The release of Capcom's highly-anticipate Resident Evil 3: Nemesis remake is fast-approaching, and players have already gotten confirmation on the return of several fan-favorite (and highly difficult) boss enemies in the game. Capcom admitted earlier that some battles and monsters were scrapped or reworked in the game's development process to make way for the new, but the notoriously deadly Grave Digger isn't one of them.
While other enemies in Resident Evil 3 could possibly rival Grave Digger in difficulty (for instance, Nemesis itself), that gigantic mutated worm is still one of the most iconic creatures, and fans were clamoring to know if it'd make it into the remake. So, in anticipation of the subterranean beast's updated Resident Evil 3 debut, let's take a look at the history of Grave Digger (and what that means for the Resident Evil 3 remake as well).
The Origin Story
The Resident Evil series is traditionally one that deals in monsters created through engineered diseases and other man-made biohazards, so naturally, the Grave Digger is the result of a sewer-dwelling arthropod's exposure to large amounts of the T-Virus infection. Born to the bowels of the Raccoon City sewer system, the Grave Digger is a colossal worm-like creature with rows of sharp teeth filling up its gaping maw. Canonically in Resident Evil 3, the Disposal Plant P-12A began disposing of T-Virus test subjects from the underground Umbrella Corp laboratory, NEST, thereby inciting the exposure that created Grave Digger. While the plant was supposed to incinerate samples, it became too much for them to handle.
In that respect, unlike other monsters in the Resident Evil series and RE3 specifically, Grave Digger wasn't an intentional bio-weapon created by the Umbrella Corp, but rather the accidental result of Umbrella Corp's negligence. They're not the only bio-hazard accidents that resulted from the T-Virus dumps, either; the soil underground as a whole was contaminated, thus creating Giant Spiders, Grave Diggers, and more in the sewers underneath Raccoon City. And yes, it's "Grave Diggers," plural: there are at least two Grave Digger worms in existence in the original Resident Evil 3 game that players can encounter.
As of right now, it's unclear if there'll be the same number of Grave Diggers in the RE3 remake, or perhaps even more. Clearly, any number of arthropods could potentially be exposed to the T-Virus.
Appearances in Resident Evil 3
As mentioned above, there are two Grave Diggers in the original Resident Evil 3: a white one in the Raccoon City Sewers, and a brown one later on encountered in the Raccoon City park. Jill Valentine, the main heroine of RE3, is the one who encounters both irregular mutants. When the ground subsides, landing her in the sewers, Jill finds herself in its path--and the entire sequence is one players of the original should remember well since Jill is more or less chased through the sewers by the monster, in true survival-horror game style.
Then, later, the brown Grave Digger appears after having sought out a source of food and found it in the buried corpses (mixed with a few zombies that were buried alive) in the Raccoon City park's cemetery. This is the one that Jill Valentine needs to obliterate in spectacular fashion, made more difficult since the worm's attempts to dig up every coffin in the graveyard led to the ground collapsing.
Grave Digger Strategy
Most Resident Evil 3 players find killing the Grave Digger to be a pretty big and difficult task; while the gameplay might change in the remake, it's hard to imagine that Grave Digger-slaying strategy will evolve too much. In the original RE3, it's highly recommended that players grab the grenade launcher weapon beforehand, in addition to an excess of acid rounds--which Grave Diggers are particularly vulnerable to. Alternatively, it's actually also possible to kill the Grave Digger using lampposts alone, since pushing them into the water generates an electrical charge that kills the creature and allows Jill to save a little ammo.
Of course, lampposts may not be present in the remake, but it's not unusual for the environments around a boss battle to contain elements that can be optionally used to help the fight regardless of confirmed returning features. The Grave Digger has three main styles of attack: a bite at the player as it is partially surfaced, a charge attack while tunneling underground and an attack with chunks of debris that are tossed upon surfacing. "Make sure to dodge the bite" seems like a pretty obvious and unnecessary piece of advice, but in this case, the extra emphasis is warranted. The most important thing to remember about Grave Digger battles is the strength of the monstrous worm's bite: one single chomp wipes out 30% of Jill's health, and it's the most powerful attack in the whole game.
If nothing else, aim for the mouth. Launch enough grenades into that Grave Digger's mouth, and the worm is history.
In the Remake
Not only have Grave Diggers themselves been confirmed for the remake, but so have their creepy offspring, the sliding worms. For those newcomers who might not know, Grave Diggers do more than just haunt the sewers: they also lay eggs there, and those eggs quickly hatch into sliding worms. They're about a meter long and blind, though they've got fangs to make up for that deficiency; sliding worms are capable of leaping toward the player if sensed, and latching onto them like a giant leech. Also, if left to live, they'll grow into full Grave Diggers, so naturally, it's best to nip that problem in the bud and wipe out nests of sliding worms where possible.
Among the other confirmed returning monsters for Resident Evil 3 are zombies, hunter betas, and giant spiders. Others, like the crows, haven't been fully confirmed but are looking like they'll make a return. Ultimately, what Capcom and Resident Evil 3 does with all these monsters--and Grave Diggers especially--will become clear when the game makes its debut in less than a month.
Resident Evil 3 is scheduled to release on April 3, 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
