Resident Evil 2 (2019) | A Solid but Uneven Reimagining

Our Resident Evil 2 (2019) review examines a masterfully atmospheric survival horror experience that successfully modernizes the dread of the RPD, though it reaches that goal by streamlining the complex dual-narrative structure and diverse bestiary that defined the 1998 original.

Resident Evil 2 (2019) At a Glance

Resident Evil 2 (2019) Background

Resident Evil 2 was released on January 25, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, later receiving a next-gen update for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC on June 13, 2022. It arrived on Switch on November 11, 2022, and macOS on December 10, 2024.

Capcom retained Leon and Claire as playable characters but reworked the original A/B scenario system. Instead of multiple partial playthroughs to see both perspectives, each character now has a complete campaign. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi explained this was a creative decision aimed at modernizing the experience rather than serving as a budget compromise.

The shift from the original’s fixed camera angles to an over-the-shoulder perspective required careful design adjustments. While fixed cameras could hide enemies and manipulate player perspective for tension, the new camera grants freedom without losing suspense. Level design, lighting, and environmental cues like darkness, smoke, and wet surfaces maintain an atmosphere of unease. Audio was also reworked with 360-degree sound, binaural technology, and directional cues to the horror experience even on standard headphones. Producer Tsuyoshi Kanda explained that these changes allowed the reimagining to preserve the original’s scares while leveraging modern visual and audio capabilities.

The development team for Resident Evil 2 (2019) includes:

• Hidehiro Goda (Game Designer)
  • Dead Rising, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: Revelations 2
• Kazunori Kadoi, Yasuhiro Anpo (Directors)
  • Kazunori Kadoi: Resident Evil 4 (2023), Resident Evil (1996), Resident Evil: Code Veronica
  • Yasuhiro Anpo: Resident Evil: Revelations 2, E.X. Troopers, Resident Evil – Resident Evil 2
• Yosuke Yamagata (Character Artist)
  • Resident Evil 4 (2005) – Resident Evil Village, Haunting Ground
• Shusaku Uchiyama, Zhenlan Kang (Composers)
  • Shusaku Uchiyama: Mega Man 8: Anniversary Edition, Resident Evil – Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4 (2005)
  • Zhenlan Kang: Monster Hunter: World, Monster Hunter: World – Iceborne, Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash
• Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, Tsuyoshi Kanda (Producers)
  • Yoshiaki Hirabayashi: Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, Dragon’s Dogma, Resident Evil 4 (2023)
  • Tsuyoshi Kanda: Umbrella Corps, Resident Evil 7 – Resident Evil Village, Devil May Cry 5

Resident Evil 2 (2019) Experience

I’ve been familiar with the Resident Evil series since 2000, starting with Code: Veronica on the Dreamcast and going on to play nearly every entry in the franchise. The only exceptions are Outbreak File #2 and Survivor 2. I’ve completed Resident Evil 2 multiple times over the years, and this review marks my first return to the game since launch as the series approaches Resident Evil Requiem.

Resident Evil 2 (2019) Impressions

Introduction

Set between September 29 and September 30, Resident Evil 2 places you in Raccoon City through the perspectives of two characters. Leon S. Kennedy, a 21-year-old rookie cop on his first day, arrives expecting a quiet start to his career and instead walks into a full-scale zombie outbreak. Claire Redfield, a 19-year-old searching for her brother Chris, finds herself trapped in the same nightmare, eventually crossing paths with Leon as both struggle to survive.

Gameplay & Mechanics

Combat
The combat system adds several quality-of-life improvements from the RE Engine. Weapons can be quickly swapped using the D-pad, letting you adapt on the fly. Self-defense items return and can be mapped to four slots for instant access. The aiming crosshair tightens the longer you hold it, enabling critical shots, though it takes a moment to recenter after each shot. Weapons can be reloaded manually or set to auto-reload.

Map
The map displays visited and unvisited locations, helping you plan your approach through each area. Turquoise indicates all items have been collected (notes excluded), while red shows items remain.

