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If you’ve played multiple entries in Capcom’s Resident Evil series, you’re bound to pick a favorite. Given how themes, characters, perspectives, and gameplay elements change from one installment to another, there’s a lot of choice there. I find myself always coming back to Resident Evil 3, be it the original or remake, because of the execution. It perfectly encapsulates terror while also allowing for a degree of action and recourse that makes me feel like an active agent in my own survival. (Even if I sometimes panic.)
As a quick refresher, Resident Evil 3 is the entry in which Jill Valentine is in Raccoon City as the T-virus hits. Given she is a former Raccoon Police Department’s Special Tactics and Rescue Service (STARS) member and managed to survive the original events of the first Resident Evil, you’d think she’d manage just fine. Except that’s not the case, due to the steadily-more-unsettling-and-determined Nemesis is hunting down all members of STARS and she ends up with the T-virus herself.
While I don’t like zombies or other mutated entities popping up in my face and hunting me down, I’ve found over the years that elements in horror games closer to actual real-life terrors sometimes affect and scare me more. As a result, the threat of being stalked by someone who is undaunted is a major fear, and the implementation of Nemesis in every version of Resident Evil 3 does this. Likewise, the idea of getting some sort of infection and not knowing if treatment is available or possible, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, makes the concept of a protagonist afflicted by a disease that she might not be able to do anything about equally scary. Stress is bad, but the execution of both elements feels like good sorts of stressors that enhance the experience. So even though other types of enemies might not scare or intimidate me in the same way anymore, adding those extra layers help.
I even appreciate the length of the Resident Evil 3 remake. If you’re really efficient and familiar with the campaign, it can be around five hours or maybe less. Yes, that’s less than the original. But I do find it makes it less daunting to return to. Like when the Switch 2 version came out, it felt like an exciting opportunity. (Especially after spending about 80 hours on Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave.) A game I enjoy, that makes me genuinely feel stress, pressure, and sometimes even shock after all this time, that I could tackle in an evening or two? It’s something I’ve come to welcome honestly.
Especially once you do unlock other the locked-off difficulties in the Resident Evil 3 remake. Nightmare’s hidden away until you clear Hardcore, and Inferno doesn’t show up until you prove you can survive Nightmare. Like I mentioned before, the shorter nature of the game actually makes the prospect of approaching the two hardest difficulty levels seem less daunting. Because yes, the enemies will be stronger and sturdier and items won’t be where I necessarily expected. But the fact that I know I won’t be trying to survive that for seven to ten hours makes me think maybe I could manage it.
Of course, nothing does top the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, which still stands tall on its own merits and holds up just as well due to Capcom’s design decisions there. The ability to influence the ending always impressed me there. At the same time, knowing those decisions mattered again added an element of tension that helped enhance the expeirence. Likewise, unlocking epilogues with The Mercenaries provided to be another motivating factor.
Both the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and more recent remake show how timeless and terrifying this entry can be in different ways. It’s truly a stand-out for the series. Plus the design decisions in each version ensure both still feel meaningful years after their release.
The Resident Evil 3 remake appears on the Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and iOS devices.
