Presentation
Developed and published by Capcom, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 was released in 2015 under the direction of Yasuhiro Anpo, with Michiteru Okabe and Masachika Kawata serving as producers. The story takes place in 2011, after Resident Evil 5 and before Resident Evil 6, bringing Claire Redfield back to the foreground while giving Barry Burton, previously associated mainly with the earliest games, a major role.
Claire now works for TerraSave, a non-governmental organization providing assistance to victims of bioterrorism. She is paired with Moira Burton, Barry's daughter, whose personality and difficult relationship with firearms create a different dynamic from the partners traditionally featured in the series. The second storyline pairs Barry with Natalia Korda, a child whose perception abilities become essential to exploration.
This structure is built around two pairs with complementary skills. Claire primarily handles firearms, while Moira carries a flashlight capable of stunning certain enemies, revealing hidden objects and assisting with exploration. Her crowbar can also be used to open certain passages or attack when necessary.
Barry and Natalia follow a similar principle with different abilities. Barry carries a larger arsenal and handles most direct combat, while Natalia can sense creatures before they become visible, identify certain hidden elements and use bricks to interact with the environment or distract enemies.
This asymmetry gives Revelations 2 a different structure from a game in which both characters possess identical abilities. In single-player, the player switches between the members of each pair depending on the situation. Exploration, combat and certain obstacles therefore require an understanding of which character has the necessary skill.
The game retains the third-person camera and modern aiming system used by contemporary Resident Evil titles while attempting to restore tension closer to survival horror. Environments are often confined, resources require attention and several enemies are designed to be avoided or neutralized through effective use of the characters' complementary abilities.
The Afflicted are the first major threat encountered by Claire and Moira. These human beings have undergone experiments that profoundly altered their behavior and bodies. The bestiary later expands to other creatures, including the Rotten and Revenants encountered during Barry's journey, whose characteristics require different approaches to combat.
Fear also plays a distinctive narrative role through the bracelets worn by the captives and the t-Phobos virus. The virus belongs to the long history of biological research within the Resident Evil universe while giving the island's experiments their own specific logic: the psychological responses of the subjects become directly connected to the threat surrounding them.
Revelations 2 also retains the episodic presentation of the first Revelations but this time integrates it directly into the way the game was distributed. The main campaign consists of four episodes, each containing a section for Claire and Moira and another for Barry and Natalia. The episodes were released digitally on a weekly basis before the complete edition became available.
Raid Mode also returns in a considerably expanded form. Separate from the main campaign, it offers missions focused more strongly on combat, character progression, numerous weapons and upgrade parts, and a broad selection of playable characters. It provides a parallel experience designed around replayability and gradual equipment development.
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 therefore continues the first Revelations' attempt to bring together two directions of the series. It retains the modern controls and direct combat of recent entries but combines them with more oppressive environments, closer resource management and progression designed around two genuinely complementary characters.
What to remember
- A story set in 2011, between Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, bringing Claire Redfield and Barry Burton back as major protagonists.
- Two playable pairs, Claire and Moira followed by Barry and Natalia, whose different abilities create deliberately asymmetric exploration and combat.
- An isolated island transformed into an experimental ground, with detention centers, villages, industrial facilities and laboratories forming the main setting.
- The t-Phobos virus and fear as central elements of the experiments performed on the captives, accompanied by new creatures such as the Afflicted, Rotten and Revenants.
- A campaign divided into four episodes, each advancing the Claire/Moira and Barry/Natalia storylines across different periods.
- The return of Raid Mode, greatly expanded around combat missions, character progression and the upgrading of a wide range of weapons.
Conclusion
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 retains the transitional approach already present in its predecessor but develops a different identity through its two pairs of characters. The player is never simply accompanied by a secondary partner: Moira and Natalia's abilities are directly integrated into exploration and regularly require switching characters.
This complementarity is one of the game's main strengths. Claire and Barry have the experience and firepower required to confront the creatures, while their partners provide different observation and interaction abilities. Progress therefore depends as much on cooperation between characters as on their individual combat capabilities.
The island also allows the game to return to more enclosed and deteriorated environments than the broad locations crossed in several previous entries. Detention centers, abandoned buildings and industrial facilities create a more oppressive atmosphere, reinforced by the presence of a voice constantly observing the characters and turning their survival into a controlled experiment.
The episodic structure effectively supports the dual narrative. Barry's sections allow players to return to locations explored during a different period and observe the consequences of earlier events. This construction gives the changing environments a narrative purpose and allows both campaigns to respond to one another without becoming entirely separate adventures.
By combining the return of Claire and Barry, new characters such as Moira and Natalia, asymmetric pair mechanics and an atmosphere more strongly rooted in survival horror, Revelations 2 develops a coherent middle ground. It retains the series' modern action while restoring greater importance to exploration, vulnerability and the way characters cooperate to survive.
Good to know
- Resident Evil: Revelations 2 was developed and published by Capcom, with Yasuhiro Anpo as director and Michiteru Okabe and Masachika Kawata as producers.
- The story takes place in 2011 and primarily features Claire Redfield, Moira Burton, Barry Burton and Natalia Korda.
- Claire and Moira are members of TerraSave, an organization dedicated to assisting victims and addressing the consequences of bioterrorism.
- The main campaign is divided into four episodes, each containing a Claire/Moira scenario and a Barry/Natalia scenario.
- The episodes were released weekly beginning in February 2015, followed by a physical edition containing the full campaign and additional content.
- The game was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows in 2015; a PlayStation Vita version followed the same year and a Nintendo Switch edition was released in 2017.
- Complete editions also include two additional episodes, The Struggle, focused on Moira, and Little Miss, centered on Natalia, together with an expanded version of Raid Mode.
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