Resident Evil 2 is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation in 1998. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zombies by a biological weapon two months after the events of the original Resident Evil. The gameplay focuses on exploration, puzzles, and combat; the main difference from its predecessor are the branching paths, with each player character having unique storylines and obstacles.
Resident Evil 2 was directed by Hideki Kamiya, produced by Shinji Mikami—director of the first Resident Evil—and developed by a team of around 50 over 21 months. The initial version of the game, commonly referred to as Resident Evil 1.5, differed drastically and was canceled when it was around two-thirds complete after Mikami decided it was inadequate. The final design introduced a more cinematic presentation.
Resident Evil 2 received critical acclaim, with praise for its atmosphere, setting, graphics, audio, scenarios, and overall gameplay, as well as its improvements over the original game, but with some criticism towards its controls, voice acting and certain gameplay elements. It has appeared on a number of lists of the best video games ever made. It is the best-selling Resident Evil game for a single platform, shipping 5.77 million copies on PlayStation, combining its original release on PlayStation with the DualShock release. It was ported to Windows, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and GameCube, and a modified 2.5D version was released for the Game.com handheld. The story of Resident Evil 2 was retold and built upon in several later games, and has been adapted into a variety of licensed works. It was followed by Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in 1999. A remake of the game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in January 2019.
