DomsBeard wrote: ↑January 8th, 2019, 3:06 pm Demo coming out this week. Hope it is a timed demo like it was back when it was originally released (with the Resident Evil Directors cut if I remember right?)

It is a 30 minute timed demo

Just preordered the Digital Deluxe edition on Xbox One X.

You get some outfits/skins annnnnnnnd the option to have the old soundtrack swapped in if you like!!

DomsBeard wrote: ↑January 10th, 2019, 4:54 pm Just preordered the Digital Deluxe edition on Xbox One X.

Huh, I thought RE2 was a PS exclusive for some reason.

Gutted!

I finally found out what the resident evil 2 safehouse is. I think it’s a free escape room and there’s a bar on the south bank in London. Shame all the tickets are gone already. Anyone lucky enough to get any and need a spare teammate?

https://www.re2safehouse.com/more-information/

Demo is up on PSN.

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 10th, 2019, 11:16 pm Demo is up on PSN.

Downloading now

Oooh im restraining myself from downloading. Will be reading impressions from you lot though

One life, 30 minutes - that’s a pretty damn cool demo that .

Original soundtrack option? Oh man please tell me thats a standard across all versions.

Looks like it is just with the digital deluxe version for now...

So had a quick 20 minute play this morning you start off in the main hall of RPD:

Spoiler: show

Very impressed!, it looks amazing the zombies are terrifying and 2 or 3 can surround you very easily. I got stumped on the first puzzle (and refuse to look up the solution as I have it with me I just need to figure it out) so only messed around in the main hall. Slight negatives are weirdly Leons face, he looks about 4 years old and the fact there has not been any music playing in the main hall so far.

I just downloaded the demo first thing this morning and had hoped it would leave me enough time to play before heading to work but unfortunately not.

Now I'm sitting at work doing barely anything counting down the minutes until I can go home and play it.

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 7:40 am Original soundtrack option? Oh man please tell me thats a standard across all versions.

Nope. And there is no discernible music in the new "soundtrack". Neither in the Main Hall nor Save Room.

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 11:12 am

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 7:40 am Original soundtrack option? Oh man please tell me thats a standard across all versions.

Nope. And there is no discernible music in the new "soundtrack". Neither in the Main Hall nor Save Room.

Maybe they left it out of the demo on purpose?.

DomsBeard wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 11:26 am

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 11:12 am

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 7:40 am Original soundtrack option? Oh man please tell me thats a standard across all versions.

Nope. And there is no discernible music in the new "soundtrack". Neither in the Main Hall nor Save Room.

Maybe they left it out of the demo on purpose?.

Yeah, or maybe they left it out of the game by accident.

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 11:42 am

DomsBeard wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 11:26 am

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 11:12 am

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 11th, 2019, 7:40 am Original soundtrack option? Oh man please tell me thats a standard across all versions.

Nope. And there is no discernible music in the new "soundtrack". Neither in the Main Hall nor Save Room.

Maybe they left it out of the demo on purpose?.

Yeah, or maybe they left it out of the game by accident.

Or accidentally on purpose

I just hope these lines are referenced at some point:




55 seconds in. The fact they felt the need to add the word babe!

30 minutes done on xbox one. Now downloading to my ps4

Amazing would have preordered if I hadnt already. You get another trailer at the end and it isnt a spoiler as it was in the original but I have not seen it mentioned but

Spoiler: show

Hunk and Tofu are in!!!

Nails the atmosphere in the limited time but the lack of music seems an oversight

I don't know what to think...

That's not like you, Ksub! Looking forward to your analysis

So have downloaded it on PS4 after I used my Xbox One trial up and "finished" it a couple of times.

Over the fan noise I did notice a bit more music than the xbox version but again just a subtle hint rather than it being there playing constantly. If that is the case in the main game it will be a disappointment.

