Few franchises have had as strong a track record with remakes as Resident Evil. 2002’s Resident Evil remake set a high bar that remakes today are still struggling to reach. Resident Evil 2 (2019) did an excellent job at capturing the same fervor the original RE remake did while also crafting an identity for itself independent of the original Resident Evil 2. Needless to say, expectations were high for Resident Evil 3 (2020.)
The sequel to one of gaming’s greatest remakes, Resident Evil 3 (2020) isn’t quite the survival horror experience fans of the franchise were anticipating. While it’s a great game in its own right, whose reputation will likely increase with time just like its source game, Resident Evil 3 is the worst remake in the franchise by a mile.
10 Raccoon City Needs To Be Bigger
One of the best parts of the first two Resident Evil remakes was not just seeing classic video game settings modernized, but seeing them expanded upon. Both the Spencer Mansion and R.P.D. come out of their remakes bigger and better than ever. The same can’t exactly be said for Resident Evil 3’s Raccoon City streets.
While the area as a whole is very well designed and quite fun to explore & run from Nemesis in, the streets feel a bit too bare for their own good. It feels as though there should be one more major area Jill can go to, to really sell that she’s in an overrun city, but the upgrade here isn’t as impactful as in other remakes.
9 Nemesis Needs To Be More Aggressive
Nemesis in the original Resident Evil 3 isn’t actually as present as online discourse might suggest, but he’s a very intimidating presence and it’s hard to predict where exactly he’ll appear. For as infrequently as he ultimately appears, Nemesis does such a good job at playing stalker, you’d think Nemesis was following Jill all game.
It helps that PS1 Nemesis can be quite aggressive, too, much like RE2 remake’s Mr. X. Tragically, RE3 remake’s Nemesis doesn’t seem to take after either. While he can get insanely aggressive at close range, he won’t follow Jill into a key few areas, making it very easy to get around him.
8 Nemesis Needs To Be More Present
On top of Nemesis not being nearly aggressive enough (which is funny considering how aggressive he is during cutscenes,) he’s just not present enough. Once Jill’s done exploring the Raccoon City streets, that’s more or less it for Nemesis. His stalking phase only exists in earnest during the introductory area. After that, he’s basically Mr. X in Claire’s route: irrelevant.
At least gameplay wise. Nemesis will show up periodically over the course of the game, of course, but always during setpieces or boss fights that don’t require players to do much else other than focusing on Nemesis. Gone are the days of trying to lose Nemesis to solve puzzles.
7 Nemesis Needed Another Boss Fight
Nemesis is already a considerable disappointment for the most part, but at least his boss fights are both good and lengthy, really tapping into the best qualities of the Birkin battles present in Resident Evil 2 (2019.) As to be expected from a game that chronically under uses its selling point, it doesn’t feel like Jill fights Nemesis enough.
Not helping matters here is the fact that Jill confronts Nemesis so much during cutscenes. There are multiple instances where Nemesis is pursuing Jill that could and should have just been boss fights. Nemesis can use weapons, but the only boss fight that takes advantage of this is the flamethrower fight. A pity.
6 At Least One Area Between The Hospital And NEST 2
Resident Evil 3’s problem isn’t that it’s short, it’s that the remake lacks the scope that made the first two remakes so incredible. Resident Evil 2 (2002) only adds new areas, and Resident Evil 2 (2019) replaces its omissions with comparable setpieces that are far more involved level design wise. Both games are short, but they don’t feel it.
Resident Evil 3 (2002) unfortunately isn’t as graceful. While there are new areas and solid enough replacements, the game still ends up with less unique areas to explore than the original, giving the impression the remake is shorter when it’s really not. A single area between the Hospital and NEST 2 would’ve done the remake’s pacing wonders.
5 Clocktower DLC
The Clocktower is one of the highlights of Resident Evil 3, and arguably the game’s signature setting other than the hospital. It’s the Clocktower where Jill has her most climactic showdown with Nemesis, and the area itself is one of RE3’s better designed, featuring a good mix of enemies to fight and puzzles to solve.
Despite the remake referencing the Clocktower, Resident Evil 3 (2020) omits it entirely. Interestingly, there’s a significant chunk of time in RE3 where Carlos’ actions are unaccounted for. Hopefully Capcom sees the writing on the wall and develops DLC where Carlos gets to go to the Clocktower in Jill’s place.
4 Raccoon Park DLC
In the same way the remake needed not to cut out the Clocktower, Resident Evil 3 (2020) really had no right cutting out Raccoon Park. Resident Evil is a franchise that utilizes a lot of similar imagery and setpieces: mansions, underground labs, etc. While that’s all well and good, it makes the more unique set pieces stand out all the more.
Raccoon Park was an opportunity to see a novel part of Raccoon City fully overrun. The city is in shambles and Jill is making her way to the Dead Factory. It’s a nice way to ease into the end of the game. While there’s no time for Jill to go to the park, Carlos could on his way to the Clocktower. It could help flesh out any potential DLC.
3 Ink Ribbons
Resident Evil 2 (2019) continued an embracing of Resident Evil in its purest form that began with Resident Evil 7. Where the latter was a return to the franchise’s roots, tone, and themes, the former amplified the horror more than ever before while– something its Hardcore mode wore loud and proud. Ink Ribbons aren’t available in Standard, but they help make RE2 feel even more like the original.
Although the ranking system does still penalize saving over five times in a single playthrough, higher difficulties do not require Ink Ribbons for saving. Resident Evil 3 (2020) is a hard game on its higher difficulties, but being able to save at any of the game’s numerous typewriters whenever does kill the tension.
2 Multiple Epilogues
One of the ways in which the original Resident Evil 3 incentivized replay value was through the inclusion of multiple epilogues. Upon clearing the game a second time, rather than being greeted with Jill’s epilogue where she goes after Chris, players will instead see Chris’ epilogue, briefly detailing what he’s been up to since RE1.
Almost every major character in the series up to that point had an epilogue– Jill, Chris, Barry, Leon, Claire, Sherry, Ada, Hunk– but the remake notably omits these epilogues, instead always ending on the same scene. Frankly, it’s more than a little disappointing and removes a very charming fixture of the original RE3.
1 More Costumes
Resident Evil has always and consistently made use of costumes as unlockables throughout the franchise. The original Resident Evil 3 even stands out as the game with the single most amount of unlockable costume variants. It’s a charming part of RE3’s identity, and really helps give the game further replay value.
Unfortunately, Resident Evil 3 bizarrely has even more restraint than Resident Evil 2 (2019) did when it comes to costumes. Jill only has access to her action shooter protag clothes, a subtle redesign of her original RE3 outfit, and her S.T.A.R.S. uniform. Carlos doesn’t fare much better, only having access to his new shaggy locks and his old haircut.