Resident Evil: Is It Still Fun Today?

Welcome back to Is It Still Fun Today, our show where we revisit classic games to answer the question. Is it still fun today? I'm Damon Hatfield, today I'm joined by Nick Limone, Sam Claiborne, and Michael Hyam. Welcome everybody. This is our second episode, hopefully you got the first one on the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, spoiler alert, pretty fun game to play today. You can find that episode here on IGN's YouTube channel or in the IGN Game Scoop podcast feed. Now, you may have heard that this year's IGN's 30th anniversary. As part of that celebration, we thought it would be good to do a few, is it still fun episodes on games from 1996? So to kick things off, we're starting with the game that itself kicked off an entire genre, started to franchise it is still going strong, could be argued is doing better than ever today. We were about to revisit the original Resident Evil from 1996. Ages, I think the last time I genuinely played this game was near its launch window, and my cousin had it on his PlayStation, and I was much too young to play it. So the second that like FMV cutscene of the zombie, or it's the CG cutscene of the zombie turning around, I got way too scared and ran out of the room. I was like, no, I'm not doing this. I can't handle this. I got a weak constitution. I got to go. But you know, I'm ready to face my fears. And Michael, you actually played this on your own earlier this year, right? I did. I was getting excited for RE9 aka Resident Evil Requiem, and I've been doing a whole playthrough of the series, so I did start with the original. I played the remake though, but I think for this, I am going to play the original PS1, or find a way to play the original PS1 version. Also came to Saturn, so if you have a Saturn lying around, I super don't. I've got one out there. I will say, the one they all say is that I think I'm getting to the age in which I am finding games, old games with clunky controls to be fun. So, okay. That might be my answer. As long as you know, you're getting into the challenge. It just comes from the controls, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, that was a percent. Sam, it is known to scoop nation that you love Resident Evil. When did you last play the original? Yeah, so I, weirdly, probably rental, but at my cousin's house, like that's exactly what happened to me too. I was between liking video games at the time, and so I wasn't super into the PlayStation One, but I do remember these games having black compact discs instead of silver, and it blew my mind. And then I remember thinking the FMBs were just so bad, and I couldn't believe that people are into this game. And then I played the remake on GameCube, and of course, I fell in love with that game, and Resident Evil Zero at that time. I don't have a lot of experience playing the actual PS1 version. I 100% have it on disc, and I have a PS1. I also have a PS3 that can play PS1 games, though, the, you know, 60 gig one, I think. So, I got to figure out how I'm going to pull this off. If not, what do you recommend, Damon? Well, I'm going to play the 20. There's a 2015 HD remaster. I have it on PlayStation. It's also on PC, so I could play on Steam Deck as well. That's technically the GameCube one, right? So that's where I'm playing that. And Nick, you're playing on PS1. Actually, you're going to capture it in 4K, right? We're going to have beautiful B-roll thanks to Nick. I'm thanks to the power of IGN and OneDaveTool. I've managed to hook up the IGN office, or he managed to hook up the IGN office with a RetroTink 4K, so I got my PS1 connected to that RetroTink. So now it's just, I really want to play it with scan lines, but I'll do a test footage and see whether or not that looks good on your YouTube video, because the scan lines are just so pretty on the RetroTink 4K. What do you, is it just our CA output, or is it like, what do you do? I am currently doing the RetroTink has RGB. I have a modded PS1, so I can do RGB out. Oh, you have a modded one. Yeah, you're all set. It's going to look really good. It's going to look very good as a game on compact disc from 1996. Good luck. Very crispy. Yeah. So we have all played before. Some people had comments on the first video that we should have someone on the panel who has never played the game before, so they're not influenced by nostalgia. I can't. I can't. I didn't play a lot of it. I didn't beat it. Well, I just want to say that's a great idea that will definitely implement in future episodes. So, all right, Resident Evil, the original one, it has a 91 on Metacritic. EGM gave it an 8, a 9.5, a 9 and a 9. So definitely well received at the time. We are going to enter the Spencer Mansion and replay Resident Evil 1996. We're shooting this cold open right before we head out for a holiday break. So we'll be playing over the holidays and shooting the full episode early in the new year. It is time to find out if the OG pre-render backgrounds tank controls hilariously bad dialogue and jaggy polygons of Resident Evil 1996 are still fun today. You're you're almost a Jill Sandwich. Thanks, Barry. Master of unlocking. Resident Evil. Resident Evil. And we're back. It's a whole new year. We spent the holidays turning rooms green in order to determine whether or not the original Resident Evil is still fun today. And I think we're all in agreement that it sure is, although my recommendation comes with a little asterisk. Let me let me paint you all a picture. Towards the nights around Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except Damon on the couch, lit by the light