Hideki Kamiya, director ofResident Evil 2and originator of such franchises asBayonettaandThe Wonderful 101, is no stranger to seeing his characters in the hands of other developers. Dante fromDevil May Cry,Amaterasu fromOkami, and of course, Leon and Claire from Racoon City are just a handful of his creations who have been taken in new directions without him.
It’s less often than he has one of his games recreated scene-for-scene, but that’s exactly what happened with theResident Evil 2remake.I asked him what he thought of the new game, and he said “There are some videos of me playing it somewhere, but you have to know that the director of theResident Evil 2remake is actually a friend of mine. We were coworkers, we used to go out drinking after work, so before the game was announced, he let me know of his intention to remake it. He asked if I have any recommendations or advice, and I told him ‘You’re the designer. It’s up to you.’ and that was the last time we talked about it before it was released.”
So, what did Kamiya think of it? “…after it was released, I was like ‘Holy Shit, this is really scary!'” he told me. “The next time I see him I’m going to ask ‘Can you make some DLC that’s a little less scary, with maybe some cute zombies or something like that? (laughs)”
If it was me that remade the game, I’d take that as a compliment. I’d buy that cute zombie DLC in a heartbeat.
Resident Evil 2is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
