A bit of backstory: I grew up watching an older childhood friend play through the classic Resident Evil games and I eventually picked up RE1 Remake, which I still have yet to beat after many false starts and failed attempts. At the time, I found the controls frustrating and the difficulty overly punishing. Despite this, I adored the story and watched through the cutscenes on YouTube, and also read the amazing novelization by S.D. Perry many times in my youth.

Like many fans these days, I didn’t actually finish a RE game until RE2 Remake, which I found much more accessible. The puzzles were fun and frantic, and while there was a lot of backtracking, I didn’t notice it because the police department was relatively small and you could carry more stuff per trip.

Since then, I’ve gotten into most of the RE games with modern controls, and demystified overhead tank control games thanks to the classic Silent Hill games, Onimusha, Parasite Eve 2, and Crow Country, all of which I love.

Despite all that, I’ve attempted to go back to RE1 Remake a few times and have had a really bad time. I love the atmosphere, but even with the controls figured out, the game feels more like a chore than RE2 Remake, which feels much more tightly paced. The mansion feels a lot bigger and is more confusing to navigate than RCPD, plus you have fewer item slots as Jill than as Leon/Claire. And then there’s the time-wasting mechanics like how you have to set zombies on fire to keep them from coming back to life, how damage calculation/headshots are RNG and not based on player skill, or how you can’t take the shorter paths through certain doors without the lock breaking, forcing you to take longer to get to the first major item box, which you have to trek to and from constantly every time your inventory fills up.

About six months ago, I finally made it out of the mansion and to the courtyard (which took me 15 hours of playtime lol), but then I got so burned out I quit, and after trying to start up again recently, I don’t remember at all what I need to do next. (There’s like, pool tables and giant spiders and stuff?)

I’m definitely an casual RE player, but I’m kind of just holding out hope for another remake so it’s not as much of a slog. But there’s no confirmation that will ever happen beyond leaks and RE1 has been a big unclosed book in my gaming life. On the other hand, I might be forcing myself to play a game I don’t like because it’s widely considered a classic.