cherry on top. Reward comes from understanding those rules and exploiting them to critical advantage.
With the Tyrant, they did it. They nailed it. The perfect balance.
The question is: Where do you go from there? More hulking monstrosities chasing you down corridors? Or city streets, I guess? How do you make the Nemesis more dynamic without upsetting that balance? To me, the pitch sounds like Resident Evil 2 Part 2. Which, perhaps not coincidentally, is a common criticism of the original Resident Evil 3.
In fairness, Resident Evil 3 is an interesting game for reasons other than its eponymous villain. It featured branching paths, stranger enemies, and, for the franchise, shockingly complex puzzles. Also, there's this whole human element with the Umbrella soldiers trying to clean up the T-Virus mess. It's the only game in the franchise that really makes an attempt to humanize the other side of the outbreak.
I think if the Resident Evil team wanted to step in and shake up the game's formula, an RE3 remake could be really, really neat. But if it's just the Resident Evil 2 remake in downtown Raccoon City with another unstoppable enemy chasing you around, that's not as appealing.
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