With the week to myself I managed to successfully play through and complete Resident Evil 3, getting my appropriate fill of Russian Model Jill Valentine so I could settle with regular 2001 Jill for today. But don't think that means I'm taking things easy with the power-gaming, oh no friends! You see, on an arguably unrelated tangent I decided to impulsively buy all 10 products from the famously dense Kingdom Hearts series (Which I've never played before) so expect some sort of evaluation of how that's going down the line. But all of that is fodder for what the future might hold, right now we're going back to the birth of modern survival horror games with a analytical look, and playthrough, of Resident Evil 1. (Or rather, the 2001 remake of Resident Evil 1. And the 2015 HD remaster of that remake. You get the idea.)
Coming into the game at this point the player should have a decently good idea about what to do next, but just as an update (and so that everybody's on the same track) lets talk. Essentially We've just fought a giant snake to get our hands on the second Death Mask, leaving us with two more to get and just a few puzzles left unsolved. One of these puzzles is actually a callback to something that we stopped by once before but never finished: The portrait room. Of course, that's on the east wing so that means there's quite the journey ahead of us as we move across the mansion. As traversal is a key component to Resident Evil, this means there are certain rules that should have been ingrained in the player at this point. I like to call this an extension of Capcom's intelligent design.
You see, because of the way that items are shared between item rooms players are encouraged to play with the strategy of gearing up to survive a cross-mansion trek. This we've discussed before, but what I haven't mentioned is the etiquette for making the most of items. Last blog we got our hands on an incredibly powerful assault shotgun, meaning our shotgun shells will be well spent, however this does leave our trusty old shotgun with some leftover ammo. Unfortunately, despite being a specially trained rescue officer it would appear that Jill is untrained with the simple art of unloading her weapons, so as a player it makes sense to use every last shell in that old gun before moving onto the next. This is actually one of the ways-to-play that will survive throughout the entire Resident Evil franchise even as the games themselves have shifted and changed to their current iteration. In fact, this is something that you deal with often in 'Resident Evil: Resistance'. (But that's besides the point.)
This way of playing the game does mean that players are encouraged to move from item room to item room, allowing for freedom of movement whilst slightly influencing the direction that players move in so that they can effectively set-up a big moment. Here we are faced with two options for reaching the eastern item room, from the ground floor or through the second floor, but we know that the second floor will get us there quicker. (And those with knowledge of this game will know there's a really good reason why Capcom don't want us to use the bottom floor just yet.) And so this intelligent design is a way for the Devs to lend a guiding hand without forcing us. (Because you can totally go and activate set-piece moments early if you want, it's just going to hurt you in the long run.) In truth, this is something that even modern Capcom don't exactly have a handle on, as in Resident Evil 3 (and even 2) you'll find exploration to be a tiny bit more rigid. (Or a lot more rigid in RE3's case.)
This travel will eventually set us in the portrait room we were headed for with the ring of currently docile killer (zombie?) crows. Oddly, this is actually one of the few concepts that was borrowed from the game for the movie. (Yep, drop the giant snake, keep the killer crows. Makes sense to me!) This allows us to finally be rid of the last lingering key in our inventory and face a puzzle that looks daunting at first but is actually a rather straight forward environmental affair. At the end of the portrait room lies a Madonna with various coloured pieces of jewellery, these items are also present on several monochrome mosaic windows in the middle of the corridor and it's up to the player to mess with coloured lights in order to match the hues of the mosaics with that of the reference picture. It's actually rather simple in practice and sets up the direction that puzzles will be taking as we move into Act 2. Once you've solved it you are given a rather powerful boon, a disappearing back wall which grants players with a new point of egress outside and into the mansion. (Much better than any gun!) Oh, and we get a Death mask. So that's cool I guess.
The next big moment comes from that big moment that I've been teasing for the last two blogs now, basically the moment where the player loses all control of the east wing of the mansion. Due to the one-way doors, once you have the third Death Mask there is only one room left to check and that's the east wing garden on the ground floor, unfortunately, the second you start to head there is when everything goes to hell in a hurry. That corridor triggers the windows to be smashed open as hoards of zombies swarm into the narrow halls, forcing the player to flea. At this point there's way to many zombies to be sensibly fought, so you have no recourse but to book it as fast as humanely possible. Of course, that doesn't relive you of your duty to stop by the garden wing and indulge in all of the herbs and planticide.
If that's not bad enough, however, the big centerpiece moment of the game is coming up. Whenever anyone thinks of fond Resident Evil 1 memories, be it the original or the remake, the sheer terror from this jumpscare will stand out for anyone. I am, of course, referring to the moment down the white corridor when the zombie dogs launch themselves through the window in order to attack Jill. It's a moment of perfect pacing that is built to mount upon the tension of escaping the last room's hoards and pay-off for the dogs you hear pawing at the window earlier. It's also a shattering of your expectations, because whilst you may have just witnessed zombies breaking their way in through a window, that happened in a corridor that was already dangerous. This time it is a connecting corridor ,that was so downplayed that it was never even accompanied with a background tune, that is suddenly turned into a deadly location in a moment which encapsulates the life/death moment-to-moment tension of the survival horror genre. Truly a masterful scene.
