Resident Evil: In Depth Part 8

Revelations!

Once again I've taken a greater break from my Resident Evil In Depth series then I originally intended to, but there was just so much going on in the world of gaming that I honestly couldn't find the time for retro game diving that specific moment. Of course, the past week hasn't been any different and there would be just as reasonable a reason to take yet another week off if it hadn't been for the surprise reveal of something that had been rumoured about for a while now. That's right; 'Resident Evil VIII: The Village' is happening, and I'll have a definitive look a that much later in it's own individual blog. For the moment, however, this has encouraged me to get back to this series and wrap it up so that I can get to the literal 8 other Resident Evil games that I have to cover before VIII comes out. (Oh, and the Resident Evil 4 remake in the following year. Jeez Capcom, you guys won't let me take breaks, huh?)

When we left off last blog Jill had just managed to fell Plant 42 and for her troubles she received the final important key for the old Mansion, signalling the start of the third act. As The Spencer Mansion is the focal point of this entire game, it makes sense for the player to be directed back to there, and so if for some reason they had completely forgotten about the doors that they couldn't open back at the beginning of the game, Capcom even put in a helpful scene to assist for that. In the hallway, player's will bump into Captain Wesker, of all folk, trading bullets with zombies bees. (Wait, he was shooting the bees? With a handgun? Must be a hell of a good shot.) During their back-and-forth, Wesker manages to feed on Jill's suspicion on Barry and mention how there are still some locked doors back in the main building. (A bit heavy handed, but that's probably the most clear direction I think this series has ever given.)

The journey back can almost been seen as a victory lap, counting the amount of threats you've managed to neutralise. The bloodsucking floor tentacle won't attack anymore, pythons don't fall from the sky anymore and you even get a radio call from Brad which Capcom threw in for, I can only assume, the sole purpose of adding in a subtle little reference to the kinda-simultaneous events of Resident Evil 0. (In the line "Bravo Team- it doesn't matter") However your radio still isn't working and there's no way to let Brad know how badly you need pickup, meaning that Jill still has to resort to picking through the mansion in her search for escape. (You know, it just struck me how interesting it is that the majority of this plot is driven by the desire to escape the mansion. Everything else just happens to fall into place during that pursuit. It's just a little wild, is all.)

As a lead-in to the reentering of the mansion, the little warehouse that connects into the east wing is flush with new gear left by Barry. He also leaves a note explaining that he fixed the door handle, (what a handy man!) allowing for easier access to the eastern item room without fear of blocking off an escape route. As folk who have followed this game up until now and who understand the importance of routes and the power of planning, this should be a sufficient tip-off that the situation at the mansion is vastly evolved from where it was at when you were last here, and you should definitely prepare for the worst. Perhaps that won't be enough, however, for not even three steps back onto the premises, the player will be met with another iconic monster of Resident Evil lore, the deadly Hunter Alpha.

These amphibious reptiles are large hulking monsters that move faster than any other foe in the game, boast incredibly jump height and razor sharp claws, and are capable of two shotting the protagonist on lower difficulties. (One shotting on the hardest.) This pretty much makes him the scariest thing to go up against in this game, as a single misjudged second could be your doom. Having familiarised yourself with combat up until now it's unlikely that they player will be unprepared for such a challenge, but they may be intimidated none the less. It's at times like this that the virtue of planning, resource management, and huge guns really start to stand out. (Some might say it's the only way to live. Like me. I am the some.)

Now Jill is back in the mansion there is no beating around the bush anymore, things have changed. Many of the zombies that plagued the halls have mysteriously vanished and in their place are empty halls, ripe for a whole heaping of new surprise attacks from exclusively deadly creatures and zombie variations such as these new Hunters and those damn annoying Crimson heads from before. This is the time when Capcom are trying their hardest to disturb the player's attempt at opening up those last locked doors, so planning and route execution is essential. In this way, it only makes sense that the first new room that a returning Jill would access would be the only previously non-accessible room in the entire east wing; And that's exactly what Capcom planned for.

This place is yet another puzzle room, only this one goes that step beyond the usual by combining several elements from previous puzzles to show a slightly more complicated one. (Again, Resident Evil isn't exactly going to hit it's players with a mind-crippling bender, that's not the sort of game it is, but they do take the chance to make them slow down and think critically every now and then.) This particular room boasts elements that are timed, as you have to race a collapsing wall, and a pushable object to finesse within that time window. Figuring this out will reward the player with a mysterious red book and a snippet of lore. Here lies the final words of the man who's story we have followed a lot in this mansion, George Trevor, and we finally learn his significance to events. He was the one who designed the house, and yet those he worked with betrayed him in the end and would leave him to die trapped in the walls like this. A suitably depressing end for a story in a game that thrives on a dour atmosphere.

That is merely the start of new troubles, however, as beneath this tombstone lies a whole new location. (Capcom know how to guide player's directions) This place is known as the basement, but it has more in common with some sort of underground sewer. The walls are concrete and dank, the lights are harsh and glaring and the ground is soggy, even giving way to flooded pools at one end. This place actually reminds me somewhat of a much more rundown version of the Aqua ring. And if that generally unpleasant assortment of sensations doesn't unsettle you, there are also the giant venomous spiders who roam this area; marking this as one of the first places to reintroduce the poison mechanic that was carefully introduced to the player through their first encounter with Yawn. Once again, Capcom hides a tutorial behind active experience, ensuring that players feel prepared without ever getting the sense of being coddled. (As that is the death of horror games everywhere)

Through this basement the player's will discover the solution to a problem that they'll have seen all the way back in Act 1 but which will have totally slipped their mind; the broken down elevator! Turns out the issue was merely some blown fuses that can be switched around, putting the elevator back into action and resurrecting the playability of an area that player's will have thought themselves done with in an almost From Software-esque manner. (All that's left to do is locate the elevator and ride it down.) To hammer that point home, the route out of the basement leads into that gross kitchen from all the way back at the beginning, only with a much more haunting atmosphere as the previous zombies are all gone.

