Resident Evil 3 Remake Interview: Nemesis, Exploration, Endings, & More

It’s been a few weeks since the last time we heard much of anything from Resident Evil 3 Remake, at least officially. The last real official news was during a Capcom stream late last month, and we’ve been waiting patiently. We finally have a little bit more info today, thanks to a new issue of PlayStation Magazine UK, which interviews producer Peter Fibaino (who loaned his face to Pete in Resident Evil 7) regarding the upcoming terror. While the interview is full of hype and speculation, there are a few key points worth going over. I’ll admit, some of this has me hyped — and some of it has me worried. Here’s a link to the original interview (via scans from u/Mates20970 over on Reddit), but I’ll break things down into bullet points:

Resident Evil 3 Remake won’t be an open-world game, but “You’ll find that you’re able to walk through areas and explore a bit more than in the original”

The original Resident Evil 3 was massive, spanning a massive area many, many times the size of the R.P.D. building (considering you can actually revisit parts of the station in the original game, you can get a good sense of the scale). Another major change was the lack of a “hub” area, which both the Spencer mansion and the R.P.D. had — a central main hall that would always be safe and had a save point available that you then branch off to the east and west from. Raccoon City proper in RE3 was just that: a city, and as such the map twisted, turned, and was forced down alleyways and crooked paths, spider-webbing across the world. The idea of opening up Raccoon even the slightest bit, allowing us to explore even more of the doomed metropolis, sounds amazing. The map we’ve already seen thanks to the collector’s edition is already noticeably bigger than the original, thanks largely to it literally being retrofitted into the original Raccoon City layout established in RE3 Classic.

Nemesis to be “untethered”, stalking you across the entirety of Raccoon City and building on an improved version of Mr. X’s AI from REmake 2.

This is something fans of the original game are sure to be quaking in their boots over. Despite Nemesis’ reputation as pursuing you throughout Raccon, capable of showing up at any time and any place, that actually isn’t true. The original game’s version of Nemesis always had scripted spawns, and only a handful of areas he could actually inhabit. A few he could stay around in for a while mind you and the areas he could spawn were often dependant on choices the player made — but scripted nevertheless. Mr.X (aka the Tyrant) in REmake 2 was the first true realization of that idea in the series, although he was still limited to the confines of the R.P.D. station (save for one brief moment at the end of Leon’s campaign). Nemesis being a completely uncapped version of that (save for safe rooms and the interior of certain areas like the cable car, presumably) of that sounds both like a dream, and a nightmare.

Adjustments have been made to the gameplay, dodge mechanic unconfirmed. We’ll “see more soon”.

This was a pretty goofy statement by Fabiano, considering that the dodge mechanic is literally shown in some of the footage they’ve shown, but to be fair it could always have been removed or modified in some way before release. If anything, the main thought that there may be other adjustments is interesting. The main differences from RE1 and 2 to RE3 were the inclusion of the dodge mechanic, the quick turn, and the red barrels/explosives. Considering that one of those has been a series staple in almost every single entry since RE3, I wonder if this is an indication we’ll see the other two for sure come back, or if even more will be changing. Here’s hoping the survival horror mechanics are still firmly in place, regardless of what other changes may be coming.

Sound design is super important to the dev team, especially where Nemesis is concerned.

This is absolutely a must. Sound plays an incredibly effective role in horror, often being able to take center stage even ahead of the visuals. REmake 2 utilized the same binaural sound designed as Resident Evil 7‘s End of Zoe DLC, which created an even more dynamic 3D soundscape for the player (especially wearing headphones). The crashing of Mr. X’s footfalls throughout the R.P.D. were anxiety-inducing, and easily one of the standout elements of the game for me (which is saying a lot considering my glowing review of it). Nemesis is famous for his growling “Staarrsss” voice line, which we’ve already gotten a chance to hear in the newer version of REmake 2‘s demo. Presumably, this voice will be used much to the same effect as Mr. X’s footfalls. Hearing his voice echoing in the distance (as it appears in the REmake 2 demo) can alert us to his presence in an area, and growing louder can raise our panic as he closes in. A screaming, ear-shattering callout signifying that he’s spotted us? Hope you already have your plot picked out, friend.

Learning from working with the RE Engine on REmake 2, the developers of Resident Evil 3 Remake have made “Raccoon City feel alive and vibrant in the midst of the early days of the outbreak. You can see some art design and color choices help bring the ’90s time period to life”

Indeed we can, as the trailer and some of the screenshots offer a glimpse of a pre-dead Racoon still brightly lit and teeming with civilians as the undead crash against barricades. In the original RE3, the city was already mostly dead. While we did encounter a few other survivors and could occasionally hear others cry out as they were killed, the city was nowhere near as “not dead yet” as it appears now. This is very welcome, in my opinion, as its a side of the outbreak we’ve never really had a chance to see before. It’s also a great way of showcasing just how bad things got and how fast, considering the brightly lit street in front of the R.P.D. we see in the trailer and screens is pitch black and dead looking in REmake 2, only 24 hours later. Capturing more of a ’90s aesthetic is also great, as REmake 2 (outside of some of the computers) didn’t quite capture the vibe (USB drives sadly wouldn’t be invented for two more years from when RE2 is set).

They had to build a real Nemesis model in order to use the photogrammetry scanning method needed for RE Engine.

I wonder who’s going to end up with that in their living room. Katastrophe, let us know, will ya?

The Mercenaries bonus mode has been replaced by Resident Evil: Resistance. Resistance is also a “what if?” scenario, similar to Operation Raccoon City, meaning it may not be canon at all.