Once Jill has forced herself through all of that it's time to open one room which took my entire childhood in it's stride. (That's right, Les Mis reference. Didn't think it'd happen, did ya?) I cannot rightfully tell you how many hours it took me and my father to figure out how to deal with this plant room, in fact, I'm not sure we ever did solve it in the end. This one moment was what I dreaded most in my playthrough of Resident Evil 1 all those years ago, but I was lucky enough to stumble upon the solution accidentally super early on. (In fact, my hyperawarness of this scene down the line might very well have been what kept me alert to this item when you stumble upon it right at the beginning.) Sure, you have a room which is defended by an inexplicably big mutant plant that will whack you to death if you get close, but don't bother wasting ammo on it, (it won't die anyway. Trust me.) that's what the planticide is for. Once you've taken out the biggest boss in the game you'll have your reward: the final Death Mask, which signals the end of act 1.
Here comes the callback all the way to the end of the first blog, because all of these Death Masks just happen to be due for the catacombs we explored right at the beginning of the game. This shows another example of how the developers took great care to introduce you to something thematically important in the knowledge that you'd remember it, even subconsciously. This moment is so important, in fact, that Capcom even magically remove any zombies still lurking in the back yard so that you don't get distracted from your goal; to open that coffin! So down Jill travels back into the crypt, only this time with all of her weaponry because it never hurts to over prepare with an assault shotgun. (Remember that one next time it's your job to help plan a wedding.)
Obviously the masks themselves are tied to the ancient Japanese proverb: "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil", with each mask featuring a missing facial feature to represent this maxim. Of course, that clashes with the clearly Greek text adoring the ancient plaques beneath each mask, hinting at an almost mythical origin to this room. I think that outside of the demo for Resident Evil 7 (Which featured a ghost of Mia that wasn't present in the full release) this is likely one of the most overtly supernatural moments in the entire franchise as you are confronted with key questions about what it was that made this crypt so important to Spencer, and just how old the sarcophagus there is. This paints the picture that this 'zombie plague' which has struck the mansion isn't man-made, but discovered from ancient ruins; something backed up by the appearance of the creature inside the coffin who is released once you place all four masks. It's a decrepit but particularly powerful prototype Crimson Head who could have been first made decades ago for all you know. (Maybe even centuries with all the ancient imagery around him)
This kicks off a surprising boss fight wherein the player is against a powerful and fast beast who's even more hardy than your typical Crimson Head. Traditionally this is where a lot of people will be caught off guard, both by thinking this would just be a simple item drop off and by thinking they had a decent idea of how dangerous a Crimson Head could be by now. Of course, as a returning player you'll know to lug along that assault shotgun for this very moment in the knowledge that he can be pretty much decimated with it. But the scene is still somewhat memorable for the oddly atmospheric arena and the amount of build-up involved in getting in done. The player's reward for such a task? A new emblem piece and a fresh part of the Arklay mountain puzzle to unravel.
At this point Act 1 is pretty much officially over as any player who took the time to explore around will instantly know where this goes, on the wall at the far end of the east wing, leading out of the mansion. Even if you haven't yet made that connection, the remake goes out of it's way to ensure you'll remember when you next happen upon that lock with the helpful inscription that stipulates how this door is for "Those who defile the Tomb." After carefully dodging around all of the zombie hoards that now occupy the East wing with clever use of the map which Capcom should have ingrained into your play style by now, you'll finally be onto the next stage of the game; The Courtyard.
Aesthetically and functionally, the courtyard is a very different locale to that of the Spencer mansion. For one it relies on the tried and true 'haunted woods' design concept with thick twisted tree trunks obscuring your far vision and the ambient music giving away entirely for the cacophony that is a quiet forest. Capcom know that the simple idea of an outside forested space so effectively builds upon the relatable innate fear of the unknown without needing any prompt from them, that they do their best to just capture that moment as much as they can in this section. Of course, this doesn't mean that they won't hit the player with puzzles to solve. (This is still Resident Evil, afterall.)
The gate puzzle is actually a rather simple one, with players merely needing to align a couple of dog statues in the direction that their inscription cryptically requests. As an environmental puzzle this just really requires the player to read the descriptions of the things they interact with and take that information into account, a task that will be ingrained into them at this point. Achieving that will lead Jill to a graveyard and another 'collect the item' puzzle. Although this one is more of a 'meta game' as it's somewhere you're encouraged to return to throughout the game. (And it's also optional.) Unfortunately, I was too short sighted to bring along one of the keys we already had for that puzzle, so I just hurried by so as to not get plucked to death by the zombie crows who are present here as well. (Because Capcom never want the player to ever feel too safe)
As far as classic horror goes, there is no more ironic a set-up. Escaping a deathly mansion full of the undead only to find oneself seeking shelter in a lonesome wood cabin; there's no more delightful a composition for impending ruin. What's worse, as soon as the player enters the cabin they'll be acutely aware of the fact that the fireplace is lit, letting you know that you most definitely aren't alone out here. This is a point at which the game becomes deathly quiet, giving you a map with which to find your bearings, but making you ever so worried about immediate safety. Luckily, there is actually an item box and typewriter in this room, so you can save up before continuing. But not before finding a snippet of a journal poorly written by a girl called Lisa, whose spelling seems to deteriorate the longer she goes on. What you can make out is troubling; something about her mother being attacked and not moving, and the girl being confused about what she's becoming. This is the kind of built up tension that Capcom totally rule at.
But the payoff will have to wait until next Sunday, I'm afraid, because I really want to save a good portion of Act 2 for one straight binge. (That and I'm already getting into Kingdom Hearts after playing my first 5 hours. I really want to jump back in.) For future blogs we may be leaning away from talking about the mechanics in place (purely because we've already covered that sufficiently) but we'll be taking a deeper dive into the lore to make up for that. Hopefully things still remain interesting for ya'll despite that. See you next week!
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