Capcom’s really knocked it out of the park with the Resident Evil 2 remake. Ever since the GameCube remake of the original Resident Evil, fans have been crying out for the sequel, widely considered a franchise high point, to get a similar treatment.
Well, it took them 17 years to get around to it, but it’s safe to say that every single fan of classic survival horror is over the moon with the finished product. And now, as if to pop a cherry on top of their delicious cake, free DLC titled The Ghost Survivors became available as of today.
It includes three side stories fleshing out minor characters from the main game. First up is No Time To Mourn, in which you play gun shop owner Robert Kendo, and following that we’ve got Runaway, which follows the mayor’s daughter Katherine, and Forgotten Soldier, which is about a new character named Ghost who must escape through a huge array of even tougher than usual zombies.
Players have already had a few hours to get to grips with these stories, and according to comments on the Resident Evil subreddit, they’re going down a treat. Perhaps the only disappointing factor is that very experienced folks who’ve cleared the main game can get through each of them in about ten minutes, but apparently, they seem custom made for speed-running the map while tackling the remixed enemies and mechanics.
Even better, they confirm that once you clear them all you unlock a special bonus mode called No Way Out, in which you play as the Sheriff from the beginning of the game. This comes with a five-star difficulty rating and is described as a “last stand scenario.”
The way I play Resident Evil, most encounters turn into last stand scenarios anyways, so that’s fine by me. In an age of nickel-and-diming microtransactions though, it’s really nice to see Capcom releasing this one for free when they easily could have charged for it and you can bet I’ll be checking it out.