of the Christmas tree, cat in lap, steam deck in hand, headphones on, playing Resident Evil, and I had a blast. This style of Resident Evil game totally holds up, even feels refreshing because no one is making games like this anymore. Well, dive into all the details, but my high level takeaway is yes, still fun, especially if you played the old style of Resident Evil games back in the day. If you didn't and all you know are the modern style games from RE4 on, there are a couple of big caveats that I would warn you about. But let's dig in. I played the 2015 remaster of the 2002 remake, which is readily available on modern platforms. I played as Jill. Sam, you played the same? Yeah, I did. I played as Jill. It's great. And I played and I played on my steam deck by the Christmas tree with the cat in my lap as well. Yeah, that's right, man. Goose campbirds of a feather. Now, Michael, did you play the 1996 version over the holiday? Man, I wish I did, but I did not, because I played on Switch, the version that is available on the Switch eShop, which is the 2015 remaster of the remake. And yeah, it turns out it's still fun. But like you, Damon, there are some caveats that I will tell folks who want to play this version because I do think it is essential, especially if you are getting into Resident Evil or if you have some gaps in the series, you have to play this version, but you got to know what to expect. Yeah, that I would agree with that. But Nick, you really went all out because you played, you did two runs of the 2015 version and also the 1996 version and you captured them all. So all the footage you see here is captured by Nick. No judgment on the gameplay because man, those dogs are real pain in the ass. No, yeah. Resident Evil 1, as I talked about in the cold open, which is now, you know, prior to Christmas, it was a big blind spot for me and I was like, you know what? I'm Nick LeMone. I got to play all of these games just to see plus I am Nick, I'm LeMone. Yeah, and I'm a big sucker for just that early polygon, like PlayStation style and I think that a lot of people in general are really having nostalgia for. You know, we see games like Crow Country that are evoking original Resident Evil and I couldn't think of a better thing to just check out the one that started it all and I had a blast. Granted, I did only play through Jill Campaign on the 1996 version, but I played the original version of the game, no Dual Shock, no Directors Cut, just that one and man. And then I did Chris and then I did another Joe run and then Chris in the 2015 remake on PC with the help of some lovely fans who did a beautiful job with the RE Stored mod that upscales all of the like pre-rendered backgrounds up to 4K. And so all the footage that you're looking at is in Glorious 4K, even the PlayStation 1, which I had connected to a Mister, I'm sorry, a Retro Tink 4K and it's beautiful scan line. So enjoy all of the low-fi beauty that you are going to see. I love it. I wanted to mention that I did try to get this up and go in. I have the Directors Cut, which we're just talking about has the Dual Shock upgrades to it and a few other things. It's of course on the black CD-ROM. How cool PlayStation was for doing that. But I ended up playing the the remade version, which I think has so many improvements, but I also, one other thing I wanted to mention about playing along with this game is that I used a strategy guide for large portions of it and spent that time updating our strategy guide. If you're out there and you're playing this, I actually like meticulously went through a paragraph by paragraph and made sure that like the writing and stuff and the puzzle solutions were up to stuff. And that was a lot of fun. So I had a fun time writing and playing. Dude, that's that brand synergy we're all about here at IGN. So people who watch this episode, you use the guide and you're going to get a definitive 2026 experience. Yeah, and I do think that's helpful. But Damon does have one tip for playing this game, which you already mentioned. What is that, Damon? Turn the room's green. If you are turning the room's green, you're playing Resident Evil, man. So, okay, a hot take here. I never once considered doing that playing Resident Evil because I'm just like, yeah, I got the item. I think I need, let's get out of here and go. Like, I'm not trying to spend more. It's too creepy, man. I'm not trying to spend more time in these rooms. It's funny because that becomes the way when you play it that way. It adds this, it adds a different type of fear to the game because what you're doing by doing that is making sure you get every single plant and ammo when you don't have any inventory room ever. So that's already difficult, right? So you're juggling that. And then also while you're doing that, you probably expend some of that very plant juice and ammo plant powder. I don't know what it is. And you know, just getting everything. So you really, He comes out of wash. You're like, "I'm gonna make sure I have all the ammo." So I, you know, don't run out. And then it's like, you spend all this time backtracking. And what happens? Bunch of dogs come through a bunch of windows and your boat. (laughs) Dude, those dogs, I swear, they're in Devil May Cry and I'm just in a Resident Evil 1 game. Those dogs are so fast. And basically every death I had in the game was because of the dogs and both the original and the remade. One dog is gonna bite you. If the math is, there's more, one or more dogs in a room. One of them is gonna bite. It's just gonna happen. You can aim your gun downwards up into a corner. It doesn't matter. It's