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The Resident Evil franchise has been one of Capcom’s most successful IPs, and bringing back Outbreak, one of its older spinoffs, could enhance its legacy further. Resident Evil Outbreak has not seen a release since the Playstation 2, but it’s a subseries that deserves a second look. While not as recognized as the main series, it has a charm and challenge all its own.
The Resident Evil games have been criticized in the past for focusing more on action rather than the series’ survival-horror roots. Although Resident Evil 7 took a step back with its limited inventory and increased focus on stealth, even including some enemies that more or less have to be avoided. This takes the series a little closer to the style of the originals, but Outbreak sticks even closer to the old format with its under-prepared survivors and deemphasis on combat. While Resident Evil began with Project W’s terrible history, Outbreak shows from another perspective just how badly Umbrella ruined Raccoon City.
Outbreak never got all the respect that it deserved, but it did have some merit for its gameplay and difficulty. It also has a distinct place in Resident Evil‘s history as the first game in the series to feature online play, as players could play levels together and even control their zombified selves after death. Outbreak‘s legacy deserves another look, because it brought more than a lot of people realize.
Outbreak’s Eight Characters Encouraged Replayability
Resident Evil Outbreak had eight playable characters available from the start, all of whom have their own abilities and signature items that are always on them. Although the game isn’t as long as other Resident Evil titles, it does provide a good framing device for these characters and their quest to survive. Much like other characters who were only in one RE game, the Outbreak cast has plenty of potential for the future.
Every character can complete every scenario, but each of them have their own perks that help in different ways. For example, security guard Mark always has a basic pistol on him, reducing his need to find a weapon, while college student Yoko has a backpack that doubles her inventory size. In addition to their differing skills, every character has their own cutscenes that play after beating each scenario, as well as different openings for the first scenario. By playing through the game with different characters, the player will be able to see their stories told through their own words as they continue surviving the apocalypse. It makes a compelling case for the player to keep playing in order to see everyone’s reactions to the events unfolding.
While there are plenty of Resident Evil characters who could return, the Outbreak cast deserves the chance to continue their stories as well. Their unique sets of abilities and stories provides plenty of replayability, and that’s even before getting into bonus skins that can be bought or earned in the game. Neither Outbreak title was especially long, but they had enough content to keep players entertained for a good while.
Resident Evil Outbreak Is A Tough, Old-School Survival Game
Although several recent Resident Evil games have trended towards action, putting fighting monsters ahead of escaping and surviving, Outbreak goes in the opposite direction. In Outbreak, combat is frequently a last resort, as players need to focus on solving puzzles and escaping the scenario. The end result is a challenging game, but one that makes success very rewarding.
Like the original Resident Evil, the player has to contend with limited sources of items and weapons. Thankfully, while Outbreak has the player save using typewriters like in Resident Evil Village, they don’t have the limited Ink Ribbon mechanic of the original games. Every character can only carry four items in addition to their personal item, apart from Yoko who gets eight due to her backpack. This made inventory management and coordination with one’s party very important. As for combat, while it was functional, the limited weapons discouraged it as much as possible, especially in scenarios where there was a boss at the end. Even Kevin and Mark, the most combat-ready characters, were better off running than getting into unnecessary scrapes.
Every scenario had multiple puzzles that the survivors had to solve in order to escape, which were a much higher priority than fighting zombies. In order to survive, players had to learn the keys to these puzzles, and how to solve them without wasting too much time or resources. While there isn’t a consensus on where Outbreak is ranked among Resident Evil games, there’s no denying that it is a tense and challenging experience.
Resident Evil Outbreak’s Scenarios Are Genuinely Scary
One complaint about a lot of horror games, not just Resident Evil titles, is that they aren’t that scary a lot of the time. When the player character is too powerful and can easily swat enemies aside, the sense of tension that creates a lot of a game’s horror can be lost. However, Resident Evil Outbreak manages to keep its unsettling air and sense of terror present through the whole game.
Unlike the well-trained protagonists of the main games, the heroes of Outbreak are quite average and completely out of their depth in the Raccoon City outbreak as they try to survive against the monsters made by Resident Evil‘s Umbrella Corporation. Not only that, but they are all being slowly infected over the course of the scenario, adding to the game’s sense of urgency. Outbreak‘s height of terror would likely be The Hive, the third scenario of the first game. In The Hive survivors have to navigate through an abandoned hospital while being stalked by a leech man who can break into the current room at any time. The constant dread of such a powerful enemy in an already creepy location makes for a memorable scary scenario.
Outbreak does better than most at managing to keep a consistently scary mood. Even when things are going smoothly, the player will always be wondering what could possibly be behind the next door. Resident Evil is an iconic horror franchise, so much that the series’ most famous villain Albert Wesker joined Dead By Daylight‘s roster, and Outbreak manages to capture the terrifying atmosphere that made the series great.
Outbreak never managed to hit it big, but it did have a dedicated fanbase that thoroughly enjoyed the game. Even though it was not the most polished title in the series, Outbreak could benefit greatly from another chance, especially with the great enhancements that online play has made since the days of the PlayStation 2. A revival of Outbreak could bring a twist that the Resident Evil franchise has been missing, and it could easily garner a new legion of fans.
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