Resident Evil 3 is the remake of the in 1999 on Playstation released survival horror game Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. I've never played the original Resident Evil games on console but after the pretty good remakes of the first and second game I was hyped for this one as well.

Like in the predecessor the graphics are pretty good. I've played with enabled ray tracing and got pretty nice performance even with my GeForce RTX 3070. There are a lot of graphical settings to tweak and you can also switch back to DX11 mode, if you'll need more performance.

I also like the atmosphere and it's pretty interesting to see Raccoon City overrun by zombies. Backtracking like in the predecessors is also here but my problem is the leveldesign feels pretty bland, the explorable area of Raccoon City are basically two different streets with six stores. The other five bigger locations - which one of them is "recycled" from another Resident Evil game (don't wan't to spoil anything here) are also pretty linear. I've to admit, I do like the fanservice feeling in the "recycled area" nonetheless.
The developers reduced the gore and also removed the ragdoll system. In those situations I wonder why, because I thought those are fundamental elements anchored to the game engine.

Besides the linear and bland leveldesign, the whole game feels somehow rushed - it feels more like a Resident Evil 2.5 or a DLC for Resident Evil 2.
The story is boring, it has a short playtime, survival horror is completely gone, there are like two puzzles and the rest is "linear action". And even the action isn't that good.
Even with a high field of view the camera felt zoomed in and the over the shoulder camera while aiming is pretty bad for open areas and wide spaces.
The developers also removed the "escape mechanic" were you use a defense item if grabbed by an enemy and replaced it with a "perfect dodge mechanic" were you earn a few seconds of slow motion and autoaim on weakspots.
I've had the feeling, the mechanic also doesn't work very well because on higher difficulties the last bossfight is like a real stunlock party - no chance to escape.

Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 felt haunting and menacing, also wasn't perfect but in direct comparison, Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 is a complete joke. All the encounters are scripted and most of the time where you have to escape, you just press "W" and follow a linear route - how exciting!

Look at my playtime, I had fun with the game and enjoyed the zombie and monster shooting in tight dark spaces, but after the remakes of the first and the second Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 3 wasn't what I've had expected. Some of my friends which played the old Resident Evil 3: Nemesis told me that a lot of content was missing and in some situations you even had choices to alter the storyline a bit.


I've bought Resident Evil 3 for 8,49€ which didn't hurt.

Returnal is my personal game of the year 2023 (until now, 30th of April). After it's release in 2021 on PS5 it finally arrived on PC in February 2023.

You're an astronaut and you crashed on an unknown planet. You're stuck in a cycle and everytime you die, the world changes. I won't go any further into the storyline here, you should experience it yourself - but I can tell you, you're stuck in the protagonist's personal hell.

Gameplaywise I'd like to describe it as a child between Control and Binding of Isaac. It's a fast paced third person action game, you'll have to jump and to dash a lot to dodge projectiles - since it's a roguelike and you die fast: Dodge first, then shoot! Fights against enemies and bosses are mostly learning their "projectile-spam-pattern" and evading.
Everytime you die you won't respawn at a bonfire or something, no you start again at your crashed ship with a crappy pistol, without items, keys and artifacts. Rooms, locations and enemies have changed. The only thing you keep are trait unlocks and upgrades for different weapons earned by leveling them up - but you'll have to be lucky enough to find them again.
You also keep vital key items for example like a melee weapon or a grappling hook.

A big negative point for me is that a lot of items and artifacts are useless or have too less of an impact. I hoped that some items and artifacts completely changed a run or the gameplay, but this isn't the case. Mostly they add passive bonuses or unlock some helpful (some less helpful) traits.

Another negative one, but I'm not sure about: The performance was pretty good at release, then some updates released and I've had the feeling it got worse for no reason. But I think the last updates made it better again - beware, this is completely subjective some people said the same in the forums, some not.

Returnal for PC also includes the Ascension DLC, an arena endless mode - perfect if you finished the base game and can't get enough like me.

You can also play the game in two-player coop or you play solo and can find holograms of dead players. If you choose to revenge them, a miniboss will spawn - if you defeat it you earn Ether, a resource you'll keep even after death.


I've bought Returnal for 42€ and didn't regret a cent.