Love/hate #39 Resident Evil 1 Remake Biohazard - unexpected speedrun land

 Better post this to keep my 1 blog post per month streak going. Am typing this at half 10 at night so should just make it.

I had dabbled with Resident Evil 1 before but never to this extent. I'm sure I played it once or twice on the GameCube at a friend's and just fucked around and died or had a little walk around the mansion rooms until shutting it off. That was in like 2003-2004+ on the 2002 remake. I also had a wee go at the PSX version I'm sure at some stage between 2010-2020 but again only for a minute.

I bought the 2015 remaster on Steam on some sale over the last few years and finally, finally, sat down and played it in one sitting one fine August 2022 night as Jill in 4 and a half hours. Then a few nights later I ploughed through it again as Chris in about the same amount of time! I thank two separate guides I followed, video guides I could quickly open in the Steam overlay and then resume playing.

It was great! I really enjoyed it. Was still tough but did not have to die. Played through it only on easiest but an easy and normal playthrough will come with time. It certainly is a game that plays well quickly, while there are tons of rooms and things to see you get a pretty holistic experience speedrunning it.

The guide I was following for Jill was specifically designed as a speedrun so was kind of exhilarating to just run around a zombie mansion with only a knife out to go faster. I didn't bother doing the weird stair running thing I wasn't that desperate to slightly faster.

I knew I'd be playing Jill first because she's a badass but also extra item slots helps a lot. Also the lockpick kit she gets makes the run less of a pain compared to poor Chris who must rely more on Old Keys that migth break on him. Jill also gets the Grenade Launcher which was hella sweet.

I did save here and ruin my no save run opportunity, I was afraid the walls would randomly crush me.
I did struggle killing the dogs in that one mandatory section; twice as Chris I had my throat ripped out to my surprise. I'm not sure I'm ready to do a no saves run yet, though I know there are only a few troublesome spots.

Finally got to face my most feared Resident Evil enemy, Lisa Trevor! I let Barry die because the guide told me to. Its OK I reloaded a few days later and made sure he lived to get the achievements for saving everybody as Jill. But the first time? Straight to the helipad.

The lab for me was the spookiest section. Still get chills even though I've cleared it like 4 times in a row, a damn spoopy place to be. 

Thankfully the game is so short but can be played many different ways. I ran through as Jill and saved nobody, then ran through as Chris and saved nobody. Then I reloaded both and went back and saved everybody. Actually wait that's a lie I saved Claire and then let her die in the final battle, which is how I got around saving her earlier and then not making it out with her in the end to get the achievement.

I actually tried to save Richard the first time as Jill but fucked it up time wise, thankfully he is not required to get the achievement.

I was chuffed to finish the game in less than 5 hours the first time. There is another achievement for <3 hours but I don't think I'm quite there yet. Its definitely feasible once I learn the game well enough to not rely on the guides.

There's actually tons of stuff that happens in the game, it has loads of replay value. I'm excited to give it a few more swings but as I said its an adrenalin-filled run so can leave you a but drained afterward.

I got a bit braver in my follow up achievement runs, having a bit of fun killing zombies with the shotgun for example, I didn't bother getting it in the first two speedruns.

I did mess up and not keep all my finish data in one place, so will have to play again to get all costumes. Also I need to beat Easy, Normal, Hard, Invisible Enemy Mode (!) and a few more like no saving and knife only... There is also an achievement for clearing every single room of items and visiting every location which I'll slowly piece together... someday.

I did a run for this scene only. 

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So all in all was a fun, fun time and really enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as Resident Evil 4 but its way up there and is definitely a game I will return to happily. There are just so many ways to play!