'Resident Evil 2' Remake Will Feature Two Separate Campaigns Without A/B Scenarios

The remake for “Resident Evil 2” was announced last week during E3 and the game will be released in Jan. 25, 2019. Capcom has confirmed that the game will only feature two campaigns with a more straightforward narrative than the original.

In the original “Resident Evil 2,” the game allowed players to go through A/B scenarios for both Leon and Claire. If a player starts and finishes the game with Leon A, then they’ll continue playing Claire B. However, when a player starts and finishes with Claire A, they’ll continue the storyline with Leon B. This provided fans a complete story from both Leon and Claire’s perspectives. Also, it allowed gamers to play the “Resident Evil 2” four times and each play through feels slightly different. For the “Resident Evil 2” remake, Capcom decided to streamline the story by simply giving users two separate campaigns without the A/B scenarios.

“We still want to replicate that feeling of seeing two sides to the same story through both character’s perspective in their own way. So for that reason we have a Leon campaign and a Claire campaign, they’re separate and you can choose which one you want to play first,” producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi told Rely On Horror. “We did simplify it a bit and make it more elegant by eliminating the A/B distinction and sort of meshing together what happens to the character’s A and B scenarios into one story.”

Hirabayashi also explained that they felt that this is a better approach than the original for players today. This will also likely remove the possibility of making the game feel repetitive and provide players with a better experience.

“I think players today, they want these sort of deep/intense experiences with the story, and by stretching it across 4 scenarios the story gets spread a little thin and create a sense of repetition by going through the game multiple times to see everything. So for that reason we went with two campaigns that still show all the events of each character’s story rather than have it all split up,” Hirabayashi said.

Capcom has already released a trailer for the “Resident Evil 2” remake and there are also numerous gameplay demos available online. So far, the remake has been received positively for its updated look and the return to survival horror. Like “Resident Evil 4” to “6,” the remake features over-the-shoulder camera, which is somewhat divisive amongst fans, as pointed out by Game Rant.

“We’re really focused on our new over the shoulder camera, so we’re not really thinking about alternative camera options. It’s not going to be a ‘shooter’ over the shoulder game, it’s going to be a tense claustrophobic camera that still really brings the horror experience even though it’s a new style for ‘Resident Evil 2,’” co-producer Tsuyoshi Kanda said.

“For me the over the shoulder camera gives you that intense struggle between both the character and the enemy,” Hirabayashi said.

“Resident Evil 2” will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on Jan. 25, 2019.