Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2 is a full remake of the cult second part of the series from 1998, rebuilt from scratch on the RE Engine in 2019. Tight corridors of the Raccoon City Police Department (RPD), limited ammo and first aid sprays, save rooms with a typewriter and constant psychological pressure make it a benchmark of the genre. According to Capcom as of December 31, 2025: 16.8 million copies sold, the top result in the history of the whole Resident Evil series.

Rookie police officer Leon Kennedy arrives for his first shift at the RPD and lands in the middle of the T-Virus zombie outbreak. At the same time, student Claire Redfield searches Raccoon City for her missing brother Chris. Each character has a separate campaign (about 8-12 hours) with distinctive weapons and a partner: Leon has agent Ada Wong, Claire has the lost girl Sherry Birkin. A full playthrough of both campaigns with the 2nd Run takes 20-30 hours.

The main addition in the remake is the Tyrant Mr. X (Tyrant T-00): he roams the station freely, reacts to gunshots, breaks down doors and cannot be destroyed, only stopped for a short time. In the 1998 original he appeared only in scripted moments. A separate layer of gaming culture has formed around him: the "X Gon' Give It to Ya" meme gathered 600 thousand views in 10 days after release, and mods with Thomas the Tank Engine and Shrek became known far beyond the game.

An honest note: the difference between the first and second playthrough (2nd Run) is smaller than between the original A/B scenarios of 1998. Longtime fans of the classic criticize this as the main shortcoming of the remake. For new players this is not a problem at all, but it is worth knowing before buying.

Free content added by the patch of February 15, 2019: Ghost Survivors (three "what if" stories about secondary characters), the 4th Survivor mode with HUNK, a special forces operative (a run from the sewers to the helicopter without saves, a Guinness World Record for speedrunning), and Tofu Survivor. All of it is included in every version of the game. The 4th Survivor and Tofu Survivor modes unlock after an A rank on both campaigns.

Hardcore mode brings back saving only through ink ribbons, as in the 1998 original: autosaves are disabled, there are fewer resources and damage is higher. Achievements and extra weapons with infinite ammo unlock for an A rank in this mode.

Localization is Russian subtitles and interface only, with no official Russian voice acting from Capcom. English voice acting was performed by Nick Apostolides (Leon) and Stephanie Panisello (Claire), who both continued their roles in the anime Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness and in RE Requiem. The studio R.G. MVO released a fan dub of all four campaigns with subtitles adapted to lip sync, installed as a separate mod.

Resident Evil 2 (2019 remake) is a benchmark survival horror game from Capcom: police officer Leon Kennedy and student Claire Redfield in the Raccoon City Police Department, hunted by the Tyrant Mr. X. Metacritic 91, Steam 96%, 16.8 million copies sold, the top result in the series. Russian subtitles. Steam, single-player campaign, offline.