Returning to Resident Evil in 2024

Long-time readers may be aware that my very first foray into the original Resident Evil occurred in 2019, with no prior experience. Playing through the game as Jill Valentine, I entered the Spencer Mansion and began to uncover what had gone wrong in the secretive research labs – from the deadly T-Virus to the mysterious Umbrella Corp., to deaths and betrayals within the STARS teams that were dispatched to Raccoon City. The ordeal oozed of mystery, shock, and yes, fear. The game was very much a delicious Saturn experience. I took my time with Jill, working through the adventure without the use of guides or walkthroughs, and without any real preconceptions, having kept myself shockingly ignorant of the Resident Evil phenomenon over the years since its 1996 (1997 on Saturn) release. Finishing the adventure was supremely satisfying, and I was quickly onto the excellent Deep Fear for my next hit of Saturn survival horror.

Fast forward to late 2024, and the time has come to tackle the second story in Resident Evil: Chris’ adventure through the mansion. Sufficient time had passed that I no longer remembered every single detail, item location, or floor layout in the game. Coupled with my ability to resist all things Evil on the internets, I was once again entering as a relative survival horror virgin.

First impressions on 2024’s playthrough were similar to what I experienced in 2019, although of course much of the excellent shock and jump-scare moments were no longer a true surprise. Most immediately, I was once again drawn in by the over-the-top, campy voice acting and ridiculous FMV scenes. The visuals, naturally, dripped pure mid-90s flair like honey, with gloriously low-poly models and relatively limited color palette use throughout. It may be a function of age, but the jaggy, messy look of early 3D looks awfully sexy to the tired rods and cones in the theater of my eye.

The use of subtle, ambient music remained excellent, from the tick-tock clock in the main dining room to Rebecca practicing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in the mansion. These moments of quiet reprieve serve to break up the game’s ongoing tension, and are a welcome design choice. Inventory management remained an issue, and with Chris only able to hold six items instead of Jill’s eight, was even more of a concern. Careful planning was required to navigate the mansion and make progress.

With Chris’ adventure serving as a ‘hard mode’ as compared to Jill’s trek, several gameplay tweaks that increased the overall challenge were implemented. Jill begins the game with a beretta handgun whereas Chris starts with only a combat knife, necessitating close quarter stabby-stabby, at least at the very beginning. Fortunately, Chris can handle a few more hits as compared to his partner. Where Jill received a lockpick to get at various cabinets containing valuable items, Chris must instead find Small Keys scattered across the compound. Jill would occasionally receive help from Barry, making it easier to obtain the shotgun, whereas Chris must do a bit of search and exploration before he can acquire the handy weapon. Rebecca, Chris’ in-game companion of sorts, isn’t nearly as active as the mysterious Barry was, at least in the first half of the game. Unlike the PlayStation original, the Saturn game also culminates with a double-Tyrant final boss in Chris’ adventure, whereas Jill has only one of the hideous mutants to dispatch. These additions made for a slightly more varied adventure to be sure – alternating between somewhat more nuanced puzzle solving and more hands-on combat.

I enjoyed a few advantages to Chris’ game, however. As mentioned, Chris can sustain a few more hits compared to Jill, making it a bit easier to rush into confrontations and not needing to worry quite as much about keeping distance and dodging attacks. Additionally, Rebecca, the youngest member of STARS Bravo team, is a skilled healer and can restore Chris’ health a couple of times if he pays her a visit in a storage-box room. Exclusive to the Saturn version, a sample of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing plays, should Chris require Rebecca’s services (jokes LOL tee hee).

Aside from that, It’s the Resident Evil experience that spawned a seemingly endless series of sequels and spin-offs. The puzzles are varied and well thought out. The game’s pacing is excellent, alternating between steady progression and moments where the story jolts forward. The various books, notes, and reports that can be found through the adventure add tantalizing bits of the game’s main narrative and accentuate the overall aura of mystery. The ‘security camera’ angles remain an excellent way to induce tension, as one never quite knows what to expect past each tight corner.

By now, everyone is well aware of the game’s pedigree, its numerous sequels and derivatives, and of course the excellent remake, yet I maintain that the Saturn adventure remains a worthy play, even in 2024. The visuals and controls may have aged compared to modern iterations, but the sad reality is that we, the gamers that were around when the game released, have aged as well, if perhaps a bit better than the zombies roaming the mansion. Replaying Saturn Resident Evil is all the same a hit of 90s nostalgia as it is a nod to early 3D gaming – after all, before 3D games could run, they had to crawl, often through jagged, pixelated landscapes. Just make sure you play with the lights down. Complete the 90s experience by tucking away cell phones and internet devices, and have a supply of hot pizza pockets and Mountain Dew at the ready. Resident Evil remains an excellent reason to switch your CRT over to channel 3 or 4, and fire up the Saturn to once again enter the world of survival horror.