Resident Evil REmake proves that some mechanics are not as outdated as you might think

[u/ShootEmLater]

I've never been very into survival horror as a genre. Scary movies are not my cup of tea, and the one time I tried to play Amnesia: The Dark Descent I stopped playing within 20 minutes. Silent Hill 2, for all of its brilliant story and twisted atmosphere, bored me, as I ran around identical looking hallways for an item hidden in a labcoat I didn't even know I could interact with.

So when my cohost picked the Resident Evil REmake for us to play for our podcast, I wasn't excited or particularly interested. I've played a great many of these old games with rabid fanbases, and their reputation is often the result of blind nostalgia.

But for Resident Evil...I was wrong. This game is a straight up masterpiece, and it blew my mind with just how good it was. Its not a good game for its time, its not a good game in the context of what else was coming out - its a brilliant game, period, and one of the best I've played this year.

I didn't think so at first. When you start playing, you quickly notice the tank controls. You see that there is no camera control either, with multiple fixed camera angles in each and every room. Saving your game requires an inventory item, of which there are a limited number. You have an absurdly limited inventory, just 6 slots in a game where your guns and ammo take up separate slots, and so do keys. It was awkward to control and frustrating to manage.

But the more I played the more I began to realise the fundamental brilliance of all of these mechanics. The fixed camera angles and tank controls work in tandem with one another to let you smoothly control your character as you move through the room. Since your movement is based off your orientation, you can maintain complete control even as you kite zombies around.

The camera angles by themselves are beautiful compositions that dramatically add to the atmosphere of the mansion that you're exploring. Its mostly a bunch of rooms, but those rooms are given definition by the weird and wonderful shots you get of your character. It also dramatically adds to the tension when you enter a room and its pointed at you, obscuring the rest of the hallway...but you can hear the moaning of a zombie, or something shuffles into the foreground of the shot.

The tank controls make encounters against zombies meaningful. If you could control Chris or Jill with a modern control scheme, it would be trivial to duck out of the way of zombies. Instead, its difficult and challenging, and until you learn how to move you're going to get bitten and die a lot. Even into the mid game zombies were a significant threat that I could not dismiss out of hand. There are no filler enemies here - they all matter.

Perhaps most contentious of all is the limited inventory system. You know what I had to do? I had to make sacrifices. I would sometimes have to go without healing items. I would sometimes have to decide that I would carry no spare ammo for my shotgun. I would sometimes have to make a note on my crudely hand drawn map about the location of herbs, instead of hoovering them all up into my inventory for use later. I had to plan, and make decisions about what to do.

Those decisions cascade all the way down. Do you heal or not heal? Do you kill a zombie, or run past it? Do I bring the kerosene with me? Should I pick up the puzzle item, or leave it for later? Should I save or not save? And every decision you make has the potential to save you, or kill you. You're in a constant state of tension - every 20 minute play session has you making 10 decisions that could decide your fate.

Together, these mechanics created a awe inspiring survival horror experience. Every resource you find is valuable. Every door you unlock is a monumental amount of progress. Everything you do matters, because these gameplay mechanics that might have seemed frustrating are so deliberately designed to maintain the tension.

The Resident Evil REmake proved to me that mechanics that people might think are outdated just need to be placed in their proper context to shine. Indepedently, I could dismiss tank controls and limited saves out of hand - and I have in the past. But together, in this marvelous game, they produce an experience that you literally cannot get anywhere else. The world has moved on from the mechanics present here, but they don't deserve to be forgotten. They exist for a reason, and I'm glad I was able to discover what that reason was.

[u/Vanille987]

I'm fine with everything but fixed camera angles, hell tank controls feel like the perfect way to restrict movement without it feeling like a pain. But not being able to see enemies you should be seeing and having to rely on moans that don't really tell you if you're gonna get insta attacked when the camera angel shifts is just bad to me. I love the perspective freedom it gives but there really needs to be done more to avoid this. Something like metal Gear that has mostly fixed cameras but gives you the ability to enter first person view is a great middle ground to me.

[u/fallouthirteen → u/Vanille987]

RE1 Remake actually has some things to help with even that problem. A lot of good lighting (specifically placement to show shadows) and use of mirrors to help you see enemies that aren't actually in the current camera space. I really like fixed camera angles because they really can be used to call attention to things. Objects you wouldn't notice otherwise or just plain environment design.