gonna hit the dog after it bites you. - All right, let's talk a little bit about the graphics. I think this 2015 remaster is very pretty. That was actually kind of stunned. Like that it still looks so good. Everything from lighting shadows, candles flickering, lightning flashing through the windows. Like Capcom did, they did a really good job of making good use of their pre-rendered backgrounds and foregrounds, oftentimes in like the main hall. One of the angles is Jill, you know, and this candle's like up real close to the camera. It looks great. I couldn't believe how good this looks. - It's like the cinematography, right? They've just like, oh wait, movies have come out. We know movies. Let's do that. And there's just so many like things that stand out to me. There's like beautiful shots where the second time you fight the yawn snake boss, there's a part where you're entering the hallway and it's the camera is just outside the window of the mansion. And so the window is in the foreground with Jill and the background is just like this is just so beautiful or when you're walking through the graveyard, they just take so many interesting angles. And honestly, I know that people have their gripes about the tank controls combined with the fixed camera angles. But I think that it's a beautiful blend of tension and art direction where this angle switch combined with the tank controls is the tension when you are trying to fight an enemy. And the fact that you're high zombies in every single corner or when you have five camera angles to dang room. - And that's the best part because you know a zombie's coming towards you. So you do the thing that every horror protagonist does where you back up and it was like, I think I have a big and a vantage point here and you're just holding your gun out like waiting. And it's like such good dramatic effect because you wait for the zombie to get as close as humanly possible to pop off a shot. And you're gonna do a little bit more damage and potentially headshot it. - Yeah, that's another thing too, is that when I think about the pre-rendered backgrounds and especially what the limitations were of the era of the PS1 and the 32-bit era is that there's a lot of intentionality with fixed camera angles. And like you might think of it as dated design, but that is how that game was made. The puzzles are centered around the idea that you're looking at your environment in a very specific way. Certain items glint in the corner of rooms. And that like peeks your interest like, oh, okay, like I need to see that out, but there's a gate here and then like I need to think about like when I go to this room, what's it emphasizing here? So there's so much intentionality with you having pre-rendered backgrounds that they can make them look as artistic or as nice as they want. But it's also conducive to what you're supposed to be doing from room to room or from whatever part of the room that you are currently exploring. So that ties into, I'm gonna probably be mentioning this a lot is that not just because it has pre-rendered backgrounds, but it's also as Sam mentioned before we got on here. It's like the CD-ROM era of games, point and click adventures were kind of the, that was like the hottest stuff on PC especially. And having replayed this game is like, you know, we think of Resident Evil as an action survival horror franchise, but playing through a RE1, this almost feels a lot like a point in click adventure game, especially once you start trying to rack your head around what the puzzle solutions are, what items did I miss? What room should I go to next? What room does this key even apply to? And then I found myself like backtracking a lot and getting a little frustrated here and there, but once you find a solution, you're like, oh my God, I'm a genius. And that's a consequence of the game to being designed almost like closer to a point and click adventure game and that also plays to how the game is stylized. - It really is, and it's like the CD-ROM era of that, you know, you have like seventh guest is that what that was called. - Yeah. - You know, when you have games, and then there was of course Return to Zork and Miss and stuff like that, these games you have an inventory that you fill with like pieces of a crank and then you combine them and then you use them. That's the entire gameplay of those games. This adds some basic, you know, shooting and running around and avoiding things and action elements to it. That's the innovation, right? Like the rest of it is really drawing from those kind of, those point and click. From the, what's it called? Scum engine, Lucas Hart's games, taken into the 3D era. And I wanted to mention one thing about the graphics. I think that there's, we already talked about camera angles, like they can get bad, right? Like they're not good all the time. - Oh yeah, for sure. - You go down a hallway, then you reach, go back down that hallway, go down and go back down it over and over again, 'cause you're trying to find which way is forward in the hallway. And then there's also a contrast issue that's just kind of even in the HD remake or whatever. The drawings, they don't show where like a staircase down is very well, or where a door is very well. You end up, that's why I end up using the map so much, right? It's 'cause like that really tells you, but until you have a map, it's really hard because there's this kind of this muddy, single camera perspective, and it doesn't work for me all the time, but it's pretty funny. And then one last thing about the graphics, the door's opening is ridiculous. - Well, and it's not necessary