Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode Two Impressions
Posted by Curtis H on March 5th, 2015 | 0 Comments | Tags: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode Two is both longer and better than the first episode. A good portion of the episode features some fantastic atmosphere and even ends on one of the more unsettling locations I’ve seen in Resident Evil. The promise that episode one showed last week continues to shine with this new episode and I can only see things getting better from here.
Claire and Moira’s campaign this time around sees them meeting up with a couple surviving members of TerraSave who were also kidnapped. There’s a brief segment in which you’ll need to explore an abandoned village before heading off in the direction of a tower in the center of the island. (It’s believed that the woman talking to you is somewhere within the tower.) Most of their campaign takes place at night and sets up for a stronger horror vibe than the first episode. The areas you’ll explore are dark, there’s a lot of horrific imagery on display, some pretty good scares, and a tense boss fight to wrap things up on Claire’s side. It’s probably also worth mentioning that the village section at the intro gave me strong RE4 vibes. Specifically walking around a seemingly abandoned village complete with the lingering feeling that something is not right.
Barry and Natalia’s campaign opens up in the woods before leading you through the village from before and ultimately through a slightly different pathway through to the tower. Natalia’s ability to spot enemies comes in handy with a brand new type of enemy that is invisible to the naked eye. Natalia can spot the aura that the enemy gives off, point out where the enemy is, and Barry can then unload some rounds into it. Barry’s campaign continues to be the strong point in Episode 2, but I think that’s mostly because you get to see the aftermath of Claire/Moira. There continues to be some pretty interesting side effects depending on things that happen with Claire/Moira that makes for repeat playthroughs to be much more interesting. This time around there’s a boss fight that you can potentially skip on Barry’s side that completely changes when you’ll get a certain item. In this respect I’m reminded fondly of earlier Resident Evil games.
In discussing the Episode Two cliffhanger I’ll be as vague as I possibly can. The area itself that Barry and Natalia come to is easily one of the single most unsettling locations I can think of in a Resident Evil game. I was actually kind of surprise to see that kind of imagery all things considered. The ending itself feels like the kind of thing that could potentially have much larger implications. It’s hard to tell where things are headed, but considering what happens I can’t help but wonder what other major plot points are yet to be revealed. Episode One ended with a pretty crazy reveal that serves as a really good jumping off point for the season. Episode Two makes for some very fun speculation, especially for long time fans of the series.
In between the growing pile of new releases I’m also still having fun with Raid Mode. I’m a little upset with the issues I’m experiencing with the Throwback Map Pack, (which I talk about on this week’s podcast) but the mode itself is still proving to just be fun. I’m looking forward to digging more into the new Raid content from Episode Two and hopefully we’ll get to see some more non-RE6 maps.
At any rate Episode Three is looking good and more importantly Revelations 2 is shaping up to be a legitimately great Resident Evil game. If the quality stays at this level then I can’t wait to see where things go from here.
You can read my thoughts on Episode One right here.