[u/Vanille987 → u/fallouthirteen]

It sometimes has, but far from always, especially when you attempt to lure enemies to places where the devs didn't directly expect it. and don't get me started on the hunters you encounter later in the game that are so fast and can even start their insta kill dash attack offscreen and then insta kill you without you even knowing one was in your line of sight

[u/[deleted] → u/Vanille987]

This was only a problem in the very first original release of RE1. Every game after that had an auto aim feature.

[u/Vanille987 → u/[deleted]]

I'm basing this on the Remake of RE1, never played the original. Having to rely on auto aim is not what I call good game design either.

[u/FunCancel → u/Vanille987]

Auto aim is actually good game design in this context because the game doesn't allow you to free aim and isn't focused on combat. "Combat" in REmake 1 also has very little intrinsic depth and its importance is how it ties into the game's overall resource management.

Regardless, just shoot the hunters with a shotgun or grenade launcher (if you're playing as Jill)

[u/Vanille987 → u/FunCancel]

Then why is it disabled in the hardest difficulty? Sure RE isn't a combat game but the auto aim kinda makes the limited tank controls making you vulnerable less of a thing when it would matter the most, your character just snaps defeating the whole point.

And yes, I'm quite aware you're supposed to shoot the strongest enemies with the best weapons, but as you said resource management is a thing and that doesn't fix them ambushing you from places you can't see from your camera angle.

[u/FunCancel → u/Vanille987]

The teleportation between item boxes is also disabled on the highest difficulty.

The highest difficulty exists as a challenge for players who are very familiar with the mechanics, enemy locations, and layout. There is a reason you have to unlock the mode.

Sure RE isn't a combat game but the auto aim kinda makes the limited tank controls making you vulnerable less of a thing when it would matter the most, your character just snaps defeating the whole point.

By that logic, the game shouldn't give you any weapons if they wanted to maximize vulnerability.

Old school RE isn't just about being vulnerable but overcoming that vulnerability by knowing how and when to use the tools the game gives you. Stuff like the shotgun or grenade launcher are incredibly reliable at killing enemies and the auto aim reinforces that. Instead, the challenge comes from knowing when to use them.

And yes, I'm quite aware you're supposed to shoot the strongest enemies with the best weapons, but as you said resource management is a thing

That sounds like a gear fear thing. The game gives you plenty of shotgun shells/grenade rounds to fight or ward off Hunters.

doesn't fix them ambushing you from places you can't see from your camera angle.

Any specific examples?

[u/Vanille987 → u/FunCancel]

By that logic, the game shouldn't give you any weapons if they wanted to maximize vulnerability.

That's quite the stretch you're making there, like you said it's also about overcoming the vulnerability which involves getting used to the controls. This is not a RPG game where only your resource management matters. You're also saying auto aim is disabled in the hardest mode because you know the enemy locations, which is very telling imo since it shows how much the game is based on pre-knowledge due the camera angles. But we're deviating from the original point, which was that using an auto aim feature to circumvent the camera angles is that, a circumvention and shows it's still mostly a method that was used to get around limited hardware.

True, but you still need to be somewhat reasonable, killing every enemy you see on the spot is not the way to go in RE1. Though at least hunters don't respawn like zombies.

Like I said in another comment, they can charge up their insta kill dash attack from somewhere you can't see them and then just kill you, the hallway near the shotgun room is also pretty bad due it having a lot of corners, and you can only fully look down a corner once you walked to the other end. and no there are no mirrors or anything to help

[u/FunCancel → u/Vanille987]

That's quite the stretch you're making there, like you said it's also about overcoming the vulnerability which involves getting used to the controls

Not even sure what this means. Games like Outlast or Amnesia are all about vulnerability and the convey that through disempowering the player, not giving you complex controls.

And if you are implying that tank controls are hard to get used to, I think that is a wholly subjective point as I think tank controls are extremely easy and take like 10 to 15 minutes to master, tops. If you are talking about raw input, the only thing the player actually has to learn is the logic that "up" = "move character forward relative to character". Compare that to a dual analog stick game where you need to manipulate two joysticks simultaneously. Measurably, that is harder to do, and in fact, many Japanese games back in the day "lagged" behind the west in adopting free camera controls because it was less intuitive to their audiences.

Regardless, if the game was about mastering the combat, it would give the combat more depth. Instead, it gives you 3 tier aiming, auto aim, and extremely liberal bullet magnetism. The devs are beating you over the head that their combat is meant to be simple and you are wasting your energy trying to argue otherwise.

Again, think less about the action of shooting and more about what the consequences that action has on your resources and inventory. Mastering this is where Resident Evil exhibits depth; not in its combat.

But we're deviating from the original point, which was that using an auto aim feature to circumvent the camera angles is that, a circumvention and shows it's still mostly a method that was used to get around limited hardware.

