Resident Evil 2

25+ year veteran with this game here, and a handful of versions owned over time. Got this port today and did a quick A-Rank run of Claire's scenario before writing this. Bottom line, it's fantastic. This version is fast-loading and I love it. You can skip the "load screens" of doors with a button tap, and frankly, I don't miss it. Especially when I'm in a speedrunner mood, this keeps the pace. And if you feel nostalgic, then let them open. This also means camera angles change quicker. Long-time players will know what I'm talking about when I describe the "tap tap (pause) tap tap" rhythm of your footsteps as you traverse screens. That millisecond pause in your steps is gone now. You move far more fluidly and that actually helped me dodge enemies better in difficult perspectives. Visuals look amazing, sound is far clearer than retro ports I'm used to, and playing this in widescreen may be a point of no return. With an Xbox controller I'm sticking to a setup most akin to PS1, but I appreciate being able to map buttons. Personally I'm playing this on laptop thru HDMI to a 60' TV and it looks great. Now, I did have to set a couple changes in my case. When tinkering with display options on the launch menu, I found *Aspect ratio detection: Disabled* helped a lot when moving between displays (laptop vs TV, etc) and resolved some FMV framerate issues, without having to toy with the Windows screen hertz settings. That said, a couple FMV framerate issues persisted in 2 places: the first Licker encounter and the platform car descent sequence. The rest played fine. Not sure why those 2 had a hard time. I'm not sure yet if that was my system (though no other tasks/apps were running) or the software needing a patch, because playing clips from the "Gallery" main menu did not replicate the issue. No issues otherwise, in terms of controller sync or save file management, as I've seen others mention. For me, this is the new main version I'll prefer moving forward.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the release of RE2 on GOG. It makes the SOURCENEXT port obsolete for me, and now I have an out-of-the-box version to play anytime. Thank you, GOG and Capcom

One of the best games ever. I love the fact everymode is unlocked right from the start.

Similar to the old RE, I almost feel it's 1998 all over again!

Resident Evil 2 was my first introduction to the series, I played it via the N64 version as a kid, thanks to the feat of ungodly amounts of compression Angel Studios was able to pull off, along with getting FMVs working on N64. As a kid, this game scared the bejeezus out of me, but now as an adult, and after replaying it a hundred times, the fear factor is quaint, but the atmosphere is still immersive as ever, between the lovingly pre-rendered backgrounds (which were a huge upgrade from RE1's fullbright, cartoonish looking screens) and the excellent and atmospheric soundtrack. I say "Arguably the best classic RE" because RE3 does have some things I like over 2, such as certain groups of enemies and items being randomized, keeping you on your toes, and the game's atmosphere not being far behind RE2, if not better in some areas. And Resident Evil Remake just being... borderline perfect. But there's still something very special about Resident Evil 2, there's just something about ghetto backalley streets, a retrofitted police station turned museum, and people flushing giant alligators down their toilets that really captivates me. Resident Evil 2 is an excellent starting point for those looking to jump into the classic RE games, as it's the easiest, and most straightforward of the classic RE games, even on normal difficulty. One of the cool things that RE2 does, that no other game in the series did, was it's B scenarios, which were somewhat harder, remixed versions of the A scenarios with more story and areas to explore, and you could even affect the B scenario in several different ways depending on what you did in A scenario.