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Get ready to fight your way through the zombie-infested Spencer Mansion again -- Capcom has announced plans to remaster the original Resident Evil, with a high-definition version of the genre-defining survival horror game due for download-only release early in 2015.

In a video posted to YouTube, producers Tatsuya Kitabayashi and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi revealed the updated game will be coming to PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. Screens from the game shown in the video were taken from the current gen console versions, so were only in 720p, but seem appropriately sinister. You can practically smell the decaying flesh of the series' bio-horror monsters.


Players will be able to choose between playing the game in its original 4:3 aspect ratio or an updated 16:9 widescreen format, which seems to crop in and follow the player's movements. The game will also include 5.1 surround sound, along with a choice of original (turn to face objective, press up to walk forwards) or modern (push thumbstick in direction of movement) controls

[ImageLibrary##337407/Any##Title¬RE-made##Description¬Wouldn't want to meet him down a dark alley. Oh, never mind.##Credit¬©

Capcom]

The first Resident Evil, known as Biohazard in Japan, was released in 1996, directed by Shinji Mikami. While Mikami has long since left Capcom (and is currently working on The Evil Within,) both producers on the remake have long histories with the franchise. Kitabayashi worked on the oft-overlooked Resident Evil Zero and Hirabayashi on the 2002 GameCube remake of the first game.


It's that enhanced port that serves as the basis of the new remastered version. That makes a lot of sense, given it's seen by fans and critics alike as the definitive edition of the game, refining the PlayStation version with sharper controls and vastly improved dialogue. Despite still being pre-rendered backgrounds, the visuals were mind-blowing for the time, with real-time shadows and particle effects making the confines of the Spencer Mansion and the macabre labs underneath even more terrifying. Hirabayashi says the development team are "ensuring no unnecessary changes will be made" to the new version and that "the tempo and flow of the original game are an inherent part of its scary atmosphere, so we have made the decision not to disrupt this tempo".

However, while the newest remake will keep the game accessible,

Resident Evil has been on the shelves in one form or another for nearly 20 years. While it's undoubtedly a classic of survival horror gaming, the HD version will need something more than improved graphics to intimidate an audience that knows where every scare and jump awaits.