The excitement for the remake of Resident Evil 3 is at an all time high as the first trailer was finally released on today's State of Play livestream, confirming an April 3, 2020 release date on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. There are some key takeaways fans can gather from the trailer and everything that has been revealed today, which may clue us in to what changes, insights, and additions the storyline of Resident Evil 3's remake could entail.
The main takeaway fans can gather from the Resident Evil 3 trailer is that there is clearly more insight into Raccoon City's slow simmering that eventually brings it to a complete collapse over a few days. In the original game, the introduction and beginning parts of the game did not provide much footage of the way in which Raccoon City slowly melted into oblivion.
While the trailer does not confirm that the gameplay within the game will take place at an earlier date, the clues do point to a more in-depth introduction giving us insight into the city's descent to chaos. As far as important dates are concerned, the gameplay in the original Resident Evil 3 began when Jill Valentine left her apartment on September 28, 1998, a day before Resident Evil 2's events begin. By September 28, the city was already in desolate ruins, overrun with hordes of zombies and had become lawless.
It is important to recall that in Resident Evil 2, the outbreak actually started a few days earlier, on September 23, when Dr. William Birkin infected himself with the G-Virus and contaminated Raccoon City's sewers and water supply with the T-Virus.
In the extended gameplay and footage that Resident Evil 3's producers released after the trailer, citizens can be observed running around the streets terrified. In the trailer, a voice which sounds similar to a personality figure talking on a radio show, is seemingly blaring, "Don't give in to fear out there."
The tone and semantics resonate a slow unfolding of the city's law and order, as doubts linger and rumors spread of violent events occurring. One voice in the trailer background complains, "I haven't been able to sleep this weekend." Back in 1998, the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, comprised of the dates September 26 and 27, which is two days leading up to September 28, when the gameplay begins in the original game. Furthermore, the voice sounds as if it is a statement one would say as the climate reaches recognizable points of increased anxieties over the state of the city, but it has not yet completely fallen.
It appears there may more content in Resident Evil 3's remake drawing us into the overall events that transpired before September 28, in the days leading up to Raccoon City's downfall, as opposed to the original game which more or less jumps right into the chaos. It can still be assumed that the transition from a city on high alert to a city in absolute anarchy happens pretty quick from the date of Sunday, September 27, 1998, to the evening of September 28, 1998, when Resident Evil 3's gameplay begins and Jill exits her apartment building.
Furthermore, we hear Jill reflecting upon the overall situation in the background of the new trailer, as she complains, "It gets worse every night." This may indicate furthermore that the game will provide more insight into the previous days that led up to Resident Evil 3's start-game, beginning September 28, 1998.
In the trailer, it appears that Jill is running around inside her apartment building attempting to escape from the Nemesis as it stalks her. This provides more key insight into Resident Evil 3's storyline elements which were left out of the original, which skips the moments that transpire between Jill's preparations to leave her home and the moment that skips ahead to her jumping out the front door of the building. We can assume that this part of Resident Evil 3's new trailer provides us direct insight into what happened inside Jill's apartment in those few crucial and breathtaking moments.
In the original game, she runs into the Nemesis for the first time later in the game. While it appears Jill's first confrontation with the Nemesis transpires at the start of the game as she is fleeing her home, it does not necessarily change the story from the original, as this same sequence could have transpired in the original game too, but was not shown.
It is important to take note of the way the lighting and shadows block out the full picture of the Nemesis in the new trailer, as even Jill probably did not have time to get a clear look at the creature, other than deciphering something big and threatening stalking her. Therefore, this can still setup the first 'clear' encounter with the Nemesis in similar fashion to the original game's timeline in the story, without any major changes.
Another insight worth noting from the new trailer is the scene of Jill looking in the mirror while she is seemingly ill and infected. We can assume this is probably after the point that her and Carlos rest in the church for some time, after the Nemesis infects her with the T-Virus. To some close observing fans, it can seem peculiar how much time went by in the actual timeline between Jill resting in the church before Resident Evil 2 began, and October 1st, when the Resident Evil 3 gameplay timeline resumed and Carlos set out to find a cure for Jill in the hospital.
Perhaps this new scene in the trailer is some possible insight or a cue that the game may expand upon the events that transpired while Jill was on standby and what Carlos may have been doing in the meantime. Or at least we can hope. Again, there is no way to confirm whether this would include gameplay elements, but certainly more exposure of the storyline into the events that unfolded during that period seems reasonable.
Furthermore, there are a few clues which may reveal a much more expansive version of Raccoon City's outdoor maps to explore. For example, the Collector's Edition of Resident Evil 3's remake comes with an entire map of Raccoon City in detail. It also states it is a double sided map. While nothing is certain, one side could be a version of Downtown Raccoon City, and the other could be a more detailed map of Uptown, both of which were the outdoor maps in the original game in a much smaller size at the time.
Furthermore, when Jill jumps outside of her apartment in the trailer, one can quickly observe the Liquor Store in the background. In the original Resident Evil games, the liquor store was never in Resident Evil 3, but only in the second game and in Operation Raccoon City. This could also entail a more expansive map of Raccoon City to explore in its entirety, or close to. Then again, it could be a different liquor store entirely, despite the store's title having similarly red lights for its lettering.
The developers also state that the Nemesis has more ways "to track down his target Jill Valentine" in the new remake. This sounds potentially similar to a design structure that would more closely resemble the way in which Alien: Isolation's creature was programmed, and how it dynamically traverses the map through both a mixture of scripted appearances and random exploration using its AI.
This type of design would seemingly work best in a more open and non-linear map layout of Raccoon City, contrary to Resident Evil 2's remake and all other Resident Evil games thus far, which could be fairly unique. It would make sense to have Jill moving around the streets of a Raccoon City hub-map utilizing different methods of avoiding the Nemesis as it tries to stalk her. The Nemesis may have his own arsenal of tracking methodologies, which sounds similar to the way in which the developers describe the enemy as having actual "ways" of tracking her.
With April 2020 right around the corner, we will not have to wait long to find out whether these insights transpire within the remake of Resident Evil 3's storytelling, and to what degree of detail and content. While Capcom has confirmed Resident Evil 3 will not be covered at The Game Awards on Thursday, hopefully more footage, information, and content will be provided before the game's release as we salivate for new clues and insights for what is to come upon final release.
Resident Evil 3 is scheduled to be released April 3, 2020 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.