If there's one thing that version two of the mansion hasn't stopped doing, however, it's throwing the occasional jumpscare at the player, and now that there's the uber deadly Hunter's thrown into the mix jumpscares are more terrifying then usual. One such Hunter surprises the player as they alight into the west wing to see a seemingly clear hallway, only for the amphibian to jump around the corner from another hall. Actually getting past him reveals that this Hunter actually ripped through the door in order to get here, which completely shatters the previously established rule by literally every single Resident Evil game up to that point how zombies in other rooms were incapable of disturbing you without an incredibly belated and audible cue to mark their entrance. This was sudden. This was shocking. And it subverted all expectations hard. Truly a masterful jumpscare.

Of the remaining unexplored rooms, there is one that contained a mostly optional puzzle that I remember vividly, probably because it was the first time that Resident Evil really stumped me. That sits on the western wing and boasts a confusing set-up of taxidermy heads and a tracking statue without an inherently clear path to a solution. Looking back I recognise that this isn't exactly one of the most difficult puzzles in the world, but the way it relies on timing does sort of defy how that mechanic has been used for other puzzles and so it sort of left me unprepared. Most of Resident Evil's challenges are adequately established but this one did take a slight deviation upon the accepted puzzle conventions. But perhaps such is acceptable when considering how important, and vague, the prize for this puzzle is. Solve this back and forth and the player is given another mystery hook with two coloured gems, one yellow and one red, with a decent idea of where they go. Cast you mind back to a few scenes past and you might remember the statue of a tiger who asked for gems in his eye sockets. Capcom intend for the player to remember these sorts of open mysteries as they return to the mansion, as it makes the process of completing the rooms feel that more dynamic and natural. Giving this tiger his other eye grants the player a curious trinket, an MO disk; opening yet another question to sit in the back of our heads as we continue.

Also in the room sits a very eye-opening document. In fact, for an mostly optional room it really is criminal for such a huge chunk of lore to be regulated to this corner of the Spencer abode, but here we are. Inside we see orders, addressed to the head of Umbrella security, detailing the events of the game up until now from the perspective of a potential orchestrator. We see the plan step-by-step; 'S.T.A.R.S are to be led to the mansion purposefully in order to test the combat data of beings known as BOWs. Embyros of each mutated monster must be obtained (excluding that of something called 'The Tyrant' as that must be destroyed) and the entire facility and it's staff are to be destroyed.' This is real revelation-level stuff here that people could very easily miss, and I fear that without this context there's a good chunk of the rest of the game that'll make literally no sense. (Although to be fair, for those serious about learning what this game has to offer, the chances of missing this document that is placed right on the coffee table is slim to none.)

All that's left is to clear out the rest of the rooms, starting with that route to the attic that has been teasing us ever since the end of the first Resident Evil blog. That one right next to the fake key trap? Yeah, that's the kind of door that worms under you skin and really gnaws on the old psyche. What could be behind it? Why has the wait to get here been so long? Well, the answer it seems is another classic horror setting; the ill-lit attic space. In terms of ambience, the designers really laid into this mysterious vibe of something hiding just outside of view. The hall is webby and musty, with naught but the pale moon breaking through the side windows to illuminate your next steps. To cap it all off, most of the fixed camera angles for this section are situated right outside of the windows themselves, really hammering home this idea that there's something out there watching you.

And as it turns out there is, because once the player is too far gone to back out, a sudden crack of window panes signals the return of an old enemy; the giant mutant poison snake: Yawn! (Time for round 2!) This boss fight happens around a library area that I think was grander in vision than execution, to be honest. I can imagine the concept with a maze of shelves and a deadly serpent winding around them, but in practise it's just a single shelf and a deadly game of cat and mouse with the big man himself. Yawn spends most of this fight coiled in his strike stance, reinforcing the idea that the player is seconds away from death at all times; but in reality the fight isn't all that difficult, it just requires a little practice and restraint. Luckily, having gotten this far in the game, patience is something that the player will have most likely stocked in abundance, so this usually ends up as a fairly straight forward bout. (Although I will admit that the melee method is a lot more difficult for this fight.)

The reward for this battle is two fold, the final death of a long held rival and one of the final big puzzle solutions in the game. In his throes, Yawn unveils a blue book to match the player's red one from earlier, making it abundantly clear that these are items to pay attention. Of course, at this point players will be well trained in examining items in their inventory and so they've likely already been alerted to the fact that each book contains an emblem. (one of a wolf and another of an eagle.) Just as with almost every puzzle in this game, you have key without a lock, and solving this stage of the investigation will undoubtedly open up biggest secrets of Spencer Mansion. But those are secret depths that we'll have to plunge next week as that's all I have the time for in this blog.

Resident Evil: In Depth Part 7

Jill vs Mother Nature

I'm back, after another impromptu week off I've returned to continue my dive into the 2001 remake of Resident Evil in such minute detail that it just makes my eyes bleed. And in order to celebrate (and in the knowledge that this series is most certainly dragging a bit) I decided to get an extra lot done this episode and propel the story forward so that we can get a look at the bit of the endgame next time around. Today however we tackle the meat of the game as the player is slowly introduced to the more outlandish horrors that the Arklay Mountains hold, but I'm getting ahead of myself, let us start with the bare basics.

Just as with every Resident Evil blog I've written, it all starts with a game of exploration and "I wonder what hole this key fits into." It's one of the core gameplay loops of the game and makes up a good chunk of the playtime. It's so important to the identity of these games, in fact, that you even find yourself partaking in this activity in the midgame, despite how linear 'The Residence' actually is. Of course, this does mean that the exploration is a lot more straight forward, and as such in this part of the game every key you find leads to but a single door, making things a lot more easier. In fact, at this point the game is literally set-up so that one key opens up the way to another, creating a pleasing snowball effect of progression which helps speed up the momentum for this part of narrative which has a closer emphasis on 'encounters' over puzzles.

