April Assassination #1 (Backlog / PoP Pick)
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I don't have anything new to say about this game that haven't been said by many reviewers and game critics before, so I'll stick to my experience.
I first played RE1 in the PSX in 1996 with my brother and my neighbor. I was six at the time, my brother nine and my neighbor 11. They held the controller, I watched from the sidelines. We never made it too far into the game - we played at night, and I clearly remember the first zombie scene, trying to flee the mansion, and the corridor with dogs. I think we dropped the game shortly after because I can't remember anything else from that time, and I was absolutely terrified of it. That was the beginning of the end for me when it came to horror games, I just felt I couldn't handle them.
Fast forward some 25 or almost 30 years later, and I'm playing games again, now as an adult. Recently tackled some scarier games like FEAR, SIGNALIS (abandoned, couldn't handle it), Hellblade (does that count?), Little Nightmares, and some unsettling but lighter games such as Daniel Mullin's The Hex and Pony Island, Fatum Betula, Limbo, System Shock 2, The Last of Us, etc. Then I finally felt ready to return to this game. Got this remake and booted it up, hoping for the best.
The experience I had was incredible. The game looks really, really good. Textures, models, pre-rendered backgrounds, the lightning, the sounds of footsteps, the growls, moans, and screams, it's a whole vibe. For the first two-thirds of the game, while I was still getting me bearings around the mansion and unsure of what was to come or where or when, I felt EXTREME pressure. It was unrelenting. And I feel that's what makes the first Resident Evil so special, to the point it coded and established the survival horror genre. You're never sure if now is the right time to save, because you might run out of ink ribbons when you need them the most. You're never sure if this is the zombie it's worth burning or even shooting, because you don't know if you'll be returning to that room or not, or where's the next ammo cache or fuel canister. Also, can you spare the inventory for that green herb? A first, blind playthrough of RE is marvelous in that sense, you're always on the edge and always second-guessing your decisions at every turn. I had some cheap deaths throughout my play, but luckily never really ran out of resources (showing I was over-conservative with them)
Voice acting and cutscenes are a bit cheesy, soapy and melodramatic, but I feel that's what they were going for and it lands. I think I would prefer a more serious style, it would blend better with the atmosphere, but what's on display there is not too bad.
And there you have it - my take on this great game, and the perfect way to cultivate a new Resident Evil fan, and someone who might one day pick SIGNALIS again and this time not suck entirely hahaha
Ooooh, I had so much fun completing it a few years back (never played original rezzies back in the day except for the 4th)
My only mistake was trying to get a knife-only and invisible enemies achievements in one playthrough, and then getting to Plant 42 boss fight as Chris… Let’s just say that was uhhhh interesting (and extremely miserable) experience.
Hmm somehow I’m glad I put it down after one run hahahaha I actually might go back and do a Chris playthrough later, probably speedrunning and focusing on the harder difficulties since I already got the 100% map cheevo out of the way but I don’t see myself playing more than these two runs. I liked it but not enough to justify 100%-ing it hehe
Do you have a secret motivation to play this sort of frightening game ? Or was it strictly from nostalgia ?
Anyway congratz for finishing this ! And thanks for all these tools you dev for SG, your little memory game is such a gem !
I probably wouldn’t pick this one purely from nostalgia, particularly considering how fast I bounced off SIGNALIS. But Resident Evil is one of those franchises that is just SO SUCCESSFUL and so many people stand by as some of the greatest games of all time that I felt I had to at least give this one a decent chance. And guess what, I ended up loving it. I didn’t think it was that scary, it was just stressful. The pressure was constant and only reduced when I was already around 80% done with the game. But I finally understood why people love this game and the franchise, and I think it makes me a more rounded gamer overall :)
And thank you! I’m glad people enjoy those tools. They have been a great source of learning for me, and made me a more competent professional. After coding the SG Minesweeper I felt confident enough to start messing with my company’s code, and I now code every single day even though that’s not my job
Ah i understand, you played it for the culture (but you’re right that it’s part of the culture) ! Well i’ll just continue to be a spectator, go ahead ! ;)
For the culture is a good way of putting it hahaha but yeah, nostalgia also played a role, and of course I expected it to be a good game after all. I hope someday you give it a chance, it was a good experience overall and the Very Easy difficulty is very accomodating (I already wish I had played at least Easy or Normal)
I understand for the nostalgia, i watched my older bro playing it when i was young (and also i played Parasite Eve 2 so i know how frightening are these things ahah)