I felt that RE Revelations 2 was a pretty fun experience that incorporated both action and horror well. I really liked the design of the monsters and setting for this game, the creatures leant much more into the horror aspect than they have in other earlier games in my opinion and they felt very similar to the style of Silent Hill antagonists. This game is another CO-OP game however it was still enjoyable as a solo game, having to switch between characters in order to get through problems based on their abilities.

The story itself was decently engaging, I liked getting to see characters who weren’t ever expanded on much get some more screen time, however the pacing did begin to feel a little bit off towards the end of the game. The ending that I got felt very incomplete, and there was no indication that there was another ending that could have been achieved and so I didn’t really feel like i’d finished the game.

Overall, despite its flaws I think this game is still a good experience. I don’t think it’s massively memorable in the franchise, but I also do not think the revelations games were supposed to be seen as much more than the short story games they were.

The Revelations games offer side stories in the Resident Evil universe, often featuring the main cast going off on this or that adventure that apparently took place between mainline games. While generally shockingly inconsequential to the overarching timeline, there are at least some ties between the two games, though this one focuses on Barry and Claire, rather than Jill and Chris. There are some interesting differences with this one, but I feel like, similar to Revelations, this sequel offered a glimpse of the series' redemption arc following a string of rough years. Revelations 2 has its quirks and issues, but it's ultimately a fairly fun title that fixes many of the issues with games proximate to it in the series' release order.

First of all, I must note the game's eccentricities. Most notably, this game came out in that era where every game felt the need to be a sequential release with episodes releasing periodically. While it's never been a structure I was a huge fan of, I feel like as random as it might seem, this game pulls it off better than most. This is because instead of releasing an episode while the next is being put together, they finished the game and simply timed the episode release for one every week. This allowed for the "I have a week to ponder what will happen next" effect of a season of a television show, while not staggering releases months apart to the point you can't recall what happened. I still think it's a little funky but if you're going to do this, I think that's the way to go. Secondly, this is another game that is fully partner-based, even more than previous partner RE games with each partner having specialized skills much more unique than simply "this character can fit in small places." One of the characters is almost completely non-combat and Claire's partner Moira can't use guns but will whack things with a crowbar. I much prefer solitary RE games, but this is a pretty neat way to implement the partner system if we have to. The only thing that's odd is despite the obvious co-op potential, this game only has couch co-op without online lobbies, which is bizarre for 2015 when the opposite was becoming more common.

The story of the game is much easier to follow than in Revelations, despite its surprising connection to mildly obscure RE lore (from the RE5: Lost in Nightmares DLC). But the premise is simple: Claire has been trapped on a prison island (again) with her fellow Terrasave operative, Moira (Barry Burton's daughter). Barry goes to try and find Moira and soon encounters a little girl with some sort of latent powers named Natalia. The story alternates each of 5 episodes with a section as Claire and Moira then the same area as Barry and Natalia, clearly at some point in the future. I won't get into too much of the specifics, but it's a flash forward and back story that gradually reveals why they were taken to the island and the mastermind behind this plan. A lot of the premise ultimately does get into more of the supernatural-esque stuff that in general I'd prefer Resident Evil avoid, but shot for shot, it's a decent character-driven story with solid pacing through the effective back and forth narrative.

That said, while I think the story overall is functional for what it's going for, the writing on a more micro-level is going to be hit-or-miss for some people. For one thing, there's a ton of random Easter eggs and references to prior games shoehorned in. They do this a lot in the series, especially for trophy names, but I feel like they were trying to reference every joke possible, especially to older games like RE1 (1996) or Code: Veronica (even when it requires Claire to say something kind of out of character just for the reference). But further, the line-by-line dialogue is often quite goofy and really goes in with the cheesy zingers and one-liners the series is often poked fun at for. Moira is also a shameless potty mouth which I find amusing (if silly), but could be grating for some people. While I don't mind it too much, it does detract some from the darker tone a lot of the game's atmosphere is capable of.

Gameplay-wise, it's pretty good. It's clear the game takes from the recent-ish success of The Last of Us as the combat feels much more similar to that game than it does prior RE games. But it works for the hostile environment of the ruined island setting so full of monsters. The puzzles are okay, if a little weak, but the exploration is pretty strong. Though there are no hub areas given each episode goes somewhere new, the knowledge and experience with an area gained in Claire's side of the episode can be helpful and informative for Barry's side. In fact, there's even a mini-zapping system where actions in Claire's part of the scenario affect things in Barry's. This also allows for more environmental storytelling as Barry can see things in the area that were caused by Claire as well as things that weren't, implying something further has happened in the past six months.

The atmosphere of this game is generally pretty strong. It feels still just a touch action-y and overly fast-paced with some really fast running and melee combat capability, but as with its predecessor, the attempt to capture the classic atmosphere of the early series is evident throughout. The areas are dim and creepy and the action is generally more confined to uncomfortable close encounters than it is large arena brawls. While I don't feel this was the point they quite nailed it, Revelations 2 to me really signals when the series started picking back up for the first time in years.

