RE2 Remake: Secret New Mode, Replayability, and More From Famitsu

So the RE2 Remake news just won’t stop! We reported yesterday on a new interview from Famitsu magazine that revealed the names of the games directors, but we didn’t actually get a chance to learn anything more from the actual piece itself. Well, that information is making the rounds now, so let’s talk about it! There’s a fair amount, and it’s all pretty exciting, but thankfully RE news guru Aesthetic Gamer (who we’ve sourced multiple times here in the past for RE7 and REmake 2 information) broke down the news into bullet points over on Reddit, so I’ll go over each individually. UPDATE: That new image, which was reported by several people to be in-game, is actually just concept art. Totally rad concept art, but concept art nevertheless.

The game is speed runner friendly, they avoided randomized design factors to help the speed running community with the game.

This makes a lot of sense, and falls in line with past RE games. One of the best things about the series in my opinion is how they focus on the concept of conquring your fears, rather than just slogging through hell, and as you get better and better, and learn the way the game is designed and how its systems work, you slowly become a master. Eventually, it is totally possible to skip large swaths of RE games in the past, famously several boss fights in RE1, or just not bothering with much of the side stuff in RE2. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’m also really glad that “randomized” factors aren’t being implemented. Easily one of the worst things about RE3, for instance, was the randomized puzzle answers, like the infamous water treatment puzzle.

They made sure an all-knife run will be possible in REmake 2 for people who want that challenge.

Mmm them old school bragging rights. So yeah you’re all probably familiar with this, but just in case, a classic challange from back in the old school days was to try and beat one of the RE games using only the knife, which while it obviously didn’t need reloading, was a pathetically weak weapon with point blank reach and had a chance of trapping you in a “ricochet” animation if you miss and glance the knife off the wall. Finishing a run of any of the old school REs using on the knife was bragging rights that couldn’t be knocked. They even offered an achievement for beating REmake in this manner when it was remastered for current gen. It will be super interesting to see how complex a knife-only run will be in this remake, however, as the knife doesn’t function the same as it has in previous games- it know also doubles as your defense item to get out of taking a hit. It also now has a durability meter, and will break after a certain amount of use, forcing you to find another knife (we’ve already seen one in the deposit box office).

REmake 2 is a lot more replayable than RE7, there is more reason to replay the game, and they mention there’s a certain unlockable in REmake 2 they haven’t announced, something bigger than Tofu and Fourth Survivor Modes being in the game, that will tremendously increase replay value, but they’re not announcing it at this time.

Replayability was one of the few (more reasonable, get outta here with the Outlast clone crap) complaints regarding RE7, and as such they’re working hard to make sure RE2 Remake doesn’t suffer the same fate. On that note… unlockable? That tremendously increases replay value? What in the world could that be? Since basically the day the game was announced I’ve been floating a conspiracy theory that RE2 Remake could be hiding a hidden camera option, or options. There have been multiple instances where suspiciously fixed-camera looking gameplay has come from official Capcom sources, from the second trailer, and several screenshots shown over the last few days. Thanks to RE Superfan Where’s Barry who spotted this image from Famitsu that looks unmistakably fixed camera:

I could be reading too much into it, there’s every chance that these are just promotional poses designed to show off something besides the back of the character’s head… but then again that one shot from the end of the second trailer… only time will tell. The fact that there’s a hidden mode that will apparently give us a reason to play again and is bigger than Tofu and Fourth Survivor (which, let’s be honest, are the exact same mini-game where you run from the sewers to the helipad with limited ammo) is exciting regardless. Fingers crossed that no matter what it is, it’s awesome.

They didn’t want to go exactly for realism like RE7 in REmake 2, but do a sorta’ stylized “Hollywood” look for the game, a stylized reality. They redid the style and graphics a lot to try and achieve the look they were going for.

Uh, sure I guess. REmake 2 looks pretty god damn realistic to me, significantly moreso than RE7, but perhaps they mean more in terms of they didn’t hold back on art direction. Whatever their goal was visually, it looks great, so keep it up.

Puzzles will be more “realistic”, IE things integrated better into the game world and have an in-game logic to them and world building rather than puzzles just being randomly about.

I can get behind this. A common joke among fans is how… well, frankly bizarre the world of RE is when it comes to puzzles. If a police officer in the original RE2 needed to get something out of the records room on the west side of the first floor, they’d need to first grab a unicorn medal from a small alcove on the second floor walkway, which could only be accessed by walking up stairs on the farthest sides of the building, or via a folding escape ladder that was kept folded in the main hall, and then place that medal in a statue to get the key. Sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

Claire’s depiction in REmake 2 is similar to Leon to help show who she was before she got pulled into all of this. “Claire is a very strong woman. She’s got spunk riding a motorcycle into town all by herself.” A free rebel of sorts who’s come to find her brother and storm into a police station to do it.

I’ve yet to really understand the backlash against Claire’s new look, other than just out and out nostalgia goggles (or the handful of creepy weirdos angry that her butt isn’t half out the way it was in Darkside Chronicles). But whatever, I’d be shocked if Claire and Leon’s classic costumes weren’t unlockable. Everyone wins.

The game will be at TGS, and that the game is mostly finished but just being polished now.

Sweet! Now can it be a new demo or at least new footage? As exciting as what we have now is, and I definitly don’t want to end up too spoiled before the game comes out, can we please at least see some Claire gameplay, or even just something set in a different part of the game? We’re waiting with bated breath here, man!

That’s it for now, but TGS is only a little over a month away, so there’s plenty to look forward to. We’ll of course keep you posted as more information becomes available.

[Source]