anymore. And it's very funny that we don't have to go back and forth through our doors. - I was gonna say that I like that, 'cause so there's a loading screen in between every room, and they show the door. And I appreciate that every door is bespoke. It's the door you're opening. - Dude, the stairs are bespoke. - Even if it's an elevator, you see the exact thing that you've trialed through. And I appreciate that. - If you go outside, this door is our metal. - I love, I really like the doors. I will, I love the remakes, don't get me wrong, but I do lament the door transition because I think it's such a great way of building dread. Like what am I about to see next, kind of thing? - They're in the remake and you can't skip them. I know that's what I have recognized. In the RE2 remakes and stuff like that is what I do. But real quick, I want to go back-- - You see it's a skip button, like you don't need to load the room, that's a little silly to me. - I want to go back a little bit to what you guys were talking about with the point and click adventure because 100% it reminds me of a very like invocative of the King's Quest era of like Sierra point and click stuff. But I'm doing a little bit of research. You know, I read the book Itchy Tasty, which is kind of a recounting of the development of all the RE games along with, I checked out the Sphere Hunter channel on YouTube, which she's fantastic, she does a lot of like long form survival horror video essays and she's fantastic. And then I did some of my own independent research. And one thing that stood out to me is that for the original 1996 Resident Evil, it was created by a man named Tokuro Fujiwara, who is the director of Sweet Home, which was a Famicom survival horror RPG. So turn-based Final Fantasy horror game. But he went on to re, he wanted to remake Sweet Home on the PlayStation 1 as a first person shooter. So RE 1 was originally gonna be a first person experience, but then he ended up like they lost the Sweet Home rights and they handed it over the reins to Shinji Makami, his prodigy, and he was like, oh, this dude's a scaredy cat. So I wanted him to make a scary game and thus he did that. And also for all the, for the scoopers out there, Tokuro Fujiwara was the director on Bionic Commando and Ghouls and Ghosts. - Oh my gosh, wow. - So it's all coming from good pedigree. And if I may go on one, super quick tangent 'cause I'm never gonna be able to do this in my entire life. Sweet Home is a video game adaptation of a movie in Japan that was produced and directed by two of my favorite Japanese filmmakers. It was directed by Kyoshi Kurosawa, who's done a modern masterpiece called "Cure." And it was produced by Juzo Itami, who's made one of my all-time favorite Japanese films called "Tom Popo." So it's really fun to trace all of this pedigree back and be like, man, they had some really cool people working on over at Capcom on all this stuff. (gentle music) - Okay, let's talk a bit about the music and sound and the voice acting. First of all, how about that save room music? - Oh, it's so good, it's good. I just, every time I go to save room, I'm just gonna chill here for a little bit and listen to this. - It's atmosphere again. I love, I think everything they did with the soundtrack in the RE1 remake, the 2002, 2015 remake is phenomenal music-wise. Like it's a very full score. Like, you can really just, you hear all the instrument is what I'll say. - Is it the same save room music in the 1996 version? - It's a similar, you can tell it's the same song, but I think I prefer the original PlayStation 1, whatever, I'm not sure if it's Red Book Audio or Blue Book Audio on the PlayStation 1, but. (gentle music) (drums beating) (phone ringing) (gentle music) I think it's, especially for like all the low five kids out there, that combined with the early polygons and Jules a very cute idle animation in the original game. It just all comes together to be like, yeah, I just want to, I want this to be like a splash room. Low five beats to hunt zombies to or something. Yeah, yeah. Since you can't look around a room, sound is really important in this game, and I think they're smart about it. Every time you go into a room, since you can't necessarily see what's in front of you depending on the angle, there's always an audio cue, right? Either you hear the footsteps, or you hear the, ooh, you learn something. You learn what enemy is in the room even before you see them, because that's how distinct all of the sound design is. You're like, oh, I know that there's, what are they called, the hunters? Yeah. Hunters are in here. It's like, oh, that's really clever that the game teaches you this stuff implicitly. Yeah, I like, there's like a, there's kind of a scored violin, like suspense, like just tone, it's like, dude. And then that'll happen in a, in a mic, at crescendo, while you're fighting a zombie. And then if it's not fully dead, it won't go fully silent. So, but once everything in the room is dead, it's dead silent, which is also just a really smart, cool effect. Yeah. Yeah. Dead silent. You mean like the DS game? Deadly silence? Yes. There's also a particular tune that plays in a puzzle room. It's also really good. So, the original famously has really hilarious voice acting. It has the Euro almost a Jill sandwich. This mansion is gigantic. We could get into trouble if we get lost. We should start from the first floor, okay? And Jill, here's a lock pick. It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you. Jill, you, the master of unlocking, take this. They re-recorded it for the 2002 remake. So, obviously they are a little bit embarrassed