Two Classic Resident Evil Games Join PlayStation Plus This Month
You can’t beat the originals.
As much as games have changed since the original PlayStation, a handful of the era’s titles did so much to define their genres that it’s impossible to escape their influence today. Silent Hill and Resident Evil are foundational horror series, showing up both in intentional throwbacks like Heartworm and in games without such clear connections. Even though they’ve received recent remakes, the earliest Resident Evil titles are still worth revisiting in their original forms, and two are now available with PlayStation Plus.
This month, PlayStation Plus adds both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. While the former is by far the more beloved and influential, both are excellent, old-school survival horror games that still hold up alongside their newer counterparts.
Resident Evil 2 features different storylines for its two protagonists.
The original Resident Evil is a horror classic that confined the action to a single location, the Spencer Mansion. Resident Evil 2 took things much further, expanding to the entirety of Raccoon City, building out the story of the Umbrella Corporation’s role in the zombie outbreak, and setting the standard the series would be judged by for decades to come.
Like its predecessor, Resident Evil 2 has two protagonists to choose from, in this case Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Both have become iconic franchise mainstays, and unlike in the original Resident Evil, each protagonist has a separate storyline with branching paths. To get the full picture, you need to fight your way through Raccoon City twice.
Resident Evil 2 set the standard that survival horror games still aspire to.
As groundbreaking as Resident Evil was, one of the biggest surprises for contemporary Resident Evil 2 players was just how much it improved on its predecessor. While its tank controls were still a sticking point for some, it felt better to play and offered greatly improved puzzles and combat. But what made Resident Evil 2 a fondly remembered hit is its atmosphere. It’s tougher to pin down than the mechanical aspects, but the way Resident Evil 2 uses its environments to build tension and pull on your emotions set it apart from everything else on the original PlayStation, and still makes it an incredible experience.
Resident Evil 2 is so well-liked that while it received a full remake in 2019, complete with new gameplay systems and much more comfortable controls, the original version continues to be worth playing. It’s slower and clumsier, but it brilliantly uses what could be drawbacks to amplify its sense of horror.
Even after their recent remakes, Resident Evil 2 and 3 are still worth playing today.
Resident Evil 3 is seen as a lesser follow-up in both its original version and its remake, but only because Resident Evil 2 set the bar so high. The series’ survival horror staples remain intact, forcing players to carefully manage their items and pick their battles. At the same time, it feels like the first step toward modern Resident Evil’s more action-forward approach. New protagonist Jill Valentine is more nimble than earlier heroes, with the ability to dodge and quickly turn. Resident Evil 3 also introduced the Nemesis, a persistent enemy that follows Jill throughout the game, setting the template for similar foes like Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Survival horror has evolved a lot since the early Resident Evil games, but their influence is still clear. Horror games simply wouldn’t be the same without Resident Evil, and checking them out on PlayStation Plus will show you exactly why.
