While Resident Evil 2 remake stayed true to the source material at its core, there were many changes and additions to the game. You can assume that Resident Evil 3 remake will get the same treatment. In fact, I’ve already spotted some major differences in the trailer.
Some of the changes in Resident Evil 3 remake are self-evident by what we see in the trailer and PR material. However, one thing to keep in mind is that some of the items below are supposition. I’m not a super cool leaker or anything, but I am a huge Resident Evil fan that has played each version of the original quadrilogy (RE, RE2, RE3, and RE:CV) many times. These are educated guesses based on the little bit of Resident Evil 3 remake we’ve seen so far.
(Fact) Nemesis, Carlos, and Jill’s designs have changed
The most obvious changes coming with Resident Evil 3 remake are the character designs. While the original costumes for Jill and Carlos will be available as DLC, their canon looks and outfits have changed considerably.
Instead of her clubbing outfit, Jill now sports a blue, sleeveless, button-up top over a white camisole; form-fitting jeans; and combat boots. She is also wearing her police belt (with badge) and a leg-mounted pistol holster.
Carlos has a look that’s a lot closer to his original version than Jill’s. He wears an Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service uniform and is equipped with what looks like ALICE gear. His biggest change is his physical appearance. Instead of sporting slicked back hair and a youthful appearance, Carlos looks a bit wilder and wearier.
Unfortunately, besides the close-up on the PSN images, we have seen little of Nemesis. The trailer only teased him, and other artwork has been semi-obscured, so we don’t have a good idea of his overall design. However, from the face shots we’ve seen, he’s gains a twisted, almost vestigial-looking nose, long rectangular teeth, and some sort of tank seems to be fitted around his neck. Caution labels also seem to have been added to his trench coat in certain spots.
There are likely more changes that aren’t clear from what we’ve seen yet. We also haven’t gotten a good look at Nikolai yet, though from his brief appearance in the trailer he seems to be almost unchanged from his original version.
(Theory) Brad Vickers will not be (such) a coward in the remake
Because of his behavior during the Spencer Mansion incident, we know Brad Vickers for his cowardice. In the original RE3, he doesn’t do much to shake his reputation, though with the Nemesis chasing him I can’t really blame him.
In the trailer for RE3 remake, though, Brad seems a lot more put together than he did in the original. He acknowledges that Nemesis is after the remaining STARS members when he speaks with Jill, but he’s not ready to immediately turn tail and frantically run away.
I would love for Brad to get a redemption story in RE3 remake. He’s obviously got some decent qualities as he’s the face for the RPD in the recruitment poster found in RE2 remake. It’d be great for him to get a chance to go out like a hero and subvert fans’ opinions of him.
(Fact) Jill’s backstory directly before the game is different
In the original Resident Evil 3 we’re only given a vague reason for Jill Valentine’s continued presence in the city. The Raccoon City T-Virus started on September 22 when the Umbrella Security Service assaulted the underground lab, leading to the spillage of the contagion.
By September 24, the city was quarantined by the Department of Defense and placed under martial law. However, for some reason, Jill waited until September 27, when almost everyone in the city were dead or zombies to make her escape.
Fortunately, the remake adds some details that make Jill’s late escape more sensical. According to the official Resident Evil 3 remake website. Jill continued investigating Umbrella after the incident at Spencer Mansion. However, at some point she was suspended from the RPD and placed under house arrest in retaliation for prying at Umbrella’s secrets. In addition, some entity began surveilling her around the clock, preventing her from escaping lest she be branded an outlaw.
With these added plot details, Jill’s presence in Raccoon City on September 27 makes perfect sense. She must have had to wait for the situation go really out of control so the surveillance on her ceased and she could make her escape unimpeded.
(Theory) There may be a prologue where we see the early stages of the Raccoon City T-Virus outbreak
In the original Resident Evil 3, you get the intro, Jill bursts through a door into the Raccoon City streets, and you’re smack dab in the middle of the worst of the outbreak. There are a few clues so far that lead me to believe that the game will have a prologue that follows Jill through the early days of Raccoon City’s demise.
One big clue comes from the PlayStation Blog:
“Starting with the early days of the outbreak, you’ll follow Jill’s fight for survival as the population of the once-lively metropolis turns into hordes of undead.”
We also get a hint from the trailer with the line said when Jill appears to be looking out of her apartment window:
“It gets worse every night.”
This scene seems to show that at the least we’ll join Jill on her journey before we did in the original game. Also leading credence to this is the fact that when Jill talks to Brad Vickers in the trailer, you can see multiple survivors running by, indicating that this scene may happen earlier than the night of September 27, which is when the original game began.
(Fact) Nemesis begins chasing you earlier in the game
You don’t meet Nemesis in the original Resident Evil 3 until you reach the RPD. When you meet Brad Vickers in the bar, he tells Jill something is chasing him, but Jill is in the dark until you fight (or run from) Nemesis at the police station.
In the trailer, we can see what appears to be Nemesis chasing Jill through her apartment building. As she evades him, she leaves the building to end up in what appears to be the alleyway the original game begins in. Here she meets Brad Vickers and they discuss Nemesis.
Whether or not this is the start of the game isn’t known. If there’s a prologue section like I speculate above, you may catch wind of Nemesis even earlier.
