It’s the closest thing we’ve gotten to that ill-fated franchise (’sup, EA) since 2013. (Full disclosure: I jumped onto the series with Resident Evil 4, but count me in as a diehard appreciator of all the schlock the series has brought to the industry.) Don’t even get me started on the series revitalization with the first-person Resident Evil 7. In parts, it doesn’t even feel like trendsetting Resident Evil 4, which brought an over-the-shoulder viewpoint and a heavier action focus to the series. Resident Evil 2 doesn’t feel like its original incarnation.

Here’s the thing with reviewing remakes of video games: Is it enough to simply list out the differences and similarities between each installment? I racked my brain trying to figure out an elegant way to compare and contrast, but quickly enough, an entirely different, far more modern game came to mind. And just as it was in the original, you can play two separate campaigns based on which character you choose. After meeting up early on, the two are almost immediately split up again and cut off from help, taking refuge in the no-less-dangerous police station nearby. Meanwhile, the self-reliant Claire Redfield is desperately searching for her brother, S.T.A.R.S. What remains the same is the core of the Resident Evil 2 story: A baby-faced Leon Kennedy is on his way for his first gig as a Raccoon City cop, but his supervisors have been suspiciously quiet. More than just a simple paint job, almost everything in Resident Evil 2 has been rebuilt from the ground up, save for a few key similarities. It’s fitting that the first major location in the Resident Evil 2 remake is a police station in a converted museum: Its tight, shadowy hallways pull as much from modern times as they do the past, a perfect symbol for a survival horror experience that knows its roots inside and out, mostly for the better.

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