Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2 is one of the most iconic PS1 video games that scared plenty of fans back in the day. The plot centered around rookie police officer Leon Kennedy and Chris’s sister, Claire Redfield as they worked together to escape Raccoon City. During their exploration, the two come across some interesting personalities like Ada Wong and Sherry Birkin, who have also become notable characters in the series. Most of Resident Evil 2 took place in a police precinct and included some pretty terrifying monsters like the Licker, giant spiders, and Mr. X.
However, this video game was actually drastically changed during its development period as Capcom scrapped their initial ideas for the project. Some fans managed to dig up the source code for the original project, dubbing it as “Resident Evil 1.5.” This version was meant to be far more gruesome than the final version and even included different characters.
In Resident Evil 1.5, Leon Kennedy was already working as a police officer in Raccoon City, while Claire Redfield wasn’t even in the game. Instead, she was originally a civilian named Eliza Walker who was supposed to create a racing team back in her home town, unaware that the outbreak had already occurred. Meanwhile, supporting characters like Marvin Branagh, Brian Irons, and John were meant to play a bigger part in the game by helping the two protagonists.
Gameplay was also tweaked as enemies were meant to be far tougher to kill, often crawling towards Leon or Eliza with severed bodies. Taking damage would leave visible tears on their clothing while killing enemies up close would leave blood stains. Lickers weren’t even included in 1.5, but “man Spiders,” a disturbing hybrid between man and spider, were prominent enemies.
While it’s unlikely we’ll ever see Resident Evil 1.5, it’s interesting to think about how the series would have turned out if Capcom took that route.