(Theory) Carlos insertion into Raccoon City will be shown (and possibly played)
You see a few dead (or dying) UBCS members in the original RE3, and you, of course, meet Carlos, Nikolai, and Mikhail, but the unit as a whole is wiped out by the time Jill hits the streets.
Ostensibly, the UBCS is deployed to Raccoon City alongside the US Army and National Guard to assist in quarantine and rescue operations. However, we don’t get to see much of what the company-strong (120 men) unit does before it’s destroyed.
In the trailer, we see Carlos led by Tyrell Patrick, a UBCS soldier who was previously met only in the hospital in the original game, through a door and down a flight of steps with a voice-over stating, “the STARS Office has to be in this direction.” This might show that Carlos and his team have knowledge of Nemesis and are trying to warn STARS.
Alternatively, RE3 remake’s Carlos might not be as altruistic as in the original. He may work to secure and/or destroy the evidence collected against Umbrella. On the collector’s edition map there’s a name that looks like Dr. Bard written on the map with an arrow that seems to be pointing towards the RPD. It might be up to his team to extract or kill a surviving Umbrella scientist. Even worse, he may also have been sent to assassinate any surviving STARS members as a back-up to Nemesis.
(Fact) Jill’s arsenal is (slightly) different
We didn’t get to see much in the way of combat in the trailers, but we’ve got an idea of what two of Jill’s weapons will be.
Jill’s signature weapon in RE3 is her customized Beretta 92FS Brigadier “Samurai Edge” chambered in 9mm. In the trailer and screens we’ve seen so far, though, she seems to use a Glock. This is likely a Glock 17, a common law enforcement issue handgun chambered in 9mm with a 17 round magazine. We can see in one screen that at some point an extended magazine will become available for it, and I’d almost bet money on it being convertible to a Glock 18 machine pistol.
It’s sort of odd for Jill not to be carrying the iconic Samurai Edge. It’d be a nice touch if we picked it up from Kendo at some point, though I’m not sure how useful another 9mm pistol would be.
The second weapon that seems to have changed is Jill’s shotgun, at least it may have. The shotgun that Jill used in the original is based on the Benelli M3 Super 90. The one we see in the remake seems to be a Benelli M4. It’s possible when you pick up the shotgun it still looks the same as it did in the original, and the option to upgrade it with a collapsible stock at some point has been added.
(Theory) Jill’s T-Virus infection will manifest differently
In the original RE3, Nemesis infects Jill with the T-Virus during the fight at the Clock Tower. She quickly passes out and you take control of Carlos to go find the vaccine at Raccoon General Hospital.
If the trailer is any indicator, Jill’s T-Virus infection may happen much earlier on, perhaps even at the start of the game. In the trailer, we see Jill standing in front of a mirror complaining of a headache and hallucinating a vision of herself as a zombie. It’s likely this is her apartment bathroom as we can see makeup and hairspray on the sink.
It’s possible that Jill will get infected in the prologue I hypothesized. Since she inexplicably collapsed so quickly in the original when we’ve seen others infected take hours to turn, it would make sense if she contracted the virus early in the game.
(Fact) Central Station and the tram have been replaced by Redstone Street Station and the subway
In the original Resident Evil 3 the UBCS survivors were holed up in a tram car located in Central Station. Your objective here was to find three items to repair the tram so you could ride it to the Clock Tower and be evacuated via helicopter. That part of the game seems to have significant changes in the remake as Central Station and the tram are both gone, replaced by the Redstone Street Station and the subway train.
While the situation on the subway train seems similar to the tram in the original game, the UBCS are still using it as a base and Mikhail is still injured, the scenario has likely expanded. For one, the station itself seems larger than the tram station, displacing the area that originally contained the City Hall, and you’ll likely have to navigate underground to get to the train. In the original RE3, the tram was just sitting outside the station, which means the remake should have some exciting new areas to explore as you descend under the streets of Raccoon City to reach the subway.
(Theory) Carlos and Jill will meet at the RPD
In the original game, Jill hears Carlos over the radio in the STARS Office. She then finds him in either The Raccoon Press office or the restaurant. However, in RE3 remake it seems like Jill and Carlos will bump into each other in the RPD.
In the trailer we see Carlos making his way down the stairs leading to the underground passage in front of the RPD with a voiceover stating his team is heading to the STARS Office. We also get a clue on the collector’s edition map that he may be looking for a new character that’s taken refuge there named Dr. Bard. It’s likely while searching for Bard, Carlos will run into Jill when she makes her way to the RPD.
(Fact) The Warren Street area has been replaced by a larger electrical substation
The electrical substation was a small but crucial location in the original RE3. Here, you find the Fuse for the tram, find a powerful weapon, and potentially run into Nemesis. You don’t spend a lot of time here, but you get the cool option of electrocuting some zombies with a massive burst of power.
If the map included with the collector’s edition of Resident Evil 3 remake is any indicator, the substation’s role will be significantly larger in the new game. In the original RE3, the substation is just east of the RPD, but it has been moved north in the remake. It’s now about a block southeast of where the Clock Tower once appeared. It also looks to be significantly larger than the original which may indicate we’ll be spending more time there this time around.