Ghe demo "ends" and you can restart with whatever time you have left by

Spoiler: show

returning to the main hall when the cop has something to show you

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 12th, 2019, 7:17 am That's not like you, Ksub! Looking forward to your analysis

Okay, my impressions from playing the demo:

Good:

- Item management appears solid. Plenty of different types of items to combine and use. Some old, but also some new with interesting potential, like the consumable wooden boards to barricade certain windows with. Inventory space is restricted. Not as restricted as I'd like mind you, but still somewhat restricted. Let's hope the final game doesn't go overboard with the inventory expansions and that backtracking and strategic item usage will still be a thing.

- Lighting effects are very impressive.

- Skippable cutscenes and short contextual animations are a good sign for future speedruns.


Neutral:

- The RE engine is obviously built towards photo-realism. I personally prefer somewhat stylised graphics and character designs over photo-realistic ones, but I also can't deny the effect of some of the ultra-crisp textures and models. Really impressive looking locations and characters in the final game could win me over. Skeptical until then.

- Jury's still out on the save system. Typewriters are a plus. It remains to be seen if the ink ribbons are limited consumables and if so, to what extent.

- The cookie cutter third-person camera is obviously a far cry from the delightfully composed fixed angles I love so much, but it's a hell of a lot better than the first-person camera in terms of readability, especially during cutscenes. Organic body language damage feedback instead of strawberry jam screen-splotching is also a plus.

- Combat system isn't bad per se, but seems rather flat from what little time I had to experiment with it. I'm not seeing any of the super-tight hitboxes of the classic games nor the impeccable possibility spaces with constant room for optimization of RE4. I appreciate the fact that knifing downed enemies is a thing again, but overall it strikes me as the typical modern combat system that is more concerned with aesthetics and elaborate animations than actual mechanical purity. I think this will live and die by the rest of the game's enemies/bosses and if the player has any interesting ways to interact with their AI.


Bad:

- Games like these are at their best when they make the players think about what they're doing a little. Telling them where to go takes away a lot more than it adds, in my opinion.

- Controls are overloaded, poorly conceptualized, and imprecise. The 180-degrees quick turn is as useless and awkward to use as in most dual analogue games (see also: GoW 2018). The combat even more or less forces you to stand still with its super-strict reticle spread, so it's obvious that tank controls would have been a cleaner and tighter solution, especially considering the level layout. Restrictions are not a bad thing.

- This is only a very minor point, but it's obvious that they had to reuse certain assets and animations from RE7. To be fair, the classic games do this as well, but it is noticeable nonetheless.

- Music is the biggest sticking point here. There is almost none of it and what little there is (I had to wait well over a minute in the Save Room before the first notes started to appear) is limp and completely devoid of personality. Hard-locking 20-year old audio files behind a paywall is a total scumbag move, and if the demo is in any way representative of the final version's default audio setting, then this will end up being one of this game's biggest missed opportunities. You can smell the anti-artistic "realz over feelz" RE7 influence from a mile away and it fucking reeks.


In short, I think it's shaping up to become one of the best survival horror games in recent years, and a much better overall game than both Revelations games, both Evil Within games, and all of the first-person jumpscare horror one-trick-ponies everyone is obsessed with nowadays, including RE7. But that says more about the state of industry than about this game's quality, really.

But is it going to be a timeless masterpiece and live up to its own legacy? I just don't see that happening at this stage and it makes me really sad. I find it absolutely heartbreaking to see one of the quintessential industry trendsetters reduced to playing catch-up and that there is a lot being lost from transposing such a unique and influential title into a lowest-common-denominator template.

Like I said, mixed feelings... I want to like it so badly, but I can't shake the feeling that Capcom are happily sacrificing replayability and mechanical fine-tuning in order to make everyone's initial casual playthrough as accessible and "horrifying" as possible. I don't want a RE game that is just "ok", or "better than X,Y & Z, at least". I want a RE game that is great and worth mastering and analyzing for years. Something to revisit in 2036. I'm not sure this is it.