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Early Resident Evil is one of horror video gaming’s greatest successes. Atmospheric, terrifying, and a fear of the unknown... It hit hard, even in its early polygon-filled form and produced the scariest geometric abominations seems at the time. Of course, time moves on as does technology. Nowadays the early Resident Evil games look laughable while their modern counterparts are realistically horrifying. Luckily for us fear seeking fans, CAPCOM announced a remake of Resident Evil 2, and the world rejoiced. But then something weird happened.
SteamForged Games announced a Resident Evil 2 board game, including both A and B sides of the game and every grotesque happening. And to a lot of people’s surprise, it was a tremendously atmospheric and scary game. It’s a game I still thoroughly enjoy and one that hit the nostalgia where it needed to. So, following the coincidental link between the release of the Resident Evil 2 Remake video game and Resident Evil 2 The Board Game (RE2), you’d think there would be eyebrows raised when CAPCOM announced a Resident Evil 3 Remake. Surely it couldn’t happen a second time, could it? It can.
The Story
What’s important to note about Resident Evil 3 is its fantastic plot. It takes place at the same time as Resident Evil 2. You play as Jill Valentine, a member of the S.T.A.R.S. team who partook in the original Resident Evil. You’re trying to escape the damned Raccoon City following the appearance of zombies and monsters. Throughout the original video game you have a hulking behemoth hunting you down as you escape Raccoon City. The monstrosity is smart and adapts appropriately to best annihilate its prey. All the time you’re on the run, it only mutters one phrase, it’s target: Stars. This beastie is of course the infamous Nemesis, a remorseless tower of punishment. He appeared whenever he fancied and was the games central antagonist with only one goal. He never stopped to monologue or gloat, only to take your head.
The Transition from Video to Board
SteamForged did a stupendously good job with RE2’s board game counterpart. It was cooperative, tense, and difficult. What’s more is how many variations it incorporated and allowed for - you could run the scenarios as intended or throw in any number of inanities. So how is Resident Evil 3’s board game transition going to be different? Well, from what SteamForged have revealed, Nemesis can very well turn up when he wants. And he turn up, and he will have no concept of personal space. His only objective is to turn your characters into mince meat, and from the look of it, he’s going to do just that.
Its interesting as to how much detail has been put into the theme of this one too, as it incorporates the classic options available to players. Nemesis is a near insurmountable being who’ll come back whether he’s defeated or not. But players always had the choice to just run, and once again they can do just that... but not without consequence. SteamForged have included penalty system too whereby the city of Raccoon City falls further from grace as time goes on. The City Danger Level determines how bad things are and how things are going to unfold. Enemies become more unruly, more hazardous things may be encountered, and worse yet... Nemesis may become stronger.
Why We’re Excited
Survival Horror is a theme that’s either done excellently or poorly. The line between comically running from a pack of zombies saying “brains” and sprinting for survival from bloodthirsty and unrelenting beasts is a fine one. Resident Evil 3 did this excellently by presenting you with a foe you didn’t feel you could defeat or escape. The feeling of hopelessness was presented well and everyone was put on edge.
SteamForged made us feel hopeless and against the wire in Resident Evil 2 The Board Game, particularly in the B-Files expansion, where it was like a game of cat and mouse whilst escaping. It was that feeling of impending doom that we loved and thrives on. Now we feel Resident Evil 3 The Board Game is going to be a big game of cat and mouse, too. However, the cat is indestructible and unstoppable... and sometimes has a rocket launcher. It is going to be tricky to manage, so it’s a good thing the games cooperative! It’s going to get intense! Keep an eye out for the Kickstarter on the 28th April!