In the room where the key from the last blog opens, however, there is actually a little bit of lore to explore, so we won't just brush over it. You see there is a rather classically grisly horror image to greet entrants in a hanged man, rotten and decayed, with his suicide note nearby. From this note we learn that those who lived in these tenements were, in some part at least, responsible for this terrible virus and the guilt touched them in different ways. You could argue that such was merely a formality, but it helps to have concrete evidence that the Spencer estate wasn't just a victim of this plague, but the source of it too.

Besides the note comes an interesting weapon in the Self Defence Gun, one of the few Resident Evil weapons to, as far as I can remember, never be featured in a future RE game. Which is a shame considering this dainty little weapon resembles a classic western hold-out revolver, something rather unique in the gaming landscape, although that does raise some questions such as; where the heck did researchers get their hands on a gambler's gun? The weapon itself is also notable for being one of the most powerful weapons in the game despite it's diminutive size, with the draw back being that it contains one shot and cannot be refilled for the rest of the game. (Bummer) So it's just another gun for the 'on a rainy day' fund.

Of course the player wasn't just directed to this room for a bit of lore and a weapon, almost every location in Resident Evil has a direct function or important item within it and that's something to always keep in mind. In this location, the player's prize is in the bath room wherein the tub holds an important item. Capcom didn't want this just to be a fetch activity, however, and so they utilised their top-tier sound effects once again to give the player a shock about what was happening in the room they just left with the hanging body. It's a great 'scare' moment where the player is surprised by the sound before their mind puts together what has happened, showcasing a clever form of audio storytelling without words. Kudos again, Capcom.

As a consequence of my wanton stupidity at the end of the last blog, large chunks of The Residence is now occupied by huge killer bees which will certainly murder Jill if they get the chance. Of course, this is building upon their establishing appearance in the Mansion so you'll be familiar with them, but this is the first time in the game they'll be a constant threat that is presented so that you'll have to deal with it. This is a theme that runs strong in this game and even some of the later Resident Evil games, presenting the player with some monstrosity or situation that seems out of their control, before taking them on the journey to resolving it. What this does is provide a sense of the scale of the task you're about to perform so that when you figure it out and nip the problem in the bud (no pun intended) you feel the weight of your accomplishment. It's the same sort of narrative device that works in games like Dark Souls, when you're put up against a huge boss and have to learn how to put it down. (And trust me when I say that's something I'm intimately familiar with right now; I just beat 'High Lord Wolnir' last night.)

For the moment the bees are beyond you, however, so you'll just have to avoid them and figure out where to go next. At this point returns the usefulness of another staple mention in this blog series; The map. This tool is great for figuring out paths around dangerous rooms in the early game, but in a more linear setting like this one Capcom had to come up with more imaginative ways of making it useful and they did with story hints. Looking at the map, you might notice that in the room where Barry had his little conspiratorial tête-à-tête features a drawing indicating some sort of ladder, and yet there's none in the room itself, just a couple of bookcases... Of course at this point the game has already introduced players to the necessity of the 'push' mechanic in order to deal with that blood-sucking tentacle from the last blog, and so they'll know to do the same here in order to reveal a rather badly hidden secret ladder down in the bowels of the facility. (Yet another example of smartly laid-out progressive level design)

Down here Jill reaches one of my favourite locations from Resident Evil: the Aqua Ring. This place is a damp concrete facility that you'll soon discover is full of a rather large amount of waist high water. Of course, the natural question at this point is exactly what sort of horrible monster could be waiting in such a locale and the answer is both exactly what you were expecting and something you really hoped not be the case: Zombie Sharks. That's right, these scientists were so nuts that they put their stupid virus into sharks to see how it would turn out. Obviously this is leaning off of horror classic 'Jaws' for it's intimidation factor with the slight difference being that the two sharks in this area are visible as they approach you and are annoyingly hard to put down given that they are in water. In fact, the way this whole level is laid out encourages the player to run more than it encourages them to fight.

Of course, running is the smarter option in this location as there is one monster who more faithfully lives up to the example of her Hollywood cousin. Take too long to get through this water logged facility and you'll hear rumblings from deep in the facility to tell you that you need to get a move on. Ignore them, however, and you'll incur the wrath of the monstrous Neptune, mother of those smaller zombie sharks from earlier. Once again this is an example of being shown a seemingly insurmountable threat (like a giant shark) in the knowledge that you'll have to face that and should probably figure out some sort of stratagem. As is the case in most introductions, however, the key right now is to stay on the move until you have the upper hand. Doing so will eventually lead the player to a little closet on the far side of the ring which is damp and- filled with another bunch of Plant 42's tentacles? Lame. Of course, Plant 42 is the main issue of this area that needs to be dealt with, and for that reason Capcom reinforce it's presence by having it show up so very often in this moment. (In fact, an offshoot of him even popped up in the mansion as one of the obstacles towards getting the death masks, if you remember.)

Unfortunately 42 makes that room unassailable, so Jill has to brave the Ring once again to find the only other room away from the Sharks; the control room. (At which point it's handy to have that key from earlier, which you can absolutely miss if you're not paying attention) The next scene is one of my favourite 'Boss fights' in the series as Jill goes up against Neptune in one of the most unique ways that this franchise has to offer. Basically, the player enters an underwater observation deck and becomes acutely aware of the fact that they cannot progress unless they drain the water of the ring. Doing so will not work yet as the safety is engaged, but apparently the T-Virus did a number on Neptune's intelligence, as she notices the second her life is in danger and begins ramming into the glass of the observation deck, putting Jill on immediate notice.

