Resident Evil 2 Remake producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi has said in an exclusive interview with VideoGamer that progress on the game is coming along nicely and that one of his primary aims of the remake is to “recapture the spirit” of the original game.
Hirabayashi states his confidence in being able to achieve such a feat, presumably knowing how much scrutiny it will come under from fans who adored the original, using the remake of the first Resident Evil as an example of how well the end result of such an endeavour can turn out.
As you mentioned, the first game’s remake is held up as proof that a remaster can recapture the original game, and as it so happens, the RE GameCube remake was my first project at Capcom. I was able to learn from more experienced colleagues and see with my own eyes how they translated their efforts into such a masterpiece that built on an already well-received game. It was an incredibly valuable experience for me.
Also, Resident Evil 2 was the first Resident Evil I played. Everyone’s experience is different but I remember how it felt to play it for the first time, and the task of bringing that to the fans all over again is a cause of daily headaches for me (laughs). Work is progressing on the game and all I can do is ask the fans to wait patiently and excited.
Interestingly, Hirabayashi also reveals that feedback from the newer games in the series, most notably Resident Evil 6, has been something that he’s taken into account when producing the remake of Resi 2.
Every title brings with it learning experiences, and of course I saw a lot of the feedback on Resident Evil 6 and have taken on board everything I’ve heard from the fans about the game and I want to show you what it taught me with through the next experience I’ll be bringing to you.
It’s no secret that Resident Evil 6 wasn’t exactly received particularly well by series fans or critics when it released in 2012, and if Hirabayashi is acutely aware of its less-than-stellar reputation, does it suggest that we’ll see a return to the static camera angles seen in the original games, including 2? We hope so.
Capcom haven’t given a release date for the Resident Evil 2 Remake yet, and we don’t even know which platforms it’ll be arriving on. However, it’s reassuring to hear that the development team are progressing well on the project, and you can probably expect to hear more in June, at this year’s E3 event.