Resident Evil 2's remake stayed mostly true to the original game in terms of story, lore and details, but there are a few changes to the enemies which fans may not be aware of. In addition to some new enemy concepts that were scrapped from the final release of Resident Evil 2 Remake, there are also some old enemy types from the original game which were not included in the original.
Additionally, there was a major change to Resident Evil 2's Plant 43 villain in the Remake, which is worth noting here. In reviewing all the enemies that were removed or did not make it to the final cut of this game, perhaps there is a chance that some appear in the upcoming Resident Evil 3 Remake.
Condemned
Starting with the new enemy type that was cut from the game, and neither was it ever in the original, is the Condemned (above right). It is a humanoid enemy type, and its concept art can be unlocked within the game by finishing the Genius Chemist record, which is achieved by completing the puzzle in the Drug Testing Lab in a total of 9 moves in Leon or Claire's story.
Originally, the Condemned was to appear in the Orphanage portion of the game, possibly posing a threat to Sherry Birkin. It was scrapped, possibly because Capcom wanted to make Brian Irons the main threat to Sherry during this segment of the game.
The photo of the Condemned shows a humanoid of some sort wearing what looks to be a some sort of metal neck brace. In Resident Evil lore, given that the Orphanage was testing a T-Virus strain on children that would increase the odds of a human host accepting extreme mutations into Tyrants, it is possible the Condemned may have been one of these experiments that was only semi-successful; the host may have failed to transform into a Tyrant, but also did not die in the process either, which is often the case when trying to find a viable human host to become a Tyrant.
It also may be possible that the Condemned was a boy named Oliver, who is mentioned in Tom's Diary within the game, as one of the children at the Orphanage who was experimented on.
Licker Zombie
Also shown in the unlocked concept art (above left) is another enemy that never made it to the final cut of the game, known as the Licker Zombie. It looks like a humanoid version of the four-legged Licker, or a zombie with a Licker's head, and similarly clawed hands. Given that Lickers are mutant humans infected with a particular strain of the T-Virus which can only be obtained from an already-mutated Zombie (known as the V-ACT process), it is possible that the Licker Zombie would have been a Licker that did not fully mutate yet and was only in its early stages.
Another possibility is that it was a new type of Licker mutated from a zombie itself, rather than a human host. In other words, if a regular Licker is conceived from a live human host, the Licker Zombie may have been the result of converting, or applying the V-ACT process, on a zombie.
Wheelchair zombie
Finally, the concept art (above bottom) also shows some sort of mutated humanoid in a wheel chair wearing a lab coat. In the picture, the humanoid is wearing a lab coat, suggesting he was probably an Umbrella employee that had undergone experiments on himself, possibly. it also shows him pressing buttons on the remote control for his electric wheel chair, suggesting that he has retained some of his former intelligence.
Given the bubbly looking lesions on his skin and his intelligence intact, it is possible he may be infected with some strain of the G-Virus in an early stage of mutation, or in a more controlled state.
Giant Moth
There are also a few enemies that were in the original Resident Evil, but were not included in the Remake, such as the Giant Moth. In the original Resident Evil 2 game, the Giant Moth was encountered in the B5F computer room in Umbrella's underground Raccoon City facility.
The Giant Moth was created by Umbrella as a Bio Organic Weapon using the T-Virus, but was ultimately considered a failure because its weight and wingspan could not allow them to fly beyond a low-altitude hover above the ground.
Spiders
Another enemy from the original Resident Evil 2, which was left out of its remake, was the Giant Spider. In the case of Resident Evil 2, these were not actually experiments created by Umbrella, but the natural result of spiders that had been accidentally infected by the T-Virus when Dr. Birkin caused its release into the underground sewers. They could be found in the sewers below Raccoon City during the breakout.
There was also the Baby Spiders, considered one of the weakest of Resident Evil 2's enemies, as they can be killed merely by stepping on it.
Crows
The T-Virus infected crows were also not in the remake. In the original Resident Evil 2, crows looked like normal birds, albeit they were slightly larger in size and were aggressive towards the player. They became infected by the T-Virus by consuming other animals infected with it, such as insects or meat from corpses.
Plant 43 (Drastically Changed)
Finally, the original Plant 43 was not included in the Resident Evil 2 Remake, at least not in its original form. In the original game, Plant 43 was a humanoid-shaped plant-like creature about the size of a human, which attacks the player in the corridors of Umbrella's underground lab beneath Raccoon City.
In the remake of Resident Evil 2, this walking, moving, humanoid form of the creature was absent, and instead, Plant 43 was a giant genetically engineered plant in the east wing of Umbrella's NEST facility, but was dormant and did not actually attack the player. Instead, it infected corpses and zombies, creating human and plant hybrids called Ivy Zombies, which was a new enemy-type in Resident Evil 2 Remake.
In summary, Resident Evil 2 added some new enemies, such as the Ivy Zombies, made some drastic changes, such is the case of Plant 43, while some of the enemies in the original game were absent, including spiders, moths and crows. While there was some ambitions to include some drastically new enemies, as shown in the concept art, they never made it to the final cut. In the end, the remake of Resident Evil 2's zombies sticks very close to the familiar grounds of the original in terms of its choices of enemies and their overall design, functions, and lore.
Resident Evil 2 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
