The Resident Evil 2 remake was one of the most popular games shown off at this year's E3, much to the surprise of the development team themselves. Fan expectations are high and Capcom hopes to be able to meet, or even exceed those expectations. However, bringing a game back from the '90s is difficult, and the polygonal designs of certain characters had to be changed, or in some cases completely redesigned, to better suit the remake.

Speaking in an interview, Game Director Kazunori Kadoi, Team Director Yasuhiro Ampo, and Game Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi detailed how they went about redesigning both Leon and Claire, Resident Evil 2's main protagonists, as well as a few other characters. To start, they decided that they would want the characters' equipment to be realistic in size and utility - too big and the zombies would no longer seem to be a threat, too small and surviving the apocalypse would prove to be too difficult.

As for the characters themselves, Leon's face was scanned in from his voice actor while his body is modeled after a western Capcom employee with a more desirable shape. His hair was also a tad bit tricky. Had Capcom used the same hair as the original version, the face would've seemed incompatible. Instead, Capcom opted to model the hair after Leon's Resident Evil 4 look to create a more natural appearance. Leon's updated in-game model is actually the same as the collector's edition statue, though the statue has been tweaked a bit by one of Capcom's artists.

Claire, on the other hand, was a bit more challenging. The development team also opted to use the actress' face with a different body, but ran into a few more challenges when it came to designing her outfit. The team tried to go with the original outfit first, but encountered difficulties with its design. Instead, the team decided to modernize the ensemble but keep the iconic red color of her design. The team also said that it was kind of a biker look, though still more feminine than the original design.

Sherry and Ada were also given redesigns, though Sherry's was simply to make her look a bit older and the team isn't quite ready to speak about Ada yet.

Resident Evil 2 Remake still takes place in 1998, so the team was careful to make the accessories and minor details as accurate as possible, all the way down to the selection of grunge music that was popular at the time. It's a nice touch that will, hopefully, help it live up to fan expectations. Gamers that happen to be in Japan for the Tokyo Game Show will have the opportunity to get their hands on the game, and even venture outside the police station to face the undead horde.

Resident Evil 2 Remake will release on January 25, 2019.

Source: Dualshockers