by the clonquiness of it, but it's still terrible, right? I think three, I think three quarters of the performances are pretty good. I think near the end, once you get into the laboratory, I'm like, okay, something happened here. It does get worse. We've got to get this game out on Tuesday. It does get worse. It does get worse. And like the very end, like the finale, when you're like at the rush away from the tyrant and it's you and, and Barry and Chrissy, it just, it's, it's laughably bad. I do think. The cat, the Kenneth part is really embarrassing. He's like whining the whole time and sniffling and then you feel him and he just like lies in the floor. Is it, bro? I thought you were a special forces. What's going on? Yeah. Yeah, right in the manual that you like, you like, got fired from the military because you bad ass. And here we are. Let's get blank on the floor. There's a hilarious moment with Barry, like halfway through when he's like, oh, this mansion starting to get to me. I'm going to step outside for some air. It's like, no, don't do that. You ran into the mansion because you're being torn apart by dogs outside and also like dogs are. You're like trapped in this nightmare mansion trying to find a way out. I'm just going to step outside and get some air. So it, the big difference between our, there's a lot of like drastic differences, but my favorite is when you open the front door in the original game that you come in through at the start of the mansion, like at the very beginning of the game. In the original, you just get a cutscene of CG dogs trying to jump at you. And if you open the door in the remake, the dogs enter the foyer and you now have to deal with like three dogs at once and it's like, oh, Jesus. That's so smart. That's so good. Jill. Barry, I heard someone talking. Oh, we heard. I think he just started to take its toll talking to myself is becoming a bad habit. Talking to yourself? You all right? What's gotten into you? I'm getting you worried, aren't I, but don't, I'm all right. I guess this creepy mansion has gotten to my nerves anyway. They all go outside, get some fresh air for a change. Okay. Controls. They updated the controls in the 2002 version. Are they better than the 1996 original? Are they easier to grasp? The tank controls are borderline the same. That said, if you're going to play the steam version, the 2015 HD remake, just do the alternate controls. Yeah. So much easier. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Go ahead, Michael. I was going to ask if this was going to be an update. I think for, so if you're coming into this from a modern sense, yes. I think it will make a lot more sense to use the modernized controls. But there's kind of going back to the, like when we talk about fixed camera angles and intentionality, yeah. Tank controls. Listen, they will take maybe an hour to get used to. It takes some work. I like, I know. Explain what tank controls mean to people. So tank controls. So tank controls. Yeah. Absolutely. So if you, no, regardless of where the camera is pressing forward or up on the D pad, we'll move your character forward whichever direction they're looking and then you change the direction with left and right, I think you press up to move forward, regardless. So instead of, you know, using a joystick to move left, right, up, down whichever direction you want and the character will respond to the according direction. So the, the sense is that you need to like shift the character to the direction you want to go and then press up, which sounds extremely inconvenient. But hear me out. The way the original resin evils were built with the camera angles, the fixed camera angles and the way enemies pop up at certain points and the way you navigate certain rooms, pressing up to just go straight forward, regardless of where the camera is going to shift is I almost want to say it's my preferred way to play the game, although it does take some getting used to. And maybe also because I'm so speed run-pilled with the resin evil games, but like speed running, the speed running community always uses tank controls when you play these games. But it is also, once you get used to it, it is easier to navigate like, I found it easier to navigate boss fights because in rooms where the camera is changing a lot and you have to be quick on your feet and like, you want to like, dart to certain points in the room. And you like, sometimes you might stumble like, oh, the camera is going to change this way. So then you need to like, instead of pressing up, you got to press left to keep moving forward. It's little things like that where I think it does matter if you want to have like that true experience of resin evil when you think about intentionality with how the game is designed. Okay, again, I'm not saying like, oh, if you play with modernized controls, you're playing it wrong. It's like, no, no, no. You're perfectly fine. The fact that you are engaging with the game on any level is perfectly fine with me. But I do, when I did play this game, replay this game, I took a moment, be like, do I want to do the tank controls? And then once I got, once I gave it like half an hour to an hour, I'm like, okay, yes. This is kind of how I need to be playing this game. So that is, that is something that I would at least encourage try it out. Yeah. I mean, even the modern controls, there's some uncomfortableness with it because like, let's say, Jill is facing the camera down a hallway. So you would press down the controller for her to walk. But then as soon as the camera switches, now she's moving to the left and you're still holding