[Game Review] Resident Evil Revelations

Resident Evil Revelations is a Survival Horror game set shortly after Resident Evil 4. The game follows anti-terrorism agent Jill Valentine and her partners as they try to stop a bio-terrorist organization from infesting the world's ocean with a virus.

The game originally released on Nintendo 3DS and received favorable reviews at the time. I played the remastered PC version, which I assume improved upon the game quite a bit. Resident Evil Revelations also features a Multi-player mode, but I only played the story mode which my review is based on.

Resident Evil Revelations is set mainly on a cruise ship called The Queen Zenobia, though some of the game's chapters take you elsewhere. The game combines action segments, exploration and puzzles to a healthy degree. No segment of the game outstays its welcome.

The game's initial objective, finding out where on the ship are Chris Redfield and his partner Jessica, soon evolved into an investigation of a great conspiracy regarding a disaster that happened one year before.

I loved the pacing of the game. The next objective is always clear, and despite the ship being massive, there are always hints to know if you're on the right track. The Queen Zenobia's layout is full of unique rooms. Throughout the game, more parts of the ship gets unlocked, yet it's never troublesome to navigate where you are.

I played Resident Evil Revelations on the Casual Mode, and I still found some challenge in it. I was never in need of more bullets, and until the end game, I always had more Healing Herbs than I needed. Still, I died multiple times in my play-through.

Most of my deaths were while fighting bosses. All of them mixed the gameplay up to some degree, and some of them had one-hit kill moves that weren't easy to avoid. When I learn the trick behind a boss, however, the battle becomes much easier, and it's always satisfying to win.

One part near the end of the game felt unfair. It wasn't even a boss! The room was flooded, and I couldn't get out. I kept dying by drowning more than a dozen times, until I realized I wasn't prepared enough. The room had a key item that must be used before the drowning cutscene. I think you're meant to die at least once before you figure that out...

I don't think Revelations is as scary as other Resident Evil games. Maybe I'm used to its style of horror, but I remember feeling creeped out in some scenes while playing Resident Evil 4... That didn't happen to me while playing this game.

That's not to say the story isn't impactful, though. Especially halfway through the game, and near the end. I found myself glued to the screen to see what happens next.

One scene left me very excited when I felt the game outplaying my expectations in one segment as I played as Chris Redfield and his partner.

The enemy variety of Resident Evil Revelations left something to be desired for me. The infected bio-weapons, (I'm not sure if I should call them zombies,) come in a few distinct types that are scattered through-out the game.

During a play-through, you'll fight hundreds of every single type of infected beings. One advantage of that, however, is that every enemy type has distinct shape, sound and way of movement. So much so, that as soon as you hear an enemy before you see them, you'll have an idea of which strategy you should use next.

Speaking of strategies, the game offers a surprising amounts of combat options. You could avoid most enemies attacks, and each characters has their own Melee weapon. The best offensive options are the many guns you have access to. You can equip up to three guns at a time, and you can customize them throughout the game, for better damage, capacity or firing and reloading speed!

I love how the game's story is structured. Information is given through the player through multiple characters perspective, and some of the chapter's even happen in the past, (during the outbreak one year ago.) I like Parker's personality, he's a mixture of a battle-hardened veteran with some funny lines. He makes a good partner to Jill, and a good foil to Raymond, one of the other characters you meet in the game.

Speaking of Raymond he's one of the characters that intrigued me the most during the game. Without spoiling, I kept alternating between thinking of him as an ally or foe, and even after finishing the game, I still have questions about him. Maybe they'll be answered in Revelations 2?

I think that's it for Resident Evil Revelations, though...

By the time I finished with the game, I clocked close to 8 hours of gameplay time. That doesn't include the times I reset after death. The pacing felt great, and each chapter finished on a compelling cliffhanger.

Despite loving the game and it massive potential for replayability, however, I don't see myself replaying it any time soon. That's mainly because of my backlog, but also because it'll be harder to play it on higher difficulties and I don't see a reason to play it on casual difficulty again.

I like Resident Evil Revelations better than the original Resident Evil trilogy of the PS1.

The game adds the perfect combination of quality of life additions while keeping the whole vibe of dread throughout. There were some clever puzzles that led me to question myself. I got lost only twice while playing this game. Watching Youtube walkthroughs helped me in those times.

Would love to play the next game in the Resident Evil Revelations series when I have the chance. For now, thank you for reading and which to see you in another article!

What do you think?

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