Game of the Year 2019
Winner: Resident Evil 2
Reviews Editor Zhiqing Wan: In 2017, Resident Evil 7 brought the survival horror franchise back into mainstream relevance. It was a good game, but I was still a little on edge about the series’ future. In 2019, the release of the Resident Evil 2 remake has officially convinced me that we’ve entered a renaissance period for Capcom’s esteemed franchise.
The Resident Evil 2 remake isn’t just a near-perfect retelling and re-imagining of the Raccoon City horror story from 1999; it’s also the greatest game in the Resident Evil series yet.
It’s not a stretch to say that Resident Evil 4 marked the beginning of the end for the series when Capcom implemented the third-person, over-the-shoulder view for the first time. It catapulted the series into a more action-focused direction. However, with Resident Evil 2, Capcom utilizes the third-person camera much more effectively.
Without the benefit of the schlocky fixed camera angles from the 90s to create atmospheric tension, Resident Evil 2 relies on tight spaces, sound, and lighting to bring back that familiar sense of dread.
The camera brings you closer to the action, you can never quite see what’s around the next corner, and you have to rely on other elements to determine whether it’s safe to proceed. More often than not, you’ll hear the danger before you even see it.
While the Resident Evil series has never been particularly great at story or writing, Resident Evil 2 always felt like it had the best story potential because of the way the characters were introduced as average, relatable people, and how you would slowly uncover the second half of the Umbrella conspiracy.
Capcom takes this opportunity to tighten up the writing in Resident Evil 2, making the characters feel a little more fleshed out, with new story events to make everything seem a little less nonsensical and far-fetched than they did in the 90s.
Most importantly, Resident Evil 2 retains the core tenets of the series while also modernizing it for a new audience. Inventory management is critical, memorization of the map layout is hardly necessary but immensely useful, and the level and world designs are satisfyingly recursive.
And above even all of that, it’s just a fun video game to play. Like all classic Resident Evil games, you eventually reach the point where you know the map design like the back of your hand, and your enjoyment from these games comes from being able to beat it as efficiently as possible on the highest difficulty.
Your initial six-hour Standard run slowly becomes a three-hour Hardcore run, and before you know it, you’re blasting through the game like a pro, clearing your A and B scenarios in an hour each on Hardcore difficulty.
Resident Evil 2 represented the best of the survival horror genre in the 90s, and with the remake, Capcom’s back to reclaim that crown.
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Congratulations to our Game of the Year 2019 winner, Resident Evil 2!
Despite being so close to the end of a console generation, 2019 turned out to be yet another fantastic year for video games. Hopefully, 2020 closes out the current generation with a bang as well. We’ll take a look at our most anticipated games of 2020 later this week.
Stay tuned to our front page for our Game of the Year 2019 reader vote where you can vote and let us know how right or wrong we got it this year. Last year our readers and editors had a difference of opinion, we’ll see if that happens again!
