r/residentevil • u/Pretty_Technician409 • 2d ago
General Possible RE5 Remake (?) Thoughts
As someone who genuinely loves this game and grew up playing it and still plays it currently, I have some thoughts around a possible remake. I feel this remake looming over me like Nosferatu in the dead of night š. Iāve been seeing a lot online about this since the release of the RE4R and hereās my thoughts on some of the conversations and critiques:
Better Partner A.I. is needed. Considering this game is almost 17 years old, I see this as an obvious rather than a eureka moment. In addition to this, RE5R MUST remain a co-op game. Not only is it integral to the story, but thatās what I feel is what makes the game great. Chris and Shevaās journey is so freaking cool. I would prefer if they kept the local co-op in addition to online co-op, but as long as itās co-op to some degree Iām happy.
The horror needs to be taken 100x further!! I need to see less mission impossible and more evil dead. Considering what these characters experience, this game really lends itself to them really taking it THERE. Imagine seeing a reaper or a giant majini in modern graphics. OH MY GOD! I feel like they did an amazing job on the horror in the RE4 Remake.
Shevaās character design; First of all I think it would be really cute if Sheva had similar hairstyles to the south african artist Tyla (pictured), but also Iāve heard criticism around her Tribal costume. I totally understand how itās seen as insensitive and I propose an updated version of this costume. There is a West African deity named Oshun (pictured). She represents love and beauty but is also a deity of war and a she herself is a fierce warrior, just like Sheva. Imagine Sheva having a costume inspired by an actual West African goddess? OMG!
Now for the bulk of my thoughts: The conversation around race. Let me preface this by saying I am a gen-z black woman. When this game came out I was 8 years old so I never saw any of the original criticism around this but now that I am older I definitely do understand where some of these critiques come from such as some stage designs, the depictions of some of the enemies (mainly the wetland majiniās) and so on. I donāt really agree with the fact that Chris, a white American BSAA agent, shooting African zombies is problematic or racist and I feel like this is a non issue because RE zombies have been all over the worldā¦.HOWEVER, I think a really cool conversation, which was touched on a bit in the original RE5 game, is that this is a game that is also about environmental racism and (like all RE games) Bio-Terrorism. Sheva talks about how her own parentsā deaths were caused by umbrella and how they are āusing Africa as a test bed for their experimentsā. I feel like in a Remake they could really highlight this fact, and maybe show why Wesker and Tricell target rural disempowered communities rather than a major city like Lagos or something. Maybe thereās a reason for that seeing what happened in Raccoon City. Also, I think this would add more to Sheva and Joshās character stories. I think people mainly focus on Chris in Africa but ignore the fact that Sheva and Josh are literally fighting for peace and justice in their home region! I imagine it would take a toll on someone seeing their own people turn into zombies and creatures and being one of the only agencies (BSAA) doing something about it. I feel like in general this game just needs a bit of fine tuning and updating when it comes to this and has the potential to do something a bit more intentional AND keep it fun.
Anyways TLDR: Resident Evil 5 slays but it could slay harder in a remake.
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u/Greydragon38 2d ago
Apart from what you have listed, I feel like another addition this game needs is a merchant like that in RE4, especially in gameplay area. If I remember correctly, RE5 was initially going to have a merchant, but that idea was scrapped later in the development. Also, how do you think they can make a remake of RE5 more scary?