This is one of the first things here that I’m a bit disappointed by. Admittedly, The Mercenaries: Operation Mad Jackyl wasn’t all that grand in scope, basically just RE2‘s Ex Battle Mode but with a bit more of an arcade vibe, but it was still a major part of the original. Resistance is sure to be way more robust than any version of Mercenaries has been before, to be fair — and the game’s director has confirmed that there are lots they haven’t shown off yet, which means there might even be a mode similar to Mercenaries in it, but there’s no way of knowing at the moment. On top of this, knowing that Resistance might not be canon at all is also a smidge fatiguing. It does help explain the Annette/G mastermind, but it also locks out any interesting lore it might have to share behind a wall of “maybe”. Here’s hoping that the gameplay itself will be non-canon, but the lore it introduces (characters, locations, etc) may be canon — ala Overwatch‘s gameplay having no bearing on the lore.

There may be more cross over between the events of Resident Evil 3 Remake and REmake 2 than in the original RE2 and 3. “You would expect that since the events do indeed chronologically overlap that there would be things you’d find familiar. I’ll just leave it at that for now”.

My friends and I used to joke that Raccoon City, more specifically the police station, was magic. The complete and total disregard for chronological or even just basic design consistency was oftentimes hilarious at best, distractingly off at worst. For instance, Jill visits the R.P.D. station several hours prior to Leon and Claire getting there — but her visit is met with multiple barricades and boarded up doors (of which there’s not only no evidence of in RE2, but the areas where they should be are literally spotless), as well as the corpse of the not-yet-dead Marvin. Weird shit, and it suggests that the idea that RE3 was half prequel was a decision made after the fact. We already know that we’ll be revisiting the R.P.D. station in Resident Evil 3 Remake (although apparently as Carlos, rather than Jill) just like we did in the original, so this may be a good chance to rectify that weirdness. Odds are that we probably won’t cross paths with anyone, of course — although the patched in achievement for REmake 2 suggests at least one familiar face.

“Carlos will have his own interesting section to play through”

As previously stated, we appear to be playing as Carlos during a tour of the Raccoon City police department now, which is very different from the original game. Previously, Carlos had only a brief, 30 minute to hour-long section where he ran around Raccoon City General Hospital trying to mix together a cure for Jill’s (spoilers) infection. That’s still totally possible in the remake, as we can see from the collector’s edition map Carlos (and the rest of the U.B.C.S.) are hunting for a Dr. Bard, who appears to be holed up in the station. Dr. Bard could very well be a retconned creator (or at least someone who has access to) Daylight, the cure for the T-Virus, and Carlos’ intentions in finding him may no longer be to save his friend — but under orders. This being a replacement for that original chapter is also backed up by the inclusion of Tyrell Patrick, a fellow U.B.C.S. merc who appeared very briefly in the hospital section. That said, I’m also curious just how long or how much there is to this mission. REmake 2 had character hoping for very brief sections, about 30 minutes apiece for Ada Wong and Sherry Birkin apiece (although once you get good at them they shave down to less than 10). It remains to be seen. Some part of me almost wonders if Carlos may be getting his own campaign, based on the apparently U.B.C.S. scribbled-on map we’ve seen, but that’s a bit too crazy.

The choice system, different story routes, and multiple endings have been cut from Resident Evil 3 Remake.

Here we go, out of everything we’ve heard changed between REmake 2 and Resident Evil 3 Remake — this might be the first one that really pisses off old school fans. I wasn’t really expecting them to keep the (now very, very dated) Live-Selection choice system, but had expected that perhaps the game would opt for something more subtle — did you go to the gas station first, or the press office, etc. The original RE3 already does this to a small degree, and it would be a great way to expand on replayability as it offered multiple paths to see (even story-wise) would open up and ultimately lead to multiple endings. Apparently, however, the answer to whether or not any or all of these reappearing in the remake is: no. I can only speak for myself, but I am extremely disappointed with this omission, as the branching paths and multiple endings were a major part of Resident Evil 3‘s identity, and their removal would force several massive changes onto the way the story of Jill’s last escape plays out. REmake 2 had admittedly already removed the four A/B scenarios from the original game in favor of much more streamlined (and thus mostly the same, story-wise) 1st and 2nd scenarios, but this feels like an even greater change. RE2 always ended at the exact same point, with all the same characters surviving and the gist of what happened remaining the same — RE3‘s plot could change massively based on the decisions the player made, and the number of characters who survived (or at least appeared at) the story at the end would also change depending on the ending.

This change forces the story into a very streamlined set of events, and will also either confirm or disconfirm several aspects of the canon in regards to who survives or does what when. Will (you know who) show up at the end still? That’s a majorly fun part of the original game for fans of the series, but now knowing that their appearance may be a literal coin-flip for the devs instead of a possibility within the game is disheartening. One character, in particular, will also have their survival or lack thereof written in stone most likely, which (while it won’t necessarily mean anything in the grand scheme of things probably) removes a lot of the intent created by not answering that question this entire time. Only time will tell how things work out, perhaps their reasoning for backing away from the original design is brilliant, but for now my hype has scaled back somewhat (which nobody is more annoyed by than me) from my initial excitement.

We have a new trailer featuring more Nemesis and Carlos inbound in the next few weeks most likely, so we’ll be keeping you posted! More and more Resident Evil 3 Remake news is sure to be coming in greater amounts as the clock ticks down into the last 80 days before release (yes, really, we’re getting that close!).