The dust has finally started to settle on Capcom’s long-awaited remake of Resident Evil 3, giving longtime fans necessary time to reflect on the overall experience. Echoing the majority of impressions shared by critics, the general consensus seems to be that this year’s reimagined survival horror, while a solid entry, never quite manages to reach the same level of excellence as its predecessor.
Hangups range from Jill’s adventure being considerably more linear to that of Leon and Claire’s to criticisms concerning campaign length and the game’s big bad, Nemesis, being underutilized. Chief among the complaints, however, is the view that Resident Evil 3‘s default difficulty settings simply aren’t challenging enough. Even on Hardcore – the setting that yours truly used for their first run – the player is inundated with more ammo than it’s possible to use, with save points (both manual and automatic) far too frequent.
A bizarre approach to balancing, to say the least, but hardcore audiences needn’t worry. Two additional difficulty modes can be unlocked in the threequel’s post-game by meeting various prerequisites and promise to provide the hair-pulling nightmare one would expect of a Resident Evil title. See below for all the necessary details:
 Nightmare Mode
- Unlocked by completing the game on Hardcore difficulty.
- Enemies behave more aggressively.
- Enemy attacks are much stronger.
- Enemies and items appear in different locations.
Inferno Mode
- Unlocked by completing the game on Nightmare difficulty.
- Enemies are even stronger than in Nightmare Mode.
- Fewer Typewriters and Item Boxes can be found.
- Autosave is disabled.
Somewhat of saving grace, then, though it begs the question of why Capcom seemingly decided to tone down the default difficulty this time around in comparison to last year’s remake. Regardless, prove your prowess against the undead horde in both modes and you’ll be rewarded generously with points used to unlock various bonus items and weapons.
As for those still making their first escape from Raccoon City, you can our handy guide to fighting Nemesis as well as how to obtain the all-powerful Magnum in Resident Evil 3 by hitting the respective links. Good luck!
