Currently on chapter 3. The game feels significantly tougher and quite humbling given how good I considered myself at the original. I'm still getting used to it and even as someone extremely familiar with the original, there's a lot of new and remixed stuff here that's throwing me for a loop as well. Though, I can definitely see how some of the challenge might be reduced on subsequent playthroughs, especially after unlocks and new game plus.
But it is pretty crazy looking at my inventory and seeing how low my ammo is across the board, which highlights just how much more gunplay is important to combat this time around. Though, I will say, I haven't exactly felt like I've been babysitting my ammo either like I do in other Resident Evil games due to the absolute necessity of running and gunning for survival.
I don't even feel like I have time to check what I'm grabbing sometimes because the enemies are just that relentless, and only when the fight is over and I can check my inventory do I see all the new stuff I've picked up and am surprisingly left with some ammo. Which is a far cry from the original game that would require me to constantly pull up the inventory screen and micro manage everything I have at all times while my ammo just keeps on steadily increasing.
I haven't crafted any yet either, so it's good to know I have something on reserve. This could easily change at some point in the game, I don't know. But so far, I like how they've balanced ammo drops with ammo crafting in mind. It makes crafting ammo feel like that much more of a necessity compared to previous games. Especially since there's no real way to hoard it, since you can't put it away in storage or have it be infinitely increased like in Village. You're actually forced to carry it in your inventory and will need to craft to make room.
The game is still pretty linear so far, but there's stuff you'll constantly find you have to come back to like locked drawers that you need small keys to open like in the original Resident Evil. While it definitely adds a new layer to the experience, I don't think the game necessarily feels more open because of it. Maybe I'm not far enough to see how the level design opens up more, which was the number 1 thing I was really hoping for, but I do appreciate all the new layers to progression that certainly make this feel more Resident Evil-like than the original.
Every location, for example, feels segmented off and requires some sort of puzzle or key to get through and the way you navigate through certain areas has been completely reworked, along with their encounters, making for a much richer gameplay experience as opposed to the shooting gallery-like nature of the original. I've also experienced like 3 jumpscares that weren't present in the original game, especially the one in the opening village fight that landed quite well for me as it didn't trigger until the fight was over.
I do however have a huge gripe with this game that I haven't really seen anyone talk about, except for one review by Sphere Hunter which made note of a boss fight that was glitched and unkillable in chapter 12 that required her to sell all her inventory to buy a rocket launcher to force an insta-kill. I experienced something similar, but not with a boss fight. At the end of chapter 2, you have to solve a puzzle and no matter what, the solution just wouldn't trigger for me. After fiddling around for so long thinking I was doing something wrong, I decided to restart my checkpoint and it unlocked immediately without having to be too precise.
I know they released a day one patch to fix the rain, but it honestly seems like there's some more serious bugs they need to take care of ASAP and I haven't really seen many people address stuff like this.
But it is pretty crazy looking at my inventory and seeing how low my ammo is across the board, which highlights just how much more gunplay is important to combat this time around. Though, I will say, I haven't exactly felt like I've been babysitting my ammo either like I do in other Resident Evil games due to the absolute necessity of running and gunning for survival.
I don't even feel like I have time to check what I'm grabbing sometimes because the enemies are just that relentless, and only when the fight is over and I can check my inventory do I see all the new stuff I've picked up and am surprisingly left with some ammo. Which is a far cry from the original game that would require me to constantly pull up the inventory screen and micro manage everything I have at all times while my ammo just keeps on steadily increasing.
I haven't crafted any yet either, so it's good to know I have something on reserve. This could easily change at some point in the game, I don't know. But so far, I like how they've balanced ammo drops with ammo crafting in mind. It makes crafting ammo feel like that much more of a necessity compared to previous games. Especially since there's no real way to hoard it, since you can't put it away in storage or have it be infinitely increased like in Village. You're actually forced to carry it in your inventory and will need to craft to make room.
The game is still pretty linear so far, but there's stuff you'll constantly find you have to come back to like locked drawers that you need small keys to open like in the original Resident Evil. While it definitely adds a new layer to the experience, I don't think the game necessarily feels more open because of it. Maybe I'm not far enough to see how the level design opens up more, which was the number 1 thing I was really hoping for, but I do appreciate all the new layers to progression that certainly make this feel more Resident Evil-like than the original.
Every location, for example, feels segmented off and requires some sort of puzzle or key to get through and the way you navigate through certain areas has been completely reworked, along with their encounters, making for a much richer gameplay experience as opposed to the shooting gallery-like nature of the original. I've also experienced like 3 jumpscares that weren't present in the original game, especially the one in the opening village fight that landed quite well for me as it didn't trigger until the fight was over.
I do however have a huge gripe with this game that I haven't really seen anyone talk about, except for one review by Sphere Hunter which made note of a boss fight that was glitched and unkillable in chapter 12 that required her to sell all her inventory to buy a rocket launcher to force an insta-kill. I experienced something similar, but not with a boss fight. At the end of chapter 2, you have to solve a puzzle and no matter what, the solution just wouldn't trigger for me. After fiddling around for so long thinking I was doing something wrong, I decided to restart my checkpoint and it unlocked immediately without having to be too precise.
I know they released a day one patch to fix the rain, but it honestly seems like there's some more serious bugs they need to take care of ASAP and I haven't really seen many people address stuff like this.