Now we all know that Resident Evil games end with a race against the clock, but rarely do we get an off-the-cuff 'panic against the clock' moment like this one, and that makes this moment really quite unique. Jill has to race to the right terminals in order to figure out the way to lower the shutters before Neptune can crack through and drown her, and this is a moment that still gives me the slight shudders even now, knowing what was coming. It taps into that innate 'scramble' mechanic that we all have in situations when a timer is drawn under us, and that's the kind of scare that really hits its home. I can't tell you the amount of time I've accidentally clicked the same terminals in this section, especially as the glass begins to give. It's another really well done scene.

After draining the water and defeating Neptune, Jill is then free to go down to the floor of the Aqua Ring and observe her handy work with the water-deprived corpses of Neptune and her children. Around them lies the one thing that Jill had to go through all this in order to get, an emergency box containing... A key to The Gallery back in The Residence. (What in all the hells is that doing here? This is one of those contrived Resident Evil moments that really does give me a whole new type of pause) Of course, Capcom wouldn't give us such a prize without one final surprise and so the 'corpse' of Neptune thrashes once again to throw the Player in danger, adding yet another split-second duel against the monster as they have to figure out how to put her down for good. I love this 'fight through puzzle' approach to boss monsters and really wish that more Resident Evil bosses went this route instead of the traditional straight-up fight.

After a lot of backtracking we reach The Gallery, and it's rather an interesting locale indeed with it's 'looking glass oddities' aesthetic going on. In fact, this location seems to resemble more of a laboratory than a gallery, and I suppose that might be truer-to-the-bone in hindsight. Unfortunately this location is also directly connected to the beehive that terrorises the corridor, and the only way to move anymore forward is to finally deal with that menace. Luckily that seem rather straightforward considering the very same hallway where the bees are alighting from boasts a corpse outside grasping an Insecticide gun. (I mean, he's clearly been stung to death but I'm sure that's a good sign.) Capcom presented another puzzle with this act and I have to say I do rather like this one, it's straightforward but makes up for an earlier blunder that a lot of players will have fallen for.

You see the sheer number of bees makes it impossible to approach the hive directly in order to commit mass bee-murder, so instead you have to find a way to apply the insecticide without putting yourself in danger. Of course, the solution is to use that pesky hole-in-the-wall that we revealed last blog when we took down that map. (See, I'm not a total idiot.) For that our reward is another key and some unfettered exploration, the only true things of value in this thing we call life. One of the first things that'll likely draw one's eye here is the keypad locked door, which is one of the only of it's kind in this game, and the odd eye-shaped symbols that accompany it. This unravels another one of those 'mystery threads' for the player to wander about as they continue through the house to a plant-wrapped bedroom and onto an ominous wardrobe.

Okay, maybe that's a little unfair. The wardrobe itself is not ominous but more the information it contains. Upon interacting with the easily noticeable white book, players are greeted to another situation report regarding Plant 42. Once again the mystery hooks are latched onto the player as they are informed of the fact that Plant 42 should be susceptible to a substance known as UMB No.20, (or V-JOLT) as that can instantly kill the abomination upon nature. (Handy information) What follows is perhaps, in my opinion, one of the strongest examples of intelligent game design in this whole act. We have a simple to figure out puzzle of a bunch of disordered red books missing one of their numbers. Now it doesn't take a great leap of logic to realise that the red book from earlier fits in here, but what this does do is reintroduce the games room where you found that book into the minds of the player as they consider the other mysteries that have come their way. It's a subtle way of pointing towards the solutions of puzzles that don't seem so obvious right now.

But that's all a problem for later Jill, because on the other-side of that bookshelf lies the much built-up Plant 42 itself and one of the only multiple choice boss fights in the entire franchise. As meathead Chris Redfield, there is only one solution to this encounter and that's fighting the giant plant with giant guns, but Jill was a chem student and therefore has a little more choice at her disposal. Sure, she can go the Rambo route, or she can make use of the lore provided earlier, regarding V-Jolt, and travel around The Residence to figure out just where to get such a useful substance.

Now the reason I bought up that slight hint with the books earlier, is because the room that hint directs you to actually contains the solution to that annoying keypad puzzle albeit in a rather obscure manner. Follow that thread to the games room and there's some rather high-level environmental puzzles to figure through. First there are the strange lamps which Jill can light with a lighter in order to reveal the same eye symbols from the door, only coloured differently, and secondly there are the billiard balls that Jill is still convinced were lain deliberately. Now in perhaps one of the most contentious leaps-of-logic in the entire franchise, it turns out that the player is somehow supposed to figure out that they need to match the colour of the eye symbol from the lamp with the colour of a billiard ball in order to figure out the corresponding number associated with that eye. Now disregarding how contrived that is, can we just ask the question; who in their right mind designed that? Who thought it was smart to, instead of just tell folk the passcode, tell them to run around The Residence lighting lamps and trying their hardest not to play billiards? So does that mean the billiards table was completely off limits to the staff during their entire stay here, for fear of messing up the code? Or was it someone's job to specifically arrange them this way at the end of every working day? (I love the set-up for this puzzle, but absolutely hate the solutions.)

Finally comes the hardest challenge in any Resident Evil game ever: Chemistry. You see the room behind the keypad is home to a chemistry station with several empty beakers, two jars of indeterminate liquid and a tap. There's no hint to tell you the solution, no secret method to getting it done, just a lore dump telling you that your goal is UMP No.20 and all the time in the world to play around with combinations until you get there. This can either be the easiest puzzle in the game or the most frustrating if you go about it the wrong way, but it really is as simple and straight-forward as it sounds in the end. Just synthesis yourself some V-JOLT and look for the perfect injection vector to finish off Plant 42 without spending a single bullet. (Which is all the way back down in the Aqua Ring room with the Plant tentacles in it. See, it all comes full circle in the end.)

