Resident Evil 2 demo had some issues with HDR and it seems to have carried over to the main game as well.

When it comes to HDR, not many games manage to implement it successfully. It is still a new concept so the result varies on a lot of factors like the display, implementation of HDR in games, and even the console settings. Resident Evil 2 appears to be one of those games where the HDR implementation is wonky leading to uneven results hence it is best played without HDR. It is simply a case of bad mapping.

This opinion is also echoed by ACG YouTube channel who has reviewed the game. Karak, who manages ACG, further commented on this issue on resetERA stating that the issue with HDR was not just his own experience but he talked to some other reviewers including the ones analyzing the technical aspects of the game, and the result was that HDR was bad for most of them.

The same is true for our own experience as you can see we have taken some screenshots with the game offering HDR on and off. The reason why HDR is an issue here is that the colors just look washed out and for a game that is incredibly dark, the washed out grey looks greatly hurts the atmosphere. There are certain places were the HDR looks good but it is not a perfect experience either way. The blacks should look black here and not grey.

When the demo was released, we had hoped to see some improvements in the HDR implementation, but it hasn’t turned out to be the case, unfortunately, since there is no fix for the HDR or not even a toggle for a native 4K mode with locked 30 FPS on the enhanced consoles. The visual makeup seems to be same as the recently released demo.

This is something that can be easily fixed with an update to the game, so hopefully, if Capcom has one planned, it should implement this fix. It is important to mention that this HDR issue is not for the whole game but seems to occur mostly when using the Flashlight in pitch black area.