Resident Evil had a rocky couple of years. Resident Evil 4 was great and reinvigorated the franchise, and was a huge success. RE5 was met with mix reception and RE6 while boasted with having the most developers of the series was panned universally by critics and gamers alike. It seemed that Capcom was having trouble in finding a home for this long series. Fans have been screaming for a reboot of the story (Which we sort of got with the HD release of Resident Evil 1), but somehow Capcom struck gold with an interlude for the series, Resident Evil Revelations.

Now after two years a sequel is soon released, and it’s shaping up to be quite a game. Keeping up with the trends, Capcom decided to jump on the bandwagon of such episodic games as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us. Revelations 2 will be released in four separate episodes, and after that later the whole game as one bundle.

The main reason for this move is apparently that this entry will have a bigger focus on story / mystery elements of the Resident Evil lore. While this sounds promising it is not clear how the content is divided up per episode.

 Previously on Lost… I mean Revelations 2

The story takes place between RE5 and RE6, the main characters are Moira Burton, Barry Burton and Claire Redfield. The location is an abandoned island full of monsters called The Afflicted. All three of them must fight to survive and uncover the mysteries of the island. It seems that the pace and atmosphere will be similar to what we were used to in Revelations 1.

The ruins of the old island provide enough eerie sense of dread, and the combat is nail bitingly tense, and difficult, especially against multiple foes. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger, and if you don’t wish to play it slowly, you can always just binge play it when the final episode comes out. In order to survive the dreadful creatures of the island, you’ll need to use Moira and Claire’s abilities. As Claire is efficient with guns, while Moira can provide a support role for Claire.

With regards to gameplay it seems that a few improvements were made. No more contextual doge prompts, instead there is a dedicated button for it. Item management is now riskier as it is real time, and using health items will not restore your health instantly.

Crouching also has a greater role, as you can now do takedowns and sneak away from enemies easily. The enemies seem to be a mix of the infected from RE4 and the zombies from RE1, their visual design seems to be lacking in the originality department. Let’s hope that the rest of the game features some truly horrifying creatures.

Will it be revelatory?

Still we’re eagerly waiting for the first episode to drop as there is not much revealed about the great mystery, nor the enemies that inhabit the Island’s prison in Revelations 2.
RE: Revelations 2 Episode 1 will be released for PS4 on the 25^th of February 2015 for Europe.

-Dante-

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