Of course, Resident Evil wouldn't be itself if the boss were to just die from the thing which was definitely said to kill it (within 5 seconds the document said!) so upon coming back you're treated to a cutscene where the plant shrivels up only to attack Jill again. But the player is still saved from an actual fight as this is when Barry makes another one of his just-in-the-nick-of-time appearances in order to save us from the deadly killer plant with his- flamethrower? Where in the heck did Barry get a flamethrower? Regardless, he saves Jill's life (although I guess he was really saving his own, Jill just happened to be there) and finally we are free to collect that which was the goal of this entire adventure away from the main mansion. Can you guess what it is? I bet you can. Cue the dramatic Ocarina of Time chest opening music... dah dah dah dah: it's the mythical Helmet key! (Whoopie) And with that the second Act is wrapped up as we are set to trek back to the Spencer Mansion and get to the heart of the Arklay Mountains incident. But that'll have to wait until next time because I love a good cliffhanger.

Resident Evil: In Depth Part 6

Warning: this blog may contain arachnids

Okay, so with all of the other pressing blogs out of my way for good I'm finally able to dip back into my favourite long-running series: my Resident Evil In Depth Analysis blogs. If you need a refresher; this is a series in which I go through Resident Evil at an excruciating pace whilst analysing all the little details and nuances that make it one of the most influential and best horror games of all time. Or should I say, 'Survival Horror', as unlike other sub-genres of horror, Resident Evil doesn't rely on a single repeated trick to scare it's audience but mixes and matches. (And that's part of why it works so well.) But before I jump into it, a bit of a recap.

Previously we had been all the way through the Spencer Mansion in search of the S.T.A.R.S Bravo team who were all but completely lost in the chaos. What we found was a house completely swarmed in undead monsters and mutated monstrosities, and thus our mission adapted into one of trying to survive on the threadbare resources at our disposal. Escaping the mansion was only the start of the nightmare, however, as Act 2 starts with Jill finding her way through the forest and into a creepy cottage in the middle of nowhere. A cottage with a roaring fire, but no inhabitants. What a foreboding scene indeed.

I love how Capcom framed this particular section as it's such a great example of setup and pay-off in the horror world. On the path over you receive calls on the radio about some creature in chains as well as the worrying proclamation "Guns don't hurt it!" Upon getting closer to the cabin the ambient noise of the forest starts to drift away and you'll hear the faint scraping of chains, building upon this lore. The cabin is clearly a safe space, however, because it has an item box and a typewriter; nothing bad could possibly happen when you have those invaluable tools at your disposal, can they?

It's this perfect balance of unsettling and establishing a false sense of security that sends a chill right through your skin once you explore your environment and find only a deadend and a crank, meaning that you have to turn back on yourself. An eagle-eyed player might spot the subtle way that the game hides the monster entering the cabin, by angling the camera so that it's hidden at the top of your screen. But even the unobservant will hear the moaning and cranking chains letting you know beyond a doubt that you aren't exactly in the safest spot in the world. That's right, despite the apparent safety of save rooms, this is one that breaks your expectations in a grand fashion, by having Jill get immediately jumped the second that she tries to leave the cabin.

Upon coming to, Capcom stop beating around the bush and show you this monster that's been stalking you, and heck if she isn't a sight! At this point in the game all you've really come across is zombies and the occasional killer (Albeit enlarged) animal, but here's comes a creature designed to shatter your comfort levels with pure gross-out. Lisa Trevor is perhaps the model that all the body-horror from the later games based themselves on, and even then she holds up pretty well in the grotesque factor. She props herself on this unsettling spindly body carrying a chains around her legs and supporting a huge bulbous head fitted with multiple split faces. Frankly it's the kind of thing that you'd find in the notebook scratchings of some deranged art student, and it's frankly impressive that Capcom were able to realise such a monster so vividly. (That's usually the kind of faithfulness you have to go to Square Enix for.) But the real kicker which makes this monster so spooky; she wasn't in the original Resident Evil, not even once. Lisa was a surprise edition to the remake and something that threw every series veteran off of their guard, kudos for a well-executed scare to even the most stalwart, Capcom!

Of course, Lisa has already been established as being immune to bullets at this point, (As it seems one monster in every Resident Evil must be) so the player is left with either shooting her to a standstill or running away from her. Of course, this hearkens back to the 'flight or fight' philosophy behind older horror titles like Silent Hill which works to give the player a choice without ever making them feel too powerful. (and thus in control of the situation that you throw at them.) Of course, as we are playing in the highest difficulty and I know I'll need that ammo later on, the smart choice is to book it past her and out of the cabin as fast your tank controls will allow you.

Along the way back to the courtyard there was another puzzle to solve, one that we passed by earlier. Remember that Wind Crest from a few blogs, back? It actually has a place in the graveyard full of killer ravens as indicated by the flavour dialogue that you'll see should you take the time to stop and read it. Using this crest opens up a simple puzzle of 'match the emblem to the slot' which seem inconsequential but rewards quiet the boon for those willing to take the time; the second most powerful gun in the game (Not including the rocket launcher) the Silver Serpent Magnum. Now this was back before the series started bending over itself to explain why items are where they are, so narratively finding a magnum inside of the graveyard makes no earthly sense, but who's going to argue with a gun that is a one shot kill on practically anything? Of course, that firepower comes at the cost of ammo availability, so players still have to keep the gun for special occasions down the line.

Whilst Act 1 may have been defined by navigation, most of Act 2 is actually rather linear as it's all about running back and forth between corridor-esque locations. The extended Spencer courtyard is a straightforward location and derives it's personality less from unique environmental ques and more from the fact that it's a bit of a gauntlet for the unprepared. You'll get killer crows, packs of wild dogs (Who'll ignore you if you don't threaten them) and even an entire hallway full of falling poisonous snakes. (You heard me right. No, I don't know where they came from or why.) This is the place that the crank is needed for as it controls a dam built into the Spencer property, thus allowing you to move through waterlogged areas. (I particularly enjoy the rustic 60's aesthetic to all of this section that assures me that Jill will most certainly catch tetanus is she touches anything.)

