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‘Resident Evil 2’ Remake Producers Talk Game Difficulty, Music
We’re all hungry for more news on the Resident Evil 2 Remake, and in an interview with VG247, producers Yoshiaki Hirabayashi and Tsuyoshi Kanda dished out a few tidbits on the game, which is due out next year on January 25th for PC, Xbox One and PS4 (in case you didn’t already have that circled on your calendar).
For starters, the game will be using an adaptive difficulty system that’s been a series staple since Resident Evil 4. “In terms of the standard difficulty, it does adjust based on player performance,” says Hirabayashi. “I’d like to believe that you were doing really well and so the difficulty ramped up even more. [laughs] But we have it tuned so that no matter how well you’re doing, there’s always going to be that sense of dread and tension there.”
Kanda also chimed in to say that with the return of the ink ribbons, on the higher difficulty “we do have the ink ribbons with a limited number of uses for those who really want a true challenge”.
As far as the tension, and how when compared to Resident Evil VII where you had that sense of power buildup by the end of the game that changed the tone for some players, Hirabayashi stated that “the Resident Evil franchise is all about overcoming your stress, gaining that satisfaction of overcoming obstacles.” Hirabayashi says to not worry, as “there’s definitely those moments where players will feel empowered and satisfied by overcoming huge challenges. But also, we’re definitely trying to keep that tension curve so you won’t ever feel completely safe; we’re very aware of that.”
With regards to the game’s music (which if you pre-order the game, you’re given the option to switch to the original 1998 soundtrack), Kanda said that because of Resident Evil VII‘s first-person gameplay, the team paid more attention to the types of sounds you hear, and the immension factor, in lieu of the music. With the RE2 remake, because this is a third-person camera, “we’re not incorporating the exact same techniques, but what we’re doing this time around is we’re trying to focus a lot on combat with zombies. Around that, we’re doing whatever we can to make sure the audio elements really enhance that tension and immersion with those elements that we’re trying to stress in RE2.”
And yes, since it only makes sense with the pre-order option, original composer Shusaku Uchiyama is back to score the game, with “his vision of what the audio should be for RE2.”
January is so far away.
All of us here at Bloody Disgusting are deeply saddened to learn that George A. Romero Foundation Founder and President Suzanne Desrocher-Romero has passed away.
GARF shared in a statement on socials, “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Suzanne Desrocher Romero. Suzanne passed away of natural causes on June 24 at her home in Toronto after a prolonged illness.”
The statement continues, “Suzanne was the fierce leader of the George A. Romero Estate and The George A. Romero Foundation. She worked tirelessly to preserve George’s legacy. Her work at the foundation will continue to inspire and live on for generations to come. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Desrocher-Romero founded GARF in 2018, after her late husband’s passing in 2017, and has been a fierce advocate for his legacy and the arts. It was her mission to “strengthen horror as a serious field of global study,” and she was a tremendous fighter on behalf of Romero’s works and supporting new filmmakers inspired by his legacy.
It was Desrocher-Romero who spearheaded the recovery and restoration of The Amusement Park, and, as the person in charge of the George A. Romero estate, worked closely with author Daniel Kraus on completing unfinished novels like Pay the Piper and The Living Dead. She most recently celebrated the restoration of her favorite of Romero’s zombie films, Day of the Dead, and was hard at work producing the upcoming film Twilight of the Dead.
That passionate advocacy led to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero becoming family to Bloody Disgusting as well.
2023 marked the start of an ongoing partnership between Bloody FM and GARF on The Dead, a scripted audio series spanning multiple seasons that saw Desrocher-Romero working closely with the Bloody FM team and mentoring the series’s contributing writers with GARF. To say her loss will be felt internally is an understatement.
“Anytime George Romero is mentioned is good, because what we are doing is to provide a healthy legacy. We’re uplifting his legacy, we’re supporting the archive, and we’re also supporting the Horror Study Center. So, all of these three things are what the Foundation is striving to do. As far as I’m concerned, the more we say George Romero’s name, the better it is,” Desrocher-Romero recently told BD.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of her unwavering enthusiasm for supporting Romero’s legacy and the horror genre, and just a glimpse at how much she contributed to preserving it. She is, in short, an inspiration.
We send our deepest condolences to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero’s family, friends, and GARF.
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