Why is the Resident Evil franchise so unstoppable? Depending on which ones you count, this is arguably the tenth game in the relentless zombie series. I suspect that it’s not just the game mechanic (generally effective third-person horror/shooter) or the fact that it stole a march on the zombie genre: I think it’s the series’ theme - that amoral people are deadlier than any monster or zombie virus.
Released incrementally in four chapters, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is a solid survival horror, elevated by a very fun and pulpy story.
It starts off with a party in the offices of security company, Terra Save (shady corporations are major characters in these games). The finger food has barely arrived before masked men raid the offices and kidnap some staff. Cut to employees Claire and Moira, who wake up in a dank, dark prison building wearing mysterious, glowing bracelets. Who put them there? What do they want? And who or what else is in the building?
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is a mix between exploration, problem-solving, and shooting zombie-like monsters in the head. There are two playable characters in each chapter, and it's playable either cooperatively, or as a single player who alternates between characters. Each character has different strengths, weakness and playing style, especially in chapter two, which gives a nice variety to the gameplay.
While this feels very much like a Resident Evil game, with icky visuals, corporate paranoia and faceless villains, other influences emerge. The experiment/imprisonment story and aesthetic is reminiscent of the Saw films; the setting is like something out of the Silent Hill games and some gameplay and character aspects take a page from The Last of Us.
The staggered release date of RE:R2 suggests that Capcom are very confident with their story, ending each chapter in a cliff-hanger in the hope that you'll stump for the next one. They're right to be so self-assured: This is a cinematic, horrific and well-told horror yarn, and one that will make you equally wary of abandoned prison buildings and surprise jewellery gifts.