Key Items
Key Items are another returning staple and range from pieces required to solve a puzzle such as fuse boxes, special keys, key cards, and more. Once a key item is no longer needed, you can discard it to free up inventory space.

Status & Healing
One of Resident Evil’s longstanding traditions is the status mechanic. Health is displayed in the pause menu on a scale from Fine to Danger: green for full health, yellow for caution, and red for critical danger, where the next hit could be fatal.

Puzzles
Puzzles are a core series mechanic in Resident Evil 2 (2019), ranging from fuse boxes to special keys. Solving them is necessary to advance the story, and most puzzles trigger an autosave.

Weapon Parts
Weapon parts are found throughout the game which increase the overall effectiveness of firearms from recoil dampening to increased damage. Part can be found for shotguns, pistols, magnums and more.

Item Box
Item Boxes let you store and retrieve items across areas. Your inventory starts with 8 slots, expandable up to 14 by finding hip pouches, which add 2 slots each.

Art & Audio

Resident Evil 2 shows a strong level of attention to detail, much of it driven by systems running under the hood. Leon and Claire visibly react to their surroundings, with clothing that becomes wetter or dirtier based on time spent in water or contaminated areas. Environments range from dimly lit hallways and burning streets to overgrown and heavily damaged spaces.

Lighting and sound design work together to create an unsettling atmosphere, with the breaker hallway standing out in particular. Sound cues also play a key role during exploration, especially inside the RPD, where Mr. X’s footsteps can be used to track his position and decide when it’s safe to leave rooms he cannot enter.

Standout tracks:

R.P.D. Main Hall Theme
Establishes tension from the first step into the station. Slow, ominous strings combined with subtle percussion create an atmosphere of unease and anticipation, emphasizing the scale and emptiness of the RPD while hinting at lurking dangers.

Mr.X (T-103) Theme
Minimalist and relentless, with pounding percussive elements and dissonant low strings that evoke the unstoppable, looming threat of the Tyrant. The track heightens anxiety during encounters, making every step feel urgent and dangerous.

Looming Dread (Hunk Theme)
Fast-paced and tense, blending electronic percussion with sharp staccato strings to underscore HUNK’s high-pressure stealth and escape sequences. The music conveys urgency, danger, and cold precision, reflecting his lethal and methodical nature.

Unique Features & Mechanics

Tyrant Pressure
Mr. X introduces a persistent threat rather than scripted encounters, roaming areas dynamically and responding to player noise. His presence reshapes navigation and forces moment-to-moment adaptation without removing player agency.

Knife Durability
The knife serves both as a standard weapon and a self-defense tool, but it is limited by durability. Once its meter is fully depleted, the knife becomes unusable. Additional knives can be found throughout the game, and an infinite-durability knife can be unlocked by destroying all Mr. Raccoon collectibles.

Adaptive Difficulty
Resident Evil 2 (2019) builds on the dynamic difficulty system first seen in Resident Evil 4. The game tracks your performance through a hidden Game Rank, which rises or falls based on how well you play, adjusting enemy durability, aggression, damage, and other combat variables to match your skill.

The Ghost Survivors
The main menu also includes a bonus mode with six additional scenarios, each offering its own unlockables. Among them is The 4th Survivor, which features HUNK and stands out as a fan favorite.

2nd Run
Replacing the 1998 A/B scenario structure, the 2019 remake adds 2nd Run, an arranged mode with altered item placement and puzzle solutions. It starts later in the story, offering a shorter, more intense experience that leads to the true final boss and ending.

Seiyuu Performances

The Japanese voice cast strikes a careful balance between realism and genre expectation. Leon’s inexperience is believable without comic relief, Claire conveys resolve without losing vulnerability, and Ada remains deliberately guarded. William Birkin’s transformation is convincingly voiced, and Marvin’s brief appearances leave an impression. Overall, the cast reinforces the game’s tone, supporting immersion without drawing attention.