down, you know, see if you're still at the right. It's also probably important to realize that a lot of people are probably trying to replay the original RE1 to get, not gaming literacy, but to get some sort of understanding and like, kind of center yourself in a time and place of the time that this was made. And probably not a lot of people are going to be a weirdo like me and play all of the games back to back. So I think there was that moment of revelation, I was like, whoa, it didn't have to always be like this kind of thing, but now, yeah, all there is in there playing is to know what happened in Racken's city. Dude, what happened in that, what the heck happened in that Spencer mansion? Captain Wesker, where's Chris? Stop it. Don't open that door! What Chris is? What is it? Maybe it's Chris. Now Jill, can you go? I'm going with you. Chris is our old partner, you know? Okay. Let me handle this. Yeah. Now, I think the one thing that will trip up people returning to this game is not the directional controls. It is the aiming of the gun. I was going to ask about that too. Yeah, it's fine with me because I remember the first time I played this on GameCube and I was like, this is so stupid. I cannot believe how stupid this is. And then I played Resident Evil 4 and then I like it, you know, I loved it so much. And now I go back to, I'm like, I understand, this is a product of its time. But you really, you don't expect to aim in this game. The most aiming you're going to do is like being stuck in a corner and either pressing up or down while you just shoot a wildly wrong direction and the thing reacts to it anyway. It's more like an adventure game where you're just clicking the shoot. Yeah. You're just clicking the shoot. It's a very generous auto aim, right? So even if you're sort of, if you're the zombie, if I'm going to hit you, if I'm shooting like this, right? But there is something satisfying, too, because of the auto aim and the remake where when you wait for a zombie to get really close and you have a shotgun and you aim up, you're going to nine times as to shoot their head off and it is so satisfying. Like you said, like when we talk about sound design, when it comes to like the guns and like just like the gushy sound of getting a headshot with a shotgun is so disgusting, I kind of love it. It rules. Yeah. The other big control based thing I think is the inventory and there's a good thing that the inventory posits it together. game. That's not an everywhere reasonable game. And thank goodness that it does, because you have to do a lot in your inventory system. And you have to manage your inventory by running back to item boxes. And at least for the first part of the game, the save rooms are not easy to get to. They're annoying to get to. And they're far away. So it's saving is also a pain in the butt because you have to have an ink ribbon. You have to take it out of the box, take it over to save, then put it back in the box so it doesn't take up an inventory slot. Like, all that stuff is nonsense, right? Like, it doesn't need to be in the game. Doesn't make it scarier, but it's a holdover. And you'll learn a little bit about, you know, this game is way, but back to the inventory beyond the ink ribbon part. Like, a lot of this game is like, you don't have enough inventory slots. And then when you have the inventory thing that you need, you don't know when you need it. And you always need to go in your inventory and look at it closely. So it's like, there's a lot of like things that you're not going to know because no games do that. Yeah, I was going to bring that up as one of my big rips. So let's jump to the wrap up here. So this is a Metroidvania, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's the way that it's because it has lots of platforms. Yeah, we got to start using terms to define these things. Yes, what is it? Metroid dread is a platformer, dammit. I would say this is I am. This is a puzzle game. Well, you got to bring the right tool for the puzzle. Okay. But the basic gameplay loop is starting from a save room. You're going to see how far you can make it in the mansion. You either make it to the next save room or you have to backtrack, which is exact same loop as Symphony the night. I love it, David. I love it. I was tying it back to that for you, Sam. You're constantly pushing. You don't get a bill usually in Tiffany that you get abilities that change how you move about and interact. What are your you get new birds? And you have to run around the corner perimeter of every room just to make sure you've 100% did that room and found all the doors. In Metroidvania, you got to go whip all the corners. In Metroid vania, you get new verbs that you interact with the environment with. But I would argue in Resident Evil, you become the master of unlock, but it's just a glorified key, right? That's all it all is. It's just every item is a key. I can see it if the weapon's interacted differently with the environment. But this is why I draw my line in the same way. I got I got I got drawn line. Come on. Y'all are too old to be doing this. Y'all can be keeping these terms. No, we get the troll because we are there and we thought that we're stupid I'm I'm I'm all joking. No, it genuinely is. And I think that's my favorite part of Resident Evil games in general because there is this idea where you are operating within the very confined inventory space. You know exactly where you need to go. You have the items you need. And there's just this flow state you enter where you're guiding and flying through enemies and you're just wishing past them. You're wishing past the