Once through the courtyard it isn't long before you're back inside this brand new locale known as 'The Residence'. (That's right, there's a Residence in Resident Evil.) This place abandons the cacophony of the forest ambience for quiet, often music-less hallways, and creaking wooden floorboards. Far removed from the grand luxury of the mansion, the Residence feels more like a place for guest housing, as such the player can expect more intimate environments and lower ceilings, really bringing you into the moment. This location also marks the return of creepy environmental details, with my favourite being the collection of newspapers sprawled about the hallway that all contain details about S.T.A.R.S. (Particularly creepy as, from everything you'll have been able to deduce through the various recovered documents, this whole location had been abandoned for 20 years. So who's been keeping the newspaper subscription up...)

Atop of the usual item/save room that you find in every area of the game, player's will also come across a new gameplay mechanic as there are several pots full of blue herbs lined up against the wall. Now this is obviously strategically placed just after the snake-fall section, as Blue herbs are specifically designed for curing poisonings. Without these herbs Jill will be wasted away to the brink of death everytime that she comes across a snake/spider, so it's helpful to know how these herbs work and wise that Capcom would present a hands-on demonstration for those who missed on the rather in-detail document regarding this matter in the study. Just another example of the ways in which this game was designed not to leave player's every feeling completely in the lurch for anyone's fault other than their own. 

Reverting back to your basic instincts of searching each and every room will lead most players into a little trap hidden down one of the hallways. There's a little gap in the floorboading which, should Jill cross over it, will initiate a giant tentacle to shoot out and start strangling her for a few seconds. The solution for this little puzzle is actually quite apart from the other puzzles in this game, as you have to interact with the environment in order to push a heavy wooden crate above the hole. (Simple, but effective.) What's more worrying is the question of what exactly that tentacle spawned from, but that's a question for down-the-line Jill.

Next up it's one of the single most terrifying rooms in the franchise, the games room, and if you've watched the above video you will know why. Capcom knew that they didn't even need to add a spooky score to this room, because why bother when you have giant hairy poison-spitting spiders crawling all over the place? I hated this room when I first played this section, for obvious reasons, and even now I still get the creeps entering it. There's something about the excessive hair all over their bodies which makes them just that little bit worse than other video game spiders. That and their eerily realistic movement. (God I hate how spiders move.) Honestly, I don't know how I'd have managed through this section of the game without my trusty shotgun. Clear that room (if you dare) and you'll find yourself with an entire speak-easy looking lounge area with some mystery-hooks to get you back into 'investigator' mode. There's some oil lamps, an empty red book and a arrangement of billiard balls that Jill seems to think was laid out deliberately. (20 years ago, I presume?)

Unfortunately here's when some of the weakest parts of the Resident Evil franchise starts to take hold; the voice acting. Jill happens upon voices coming from a room on the far side of The Residence, and rather than barge in there like the police officer that she is, Jill stays outside for no discernible reason. We here talks about destroying S.T.A.R.S and ensuring the safety of someone's family, but despite how blatant all of that is Jill still seems to buy it once she enters the room and finds Barry claiming that he was talking to himself. (In two different voices? Come on Jill!)

Luckily once Barry is out the room he leaves behind some documents that tell the much more competently written sections of Resident Evil's story. Much like some of the other papers, this one is built-in to be pure foreshadow as it talks about a test subject that has gone out of control called Plant 42. Apparently this thing has mutated to an unmaintainable size and even began attacking other scientist with it's blood sucking tentacles. All this due to something called 'the T-Virus' (And this appears to be it's first canonical mention in the franchise, so that's interesting.)

Rather than push forward, however, I decided to head back and wrap things up, but not before willingly exploring another one of Capcom's tricks. You see, they love the whole 'set expectations only to shatter them' approach, and so that's exactly what they do with a map of the Residence that the player will come across hanging on a wall. Now this is usually a good thing that is invaluable for navigation, so most players would jump at the chance to get this map, however this time there is a catch. Retrieve the map and you'll find that is was actually being used as a makeshift curtain over a hole in the wall, a hole that hides an active beehive inside it! (There's an unpleasant surprise.)

So after nursing our stings and retrieving a key for the Residence that was inside the toilets of Barry's conspiracy room, it's back to the safe room to plan our next step as the Residence starts to open up to us in a much more streamlined manner than the main mansion did. That we'll pursue next time, however, once we dive into the real secret hiding beneath the Spencer properties. Before then I have some Kingdom Hearts to get into, as well as some choice words to preach about the manner in which 358/2 days was ported to HD. (Or would it be more apt to say, 'how it wasn't ported'? You'll get it when you read the blog.)

Resident Evil: In Depth Part 5

Into the catacombs...

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)

All of this directionless wandering is fuelled by the fact that the map you got at the beginning of the game doesn't even touch on these grounds, so you're journeying into the unknown again. (Oh, was that a frozen reference? I'm on a role!) You may even start to wonder if you're walking in circles as you march around the twisting forest path, although the route itself is fairly linear so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Much more worrying is the sudden radio call that Jill gets from Barry warning her of a "monster in chains", adding "bullets don't hurt it". Quite the set-up, especially for vets of the original Resident Evil, as this whole plotpoint is totally unique to the remake. Going deeper into the woods will reward players with the sounds of wailing and shaking chains (which the player is forced to stop and listen to), effectively freaking most out by the time they happen upon the classic cabin in the woods.

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!

Resident Evil: In Depth Part 4

Open wide!

Back into the Spencer Mansion we go as we delve ever deeper into the Resident Evil franchise. Due to my weekly approach to this topic, this will likely be the last blog that I get out before the launch of the 'Resident Evil 3 Remake', but that doesn't mean I'm scaling back on these blogs, nor did it mean that I half-assed my time with this one today. Indeed it would seem that the prospect of diving into the decimated Raccoon city invigorated me today as I pushed a bit further in the game than I originally intended to in order to hit a specific moment to cap off this blog. I even did the unthinkable and actually saved midway through this playthrough section in order to ensure that I didn't have to stomach a lot of backtracking for my own foolishness, but I'm confident enough in my own abilities to withstand this game so I'm sure that won't come back to bite me in the ass down the line... (Famous last words if ever there were ones.)