• Toshiyuki Morikawa (Leon): Sephiroth (Final Fantasy), Kira (JoJos), Dante (Devil May Cry)
• Yūko Kaida (Claire Redfield): Sae Nijima (Persona 5), Sylvia Sherwood (Spy x Family), Aya (Onechanbara)
• Junko Minagawa (Ada Wong): Eliot (Dead or Alive), Cornelia li Britannia (Code Geass), Erica Anderson (Catherine)
• Fuminori Komatsu (Marvin): Jean Pierre Polnareff (JoJos)
• Toshihiko Seki (William Birkin): Kyosuke Ine (When They Cry), Scorpio Milo (Saint Seiya), Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing)

Resident Evil 2 (2019) Linux Performance

On Linux, the game initially suffered crashes and graphical glitches, fixed by switching to the DirectX 11 build (dx11_non-rt). With this setup, I completed Claire’s second run on Hardcore and several Ghost Survivors modes without stability issues. Running at 1440p with a mix of high and off settings, I averaged over 200 fps, with 1% lows around 189 fps, while leaving ray tracing and upscaling disabled.

Outside of Linux-specific workarounds, the PC version runs smoothly across hardware. Load times are short, frame pacing is stable, and visual clarity holds up, making repeat runs consistent and reliable.

Resident Evil 2 (2019) Review Verdict

Resident Evil 2 (2019) is a solid and competently executed reimagining, though it frequently leans toward modern convenience over the structural cohesion of its predecessor. Mechanically, it translates survival horror into a tight and responsive framework. The RE Engine lighting, spatial audio, and the RPD claustrophobic layout create genuine tension that peaks during the dynamic and high pressure pursuit of Mr. X.

Where the experience falters is in its departure from the original double feature identity. By replacing the sophisticated zapping system with a streamlined 2nd Run, the game loses the parallel narrative depth that made the 1998 release feel like two distinct and interconnected games. Instead, the 2019 structure feels more like a fast paced arranged mode. With heavy narrative overlap and minimal divergence between characters, repeat runs often feel like a hunt for efficiency rather than a revelatory look at the other side of the story.

This streamlining extends to the bestiary. While the zombies are masterfully realized, the reimagining trims the original creature feature variety to focus on a more grounded tone. The omission of the giant spiders, the moth boss, and nuisance threats like crows and cockroaches makes the world feel tighter but also mechanically narrower. Without these diverse threats to break up the loop, areas like the sewer section can become a slog. Systems like adaptive difficulty and knife durability also feel designed to designed to limit player mastery instead of rewarding it.

On its own, Resident Evil 2 (2019) is an atmospheric and polished horror title that succeeds as a modern shooter. However, when measured against the series best reworks, specifically the 2002 Resident Evil remake and the RE4 reimagining, it feels less confident in its restructuring. It is a very good game that narrowly misses greatness by trading the original sprawling ambition for a more focused but diminished scope.

Resident Evil 2 (2019) TLDR

Tested On
CPU: Ryzen 7 5900X | GPU: AMD RX 9070XT 16GB | RAM: 64GB DDR4 | Storage: Crucial P5 Plus NVMe SSD
OS: Nobara Linux | Resolution: 1440p | Settings: High/Custom | Framerate: Uncapped

Resident Evil 2 (2019) Review References

1. Giles, A. (2018). A Discussion With ‘Resident Evil 2’s’ Re-Creators. Variety. [Live | Archived]
2. Plante, C. (2018). How Capcom updated Resident Evil 2 for 2019. Polygon. [Live | Archived]
3. GameTrailers. (2018). Resident Evil 2 – General Audiences Trailer [Video]. YouTube.[Live | Archived]
4. R.P.D. Main Hall Theme Uchiyama, S., & Kang, Z. (2019). Resident Evil 2 Remake OST – R.P.D Main Hall Theme [Video]. YouTube. [Live | Archived]
5. Mr. X (T-103) Theme Uchiyama, S., & Kang, Z. (2019). Resident Evil 2 Remake OST – Mr. X (T-103) Theme [Video]. YouTube. [Live | Archived]
6. Looming Dread (Hunk Theme) CDJoriginal. (2019). Hunk theme | Looming Dread (Resident Evil 2/Biohazard RE:2 OST) [Video]. YouTube. [Live | Archived]