Not nearly as iconic as the original Resident Evil and its mansion, Resident Evil 2 is nevertheless beloved by longtime fans-and it’s been left to rot. You’d never mistake it for a modern game though, nor could a newcomer understand what it was like playing Resident Evil circa 1996-when it looked not just good-for-its-age but incredible, and when a polygonal dog jumping through a plate glass window was enough to scar a generation. In other words, Resident Evil HD was playable. “It’s obviously a game from a specific time-from the fixed camera angles to the limited inventory to the three-second door-open transitions (originally used to mask load times) to the amount of hand-holding the game does (none), this game could only have been made when it was originally made.” When I played and finally finished the 2015 remaster, Resident Evil HD, I was torn-I could see why people loved it, but it was too clunky for me to appreciate except in an academic sense.

I undoubtedly played some of the original as a kid, but not enough to make a lasting impact on me. Resident Evil epitomizes the “I was too late” feeling, for me. What if you could temporarily turn back time though? What if you could recapture what made a game special, not just for old fans but newcomers as well? That’s exactly what Capcom’s done with Resident Evil 2 ($60 on Humble), rebuilding the game from scratch a full two decades after its original release-and turning me into a fan, in the process. And it’s even harder coming to games late-hearing for instance that Half-Life 2 is one of the all-time great shooters long past the point where it’s obvious why people say that. It’s tough aging out of old favorites, watching “canonical” games like Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Silent Hill 2, Legacy of Kain, Morrowind, Ocarina of Time, and more succumb to the ravages of time, returning to them 15 or 20 years later and struggling to recapture what made them special to you in the first place.

Resident evil 2019