As we settle into exploration once again a certain aspect of the game design is sure to have stuck out to the players by this point and that would be what I call: "The hierarchy of weapons." As one of the core defining characteristics of a 'survival horror' is the limit of one's resources, it behoves every player to keep on-top of everything at their disposal and expend only the most necessary of items to push forward. Obviously this means that you don't end up wasting your oh-so-precious shotgun shells in pitiful zombies, or spend an entire clip into a Crimsonhead forgetting that they'll just shake it off in a couple of minutes anyway. (Dang, it struck me again how annoying this branch of the virus was. The zombs it spawned were so damn sturdy!) This is something that each player will decide for themselves naturally as they settle into the rhythm of the game, although during the collection of the Death Masks is when you'll really end up putting your interpretation of this concept to the test.

For me I've found that the most ideal way to plan out your weapon use on a Jill playthrough would be to save as much ammunition as possible (obviously) and avoid fighting enemies altogether. I mentioned this in my last blog by talking about the tactics involved in juking enemies, but it takes paramount importance in this stage of the game. By forcing players to make such decisions of fight or flight, I think that early-day Capcom were intending to invoke the same feeling of vulnerability that is inherent in another great survival horror classic; Silent Hill. Although in that game the player was usually encouraged to run away altogether, whilst here you have to face your enemies sooner or later, even if it is just to sneak behind them or under their grip.

Luckily there is some margin for error which Capcom introduced when they remade Resident Evil in 2001 with the introduction of defence items. These are items that the player can discover laying all over the mansion and collect in a separate pool to their core inventory. (Meaning you don't have to worry about keeping them or your precious keys.) Defence items can be activated by the player in the brief struggle they experience just after being caught in a grapple by a zombie, but the player can choose to ignore this opportunity in order to save up on items as they are just as limited in quantity as everything else. Through this, Capcom introduces this thrilling little moment of split-second decision making in the player as they have to gamble the cost of saving item currency with the cost of saving your neck from some over-friendly zombie munching.

One of the details that I really love about how the Spencer Mansion was realised over other horror locations was the way in which it dealt with tangible presentation. Oftentimes in horror games it can feel as though all the spooky asylums and rundown houses that you delve through make up little more than set dressing for the horrors within. They don't feel like real, lived-in spaces and exsist merely to drum up atmosphere. Now there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but I always prefer my game worlds to have that little bit extra in order to make me feel that immersion I so desperately crave for like a junkie. Of course, Spencer Mansion doesn't necessarily feel like a 'real' location, (All the puzzles in order to reach the toilets would make that a living hell to have to deal with in the real world) but with all the subtle design details it does feel oddly visceral, if that makes sense.

By this I'm referring to the way that the player can enter into a new location and see a room full of portraits, and actually interact with those portraits to get a description of what they're looking at. It sort of mixes the written medium for tension building alongside the visual and also allows for some interesting moments of foreshadowing such as with the wall scratchings. Whilst opening doors with our latest key, one of the hallways sports a defiled wall that they player can observe and assume that a zombie went hogwild around here. Actually examine the wall marks, however, and Jill will point out how the scars were made by claw marks, even noting that this couldn't have been made by "one of those rotting freaks." Now this could be an indication to the Crimsonhead folk that we've met already but I think this actually hints even further to something that we'll get to see up close in the third act of the game. (Way to keep me on my toes!)

Speaking of those Crimson fellows; they really start to get familiar with the player in this section of gameplay. Spurred on by the player picking up on the biggest puzzle of act 1, (the collecting of the Death Masks) the Crimson heads start to pop up more and more around the player, replacing formerly slain zombies that you were too foolish or reticent to decapitate or burn along the way. Practically everytime you see one of these scarlet slayers arise from the floor like a vampire leaving their coffin, you're sure to get a decent jolt to the ol' ticker. What makes things worse is that you'll likely not have nearly enough shotgun ammo to deal with these guys this early on, so you're trapped between either wasting ammo on them or trying to stay out of the way of their speedy pursuit. (Someone needs to remind these sprinting biters about the Germanic etymology behind the word 'Zombie') I will admit, that this is one of the points during which the camera angles can get annoying, as no one wants to be caught trying to figure out which way is forward when their life is on the line.

As the rising dead have become such an issue this time around, it only makes sense for players to go out of their way to manage their routes, which is something that I've bigged up a lot thusfar. Much of your explorations at this point will take you from opposite ends of the mansion, and you're in for a nasty surprise if you don't know the quickest way to cross Mansion wings. One such surprise is that the door just adjacent to the eastern item room is actually damaged to the point where the handle will fall off after only a couple of uses, rendering it only openable from the outside in. (This means that the player can enter the east wing ground floor from that item room but not return to the safety of that item room. Quite the issue to have to deal with.) Additionally, with so many doors opened at this point it helps to consult the map every once and a while in order to figure out exactly which doors still need to be addressed in order to safely get rid of your current key.

In such pursuits it's a matter of time before you come across one of the most abstract puzzles in the game; this being a room full of fishing themed equipment such as bait and lures. As far as what the game usually offers I will admit that this section is beyond the pale a slight bit, but that's only because the reward on offer is actually an optional objective. That's right, not every puzzle has to be solved in order to progress and Capcom intentionally put some of their more weird one's up front when it came to the cooler rewards. That being said, this particular puzzle is more weird than it is difficult, with the required acts on the player's part being rather straightforward. It does make use of the dual interaction process that the developers like to abide by however, by interacting with the environment, then examining in your inventory before touching the environment again. (Although I have no explanation for the giant killer bee that pops up as a reward.)