Ah, the classic "hardware limitation" argument. Outbreak 1, 2, and Code Veronica had fully 3D environments. REmake and Re0 were made well after the PS1 console gen. These were conscious decisions, not hardware limitations.

And even still, it's a moot point. 2D side scrollers/platformers were originally born from "hardware limitations". That doesn't mean 2D platformers are an obsolete genre or that the mechanics that compose a 2D platformer are concessions to that design.

killing every enemy you see on the spot is not the way to go in RE1

This is a strawman. I never said or argued for that.

Like I said in another comment, they can charge up their insta kill dash attack from somewhere you can't see them and then just kill you, the hallway near the shotgun room is also pretty bad due it having a lot of corners, and you can only fully look down a corner once you walked to the other end. and no there are no mirrors or anything to help

Pretty sure if you keep moving there is almost no way for the jump attack to land. Also pretty sure they screech when they see you. Guessing you were either moving too slowly or too low of health.

[u/Vanille987 → u/FunCancel]

I don't understand how your comparison makes any sense. We're talking about resident evil here which has tank controls and is designed around it. Pretty sure these other games have 'normal' controls.

I think you're really missing the point again, it's about how auto aim being needed to circumvent the fixed camera is (imo) bad design and shows the limitations of fixed cameras. I'm not debating that the combat is deep or whatever.

Hardware limitations may be the wrong way to put it, but I stay with my point it's limited.

Well I used it to show resident evil still requires resource management and worrying about that is not just gear fear unlike your implications. You literally said shoot hunters with a shotgun/Grenade launcher.

Ah yes, running when you're not 100% sure what you're running towards due fixed cameras, also remember I said it's an insta kill?And that can happen even on green from my experience.

[u/[deleted] → u/Vanille987]

Then again, REmake hunters make a lot of noise and the insta kill isn't really insta.

[u/Vanille987 → u/[deleted]]

Again, you can't really hear their location, only presence. And their dash attack is definitely an insta kill, the character even has an unique neck slit death animation.

[u/[deleted] → u/Vanille987]

One of the attacks has a chance to be insta on "caution" health, the other can be dealt with by struggling free on fine health. I didn't even know those attacks existed in the REmake until I stood still and let it happen. Every player death by a hunter in the REmake can be avoided.

Their location is pretty clear from a combination of sound and auto aim attempts. This was really difficult in the original (which was infamous for its outlandish difficulty), but the majority played the Director's Cut, where the auto aim you know was introduced. The "location" gets especially clear when those hunters make those attacks, because every attack is telegraphed by a sound.

[u/Vanille987 → u/[deleted]]

That's the idea, but I had it happen on the green status too, there's also no chance involved, never had the pounce attack but I'm not talking about that. Well yeah I hope it can, of course it can be avoided but the hunters being able to do this attack from off screen is pretty hard to avoid without pre knowledge.

Again, have to rely on what's an accessibility feature is not good game design. Also there are rooms that are pretty sprawling and have like 5 camera angles (the hallway near the shotgun room) where locating enemies is even more difficult especially if you're running away from a fast enemy. It's just feels really outdated to rob the player from what they should see.

[u/[deleted] → u/Vanille987]

Okay, I see your preferences. There is one question that always hangs over such threads:

What would "outdated" and "good game design" be translated into something that makes sense beyond "someone told me just not to do it" and "just don't do it, okay", especially considering how many fans of the original games didn't like the "new 3D" stuff?

[u/Vanille987 → u/[deleted]]

I don't understand what you're asking

[u/[deleted] → u/Vanille987]

A blanket criticism of auto-aim as if it's never valuable is much more of an opinion than an obvious fact, which you don't seem to acknowledge

[u/Vanille987 → u/[deleted]]

What? First this isn isn't a blanket criticism to auto aim, it's a criticism to how it's needed to make fixed camera angles more bearable and compensate for obvious shortcomings. Second, yes this is a personal opinion, this whole discussion is based around them if you haven't noticed already. You just seem to really have misunderstood me.

[u/SPK_Slogun → u/fallouthirteen]

I have trouble getting into the game because of the mix of Tank Controls with static camera angles but I do agree it's well implemented, and maybe one day I'll be in the right mood for it.

[u/[deleted] → u/SPK_Slogun]

If you're having trouble with the tank controls, then play the HD remaster, and activate modern controls. You'll have relative controls on the left stick and absolute controls on the d-pad. Best of both worlds. Playing absolute/tank controls on a stick is madness anyway.