crimson head. Dude, you you swore you've killed like four times at this point, but you're still making it through. And that's what always stands out as being feel good to me about Resident Evil's when you when you know where you need to go and you have the tools that you need in order to fulfill something. And that's nothing is feels better than that in these games. And I like how when you can settle into this gameplay loop going from room to room pick up items using items to unlock the next area. But then Capcom will sprinkle in little surprises like very early on Jill. I'll just say because I was playing as Jill. She rounds a corner. You can't see what's happening. The game takes over Jill backs up in a zombie. It's like it's a class moments like that for the most part enemies can't follow you through doors. But once or twice they can. So it's like what the have boom. There is a lot of subversion of expectations coming from our the original to this like whether it be the addition of new areas, the addition of the crimson heads which didn't exist in the original game. The burning of the bodies like all that stuff is pretty clever. Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the burning body system. But just another thing that takes up two inventory slots. That's why that goes into my rant that I had that this realization that I've had over the holiday break of like Chris is the bet. It's the most fun way of playing the game. Yes. He only has six inventory slots compared to Jill's eight. But I would argue that the game's design and the way the map is laid out because in place of the lock pick Chris gets mini keys that are disposable keys that you use to unlock doors that would otherwise be lock picked. But the route that the game takes you through as Chris, I would argue that it's designs make it so that you actually never have the situation that you often run into Jill where your inventory is full and you need to go backtrack because you got a dump stuff because they made the the almost the procedural unlocking of the mansion. It logical with Chris. But then with Jill, they're like, we're going to make it alternate route. She was always like the B route. When you have more room, you end up using that room and then you kind of, it's not soft locking, but that's kind of what I call it when it's like, okay, the frustrating part of this game is where I have to go back, hike all the way back the whole thing in the RE1 remake. You mentioned earlier in the the west wing of the mansion. What the door that leads into that save room will break after a while. It's the east. It's the east. That's not in the original game. I'm like, what a one, what a clever thing to add to this remake, but to what a colossal pain in the. It becomes the one way at least you get to the room, but you can't get back to and that's the final area of that part of the mansion. So you're in that area a lot, and then you have to go up and around over and over again. It's very clever. I like it. The restrictive inventory, I would say, is the biggest sort of like warning to anyone who's going to play this game who hasn't played it before because because it's so limited, you can't take much at all with you. You don't have an item box, but you know, you have to dump it in there. So you're heading out to explore more of the mansion. You can take maybe your pistol, your keys, and a green herb. You make it far and then you get to the next like place where an item needs to be used up. I need the crank. And there's no way of knowing what you're going to need. So that you end up either backtracking or just loading your save. There's no way, and this is all joking, Sam, but I would love a modified guide where it's just like, don't tell me what to do per se, but just tell me at every point in the game, just tell me what items I need to have in my inventory. And then I'll figure out the rest. I definitely did that as part of the chapter heads or as like before you leave the saver me to take this, but you could just do that. It would make the game a lot more fun. My big recommendation is, I think it is fun to use a guide for this game, but my biggest recommendation is play another Resident Evil first. Don't start with this and I used to always say play for first, even though is the most different. But now you can play two or three remake. And then why I'm saying that is because those are a lot more, they will condition you to things like save rooms and inventory management and puzzle solutions and keys and the types of like the kind of flow of weapons through a game, which is like, you have a handgun, you have a shotgun, then you get a choice from like a bunch of different things and some of them are kind of crappy. Like, you need to know these kind of Resident Evil essentials and then you can go play the annoying stuff in this game will be far less annoying. Then just going in and be like, well, I'm going to start at the beginning. Don't do that. Yeah. There's a certain like design language that comes with Resident Evil that is consistent regardless of what which one which entry you play. There's some things are consistent. So when you work backwards and when I came back to the original Resident Evil, I'm like, okay, like there are certain things that just haven't changed. And like I like that there is a consistency that you see a lot in RE7 and Resident Evil Village and I from what I've from the little I played of Resident Evil Requiem still consistent to this day. And I love that, you know, as much as Resident Evil change, you know, I had had a had a dark time with five and six, I would say. That is kind of like