Code Veronica Is The Remake We Need Next

Capcom can’t stop, maybe won’t stop, when it comes to Resident Evil remakes. Following in the footsteps of 2, 3, and now 4, the company has come out and publicly declared we will see a lot more from Biohazard in the years to come – both in terms of new titles and remakes of its fondly remembered classics. Judging from the teases at the end of 4 and many new threads linking to existing events and character arcs, it’s a pretty safe bet that Resident Evil 5 will be on the cards next. Here’s hoping they omit all of the awkward racism this time around too.

But before we jaunt off to Africa with Chris Redfield and his boulder-punching muscles, I’d love for Resident Evil to revisit one of its kookiest, most experimental chapters. Released exclusively for the Sega Dreamcast in February 2000 before making its way to all modern platforms, Resident Evil Code Veronica blew minds two decades ago. The opening scene that plays before the main menu where Claire Redfield goes up against armies of soldiers and myriad infected might be archaic by today’s standards, but it’s still so damn badass.

Tell me your jaw doesn’t drop when our girl falls to the floor and fumbles her gun, only to go and catch it again before shooting a flaming canister on the other side of the room to plan her escape. We stan an action hero queen, and Veronica expanded on Claire Redfield to see her become far more than a rookie cop operating in Leon’s shadow. She finds herself stranded on Rockfort Island, a prison complex operated by Umbrella filled with hordes of zombies and villains so campy we haven’t seen the series veer in this direction since. It is wild, and partly the reason why I think Capcom has stayed away from Veronica ever since.

It was also the first game in the series to abandon pre-rendered environments, something we would see Resident Evil return to with the original remake and Zero, so in many ways Veronica was an ambitious experiment, just as 3D visuals were advancing beyond the blocky awkwardness of PS1 and N64. Of course, it looks dated now, but back then, this was the closest we’d ever come to seeing and controlling real people in a horror game like this.

The voice acting and villains are still terribly cheesy and overdone, especially insufferable idiots like Steve Burnside, but as a follow-up to Resident Evils 1, 2, and 3 this felt like an ambitious new chapter that left Raccoon City behind and sought to explore further afield.

Being trapped on an island that housed all the claustrophobic horrors we’d all come to expect was immediately compelling, not to mention waking up with no idea where we were, who had captured us, or what the next step was. All we can do is explore, kill zombies, and tackle all the convoluted puzzles thrown our way. It is classic Resident Evil, but goes to some absurd B-movie places that no game has either before or since.

Reviews at the time were glowing, but remakes and spin-offs aside, this was the last true Resident Evil experience we’d see until the series rebooted itself with 4. As a result, you often see Veronica left out of discussions when it comes to potential remakes when it is easily the most exciting and unpredictable game to deserve such treatment. To my sheer delight, there is no way of accurately predicting what sort of direction this remake would take. It would likely follow the same Claire Redfield who has become a staple in modern films and the remake of 2, adopting a similar personality and aesthetic the game would probably need to match, and I wouldn’t say no to Veronica adopting visual consistency considering it’s infamously all over the shop.

That’s part of its brilliance though, and how Capcom was throwing everything at the wall for a series which had achieved worldwide success and needed to figure out where to go next within a medium that was progressing leaps and bounds in a very short space of time. Yes, its visuals blew us away, but looking back, its gameplay mechanics are old school to a fault and deserve an overhaul, not to mention the larger-than-life characters and set pieces that would shine so brightly with a modern touch similar to what we saw with 2, 3, and 4. Aware of its own absurdity but still more than capable of terrifying, I’d rather Veronica be brought back to life than 5, which will no doubt be a retread of the action blockbuster we know and tolerate, instead of something truly out of the box. Let Capcom and Claire Redfield cook.

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