On the topic of environmental interaction, once I was done exploring it was time to go investigate that room from last time in which you couldn't search without lighting a candle first. The obvious hurdle this throws in the player's face is that they have to use up one of their inventory slots in order to hold a lighter, but this merely reinforces the sacrifice/reward mechanic that the inventory slot concept introduces. In this particular area lies a necessary item to continue, and this is the beginning of what I like to call a puzzle chain. This is the term I use to describe it when a series of investigative riddles greet the player with the solution of one leading to the starting of another, all until you hit that key item to progress. It creates this immensely satisfying 'landslide' feeling for the player that helps to break up the monotony of revisiting areas as you are touching on them again from a new dimension with a puzzle to solve. (Sometimes solving puzzles that you didn't even know were there originally.)

In the dark room lies the missing sheet of music that can be inserted into the original music book to create a full sheet for Jill to play with. Again, this is rather silly as any mildly competent classical pianist doesn't need sheet music to play 'Moonlight Sonata', but we'll just pretend that Jill was having a brain fart due to having to battle for her life or something. What I cannot excuse, however, is the extra hoops that the player has to jump through to achieve this same objective as resident S.T.A.R.S. meatslab; Chris Redfield. Chris, you see, is much to much of a big burly solider type to know how to read sheet music and instead has to rely on the help of 19 yr old Rebecca Chambers (The rookie, let me remind you) for that most simple of tasks. (And even she has trouble playing a single line.) This is one puzzle that did have me slightly cross at Chris by the end of it.

The piano does open the way to a secret room in the wall and one of the most significant pieces of new lore introduced by this 2001 remake. We learn that this room is actually a makeshift holding cell in which the former lord of the house, Mr.Spencer, trapped a Mr Trevor for some unknown reason. From the diary that Trevor left behind there are only the scant hints at the larger story, but what's most important to note is his prayer for his family at the end, and you'll know why later. Immediately, however, there is the Emblem puzzle to contend with as the room contains a golden coat of arms which cannot be removed for if it is then the door to leave immediately shuts itself. This is the first time that Capcom throws a puzzle at the player without any environmental clues on how to solve it, and instead they expect the player's memory to kick in. And it likely will if they happen to be the type of player who pay attention to the rooms they visit like this game has been reinforcing all this time. (See, this type of design is full to the brim with pay-offs.)

This Emblem is identical to one that was above the fireplace inside the very first room that the player entered, you see, and that is the callback you need to remember. With a little bit of backtracking you can receive this wooden emblem and replace it for the golden one in the trap, just like what happened with the Armour key. (Once again building on established puzzle solving rules.) This gives the player a golden Emblem which they are then able to hang above the fireplace where the wooden one used to be, an action which activates another step of the puzzle as the ticking grand clock in the hall springs it's casing open so that the player can fiddle with it. (See what I mean by this 'landslide' effect?) The clock itself bears no numbers for it's hands but instead has four pictures for the player to work with. Now initially this is one of the most confusing puzzles as the player has no idea as to the significance of these pictures beyond that they match the names of the keys that you have been collecting. Luckily, however, the fixed camera angles do most of the legwork in solving this conundrum. You see the camera cleverly doesn't focus squarely on the clock, but merely displays it off to the side whilst making sure that the adjacent portrait is fully in frame. An observant player who has learned about how useful the background can be at this point will surely notice this picture and examine it closely, at which point things will start to make sense. The picture shows two swordsmen skewing each other, one with a long sword to the head and the other with a shot sword in the breastplate, corresponding directly to the pictures of the helmet and the armour for which clock hand should point where. It's a great little visual puzzle that rewards attentiveness and makes the player feel smart for conquering.

Your reward for this little puzzle chain is a key that opens but a single lock, and at that point you are due for the attic and another classically spooky horror environment. The attic is a dark room full of cobwebs and fraught to the occasional flash of lighting from the outside. It's also one of the few locations with no ambient sound from the get go so you know something is likely to go down here at some point. And if you paid attention to Richard's story from outside, you probably won't be too shocked when the giant Snake called Yawn leans down from the ceiling to confront you. This actually marks the first mutated monster in an entire franchise renowned for it's mutated beasts, and this is one of the few that didn't need some gross mutation in order to be threatening. It is a giant venomous snake, afterall.

Thus begins the very first bossfight against Yawn, and probably the point at which the unprepared player is due for a butt kicking. Yawn basic attack pattern is to slither after the player until it's close enough for a short lunge, so the player is encouraged to run around objects in their environment in order to tangle Yawn up, sort of like a more serious game of Snake. In the time that Yawn takes to catch up, you can steal the odd potshot at it until it catches up, at which point the whole dance continues again. For Jill, however, this process is made quite the bit easier if you were quick enough to rescue Richard earlier, because then the wounded soldier charges in with his assault shotgun and a score to settle, allowing the player to focus on avoiding Yawn whilst he does all the damage. Of course, this couldn't last forever and halfway through Yawn's health pool a little cutscene arrives wherein the snake plays dead only to strike at Richard and maul him to death in front of your eyes. "So the whole act of saving Richard was a waste then?" Actually no, because not only does he help you with this bossfight but upon his death he drops his assault shotgun for Jill to pick up, which is the only way to acquire said-shotgun as Jill in the entire game. (Who says good deeds don't go unrewarded?)

Upon beating Yawn, the giant snake slithers off leaving the player with a spooky attic to explore and the growing worry that Yawn will return some day. (And it will) For now you can retrieve your reward, however, being the Death Mask without a nose, marking 2 out of  4 for the required masks. However, there is an added complication to this chain of events if you were foolish enough to be hit be Yawn even once, for now you are poisoned and on death's doorstep for the foreseeable future. What follows is another callback moment as you have to again rush to the western item room as you did in order to save Richard, only this time you are the one in danger and a single strike from any zombie is enough to put you down for good, making things a lot more tense. (Especially since you'll have to face that Snake again if you die.) Curing yourself is only one trial in mansion full of many more, however, which we will delve further into next weekend.