it gained it's it remembered what it was about. And so when you if you go back to RE1, you're like, oh, this is the origins of it. Yeah, it's frustrating in parts. That's what makes it so fun. Yeah, but like the I think it's important. And as I get older, I've valued the friction that came with older games. Yeah. Like not and I wouldn't say the inventory stuff makes makes the game what it is. Like that stuff is very frustrating. And I don't say like, oh, like you should play this game the way it's intended. You're supposed to like it. It's like, no, I did not like that stuff when I replay this game, but it's important to engage with it to know what that game was at the time. And how far it has come around. And like part of it is like, hey, you get a better appreciation of where games were and where they are now. So as frustrating as that stuff might be, it's like, hmm, gotta eat your vegetables. And you know, it's and when you ask is this game still fun? Like I think the core the game itself is still fun, but I also think that in the process of playing the game, it is also fun to, you know, to know what it's like when games came out at the time. And it's a kind of a relic of the past that has been modernized in some sense. But I think that is also fun to look back and be like, oh, this is a series that I really like. That's where it was. And now I have that institutional knowledge. Now I have that design language as a series continues because again, this is a series that's going on to this day. 20 years at this point still going strong. I play I play a lot of it. I eat a lot of vegetables in my games. I love going back and playing crappy old games. I know Damon does us a lot too. He'll roll the dice on like an old, you know, a system and try to play some of you never played and just suffer through it a little bit. That I love doing that. This game is a lot more fun. It is the catch up of vegetables. It is 100% like just a down and a great fun experience. I will recommend it to anybody. And I will not recommend, you know, Chubby Cherub, to anybody. - There's a very unfortunate side spot. - Yeah, two observations before we wrap things up. I think the actual scariest part of the game is the sharks. - Oh, 100%. - 100%. - Like waste-tie water. - Yeah, is it saying that chip? - Waste-tie water was a giant shark chasing me? - Both the 96 version and this one filled me with such dread of like, it's the subnautica thing, right? When I'm in a body of water, I move slower and I know something's after me. And it's just that, again, I was terrified of sharks as a kid. So it just evokes this primal fear in me that I truly cannot explain. But the sharks are really good looking in the remake. - Yeah, they're good. - And the alone explodes real good, too. - I love how you run through the water and then you go up the stairs and then you're in the sort of control room and you go down, and then there's like a portal. And you can see the sharks swimming around in there. It looks so cool. - And then when you try to do your stuff, they start ramming the glass when you're in that ram, and it's really good. It's a great moment in the game. I'm trying to think the scariest moment is, and I think the sharks are scary when they're out of the water, too. 'Cause you're like, "This is crazy and evil." Are they just gonna bite me? 'Cause they're flopping around. And then once huge, like there's just like a huge one. - That's a really good set piece. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - One thing that you guys missed, though, because you played as Jill in the remake, right? Did you all play as Jill? Is Chris and what's a dude who faces the giant snake when you're playing as Jill? - That's Kenneth. - That's Kenneth. But Kenneth has an incredible death against the Neptune shark, where it's basically like that scene from Deep Blue Sea where Samuel Jackson gets ripped apart by the shark, and it's that, but Kenneth, and his arm gets lopped off, and you get to use his semi-automatic shotgun once you find it. And it's like, "Hell, yeah." - Great death. - Resident Evil predated Deep Blue Sea by three years. - Well, there you go. Deep Blue Sea stole from Resident Evil. You heard it here first. - Finally, the funniest part of the whole game, I hope you caught the sim. - When you get down to the labs, and you find a photo of the team of scientists that made the T-virus. - Incredible. - They're all wearing their white lab coats, and one of them was Wesker. He's wearing his white lab coat with his sunglasses. - Sunglasses. - Sunglasses all slow. - It's incredible. - You know what he has? There's like infinite magnum under there too. - And he can teleport, too. You just don't know it yet. - Yeah. - Yeah. - This is really fun. That's the best part about the show. A great excuse to revisit old games. There you have it. Nicely job, Capcom. The original Resident Evil is still fun today, especially if you played it back in the day. If you've never played the pre-render Resident Evil's, just know the controls might take some getting used to and expect to do a certain amount of backtracking. If you're not sure what items you'll need next. But Sam did just update the hygiene guide, so. Thanks for watching. We have more. Episodes planned. More games from 1996 in celebration of iTunes 30th and also games from other years as well. I will not rest until we know whether or not every game is still fun to play. Thank you, Nic. Thank you, Zam. Thank you, Michael. Thank you to Tio. We're coming behind the scenes to make this episode possible. I'm James Damon and we'll see you on the next one. Jill, you did a fine job.