So for the most part, I like the game and would recommend it, but not without some reservations. My major complaints with the game are that sometimes the segments feel like they go on a little longer than they need to, especially near the end. I had a lot of positive things to say above and while that's all true, there are parts of the game that dragged and left me a little bored. I in theory really like the game, but when I revisit it, I find myself wanting to get some parts over with much more quickly than they go. I wouldn't overstate this reservation, especially as it's much more exciting on a first playthrough, but it's a big reason this is a 4-star game for me when it only barely misses the mark on some important levels. Accordingly, I wouldn't say this one is only for die-hard series fans, but it isn't super high on my recommended list for people wanting to try Resident Evil out.

My other Resident Evil reviews:

• Resident Evil (1996) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 2 (1998) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 (1999) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor 2 – Code Veronica - ★★
• Resident Evil Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Gaiden - ★★
• Resident Evil 0 - ★★★
• Resident Evil Dead Aim - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Outbreak - ★★★
• Resident Evil 4 - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 - ★★★
• Resident Evil Deadly Silence - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles - ★★★
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D - ★★
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City - ★★
• Resident Evil Revelations - ★★★
• Umbrella Corps - ★
• Resident Evil 2 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 VR - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 Remake - ★★★★★

I see some people unfairly comparing it to the mainline games, like, it's obvious this game won't have the production level and quality of an RE 7, but it’s really good for what it is despite some issues here and there. It's definitely better than Revelations 1, which I already thought was a good game, but that one is more of a brain-off shooter where you blast 10 hunters in front of you. This one feels much more like an RE game with its pacing and atmosphere, plus it brings the fun weapon customization mechanic from the previous one.... even if it’s unrealistic, lol.

The thing I liked the least about the game was the Portuguese-Brazilian translation, which has some glaring errors. Besides occasional mistakes here and there, the worst part was in a puzzle where I had to exit the game and switch it to English because an instruction was translated incorrectly. 2024 and the translation errors were never fixed.

Besides, Revelations has its importance because it's a series that Capcom uses to test certain mechanics that the remakes and other main RE titles end up inheriting, and for showing some passion for forgotten characters. Seeing Barry again was great, and I wouldn’t turn down an RE Revelations 3 with Sherry =)

The second entry for the Resident Evil: Revelations sub-franchise, it marked an interesting experiment for the franchise with its episodic format. The MCs are Claire Redfield and Barry Burton, offering tense scenarios and a mix of action and survival-horror elements. The character-switching mechanic adds variety, especially when paired with local co-op, making the experience more dynamic and engaging. And while this is not something new when it comes to Capcom titles, it is brilliantly implemented here, which is also nice when paired with the episodic format, somewhat similar to the first Alan Wake title.

Some people at the time praised the game’s atmosphere, the interplay between characters, and the addictive Raid Mode, which provided strong replay value. Though I admit that I didn't quite explored these gameplay formats, I just enjoyed the main story and then I was done with the game. The episodic cliffhangers kept the narrative engaging, and the pacing, while uneven at times, often delivered satisfying bursts of tension.

On the downside, visuals were considered underwhelming compared to other titles from the same era, with weak textures and limited detail. And in my opinion this is totally understandable since this was originally meant for the PlayStation Vita platform. The absence of online co-op in the story campaign disappointed many people, and some episodes felt padded or repetitive.

Over time, fans have remained divided. Many still appreciate its darker tone, character dynamics, and the return of Barry Burton, while others view it as one of the weaker entries due to its technical limitations and uneven execution. Particularly I liked both character gameplay styles, I got no complains on this regard, while at the same time, I was forever interested in playing as Barry since the very first RE title. Overall, it stands as a solid but imperfect Resident Evil title, worth playing for its story and cooperative gameplay, though it is not a must-play for survival horror fans, but it is one if you are a fan of the RE franchise to any extent.

I thought the first Revelations game was good but this one is pretty much better in every way! I don’t know how I missed these games as a huge RE fan. This game is very underrated.

The gameplay is very similar to rev1 with a more survival horror focus than action focus. The game keeps the same light weapon upgrade system, which is interesting enough to give diversity and choice. The weapons selection is t crazy but all the weapons do feel satisfying. The monster and enemy diversity is much better than rev1 with normal zombie types and also more uroborous creature types (love that they brought that back). It’s not crazy enemy variety and they do repeat but way better than rev1. There’s even some light stealth in Barry’s campaign which I actually liked. Also dodging is wayyyy less finicky here than in rev1 lol.

The game does have the dual protagonist system where you can switch between the support character (Moira, Natalia) and combat character (Claire, Barry). This was actually done well as the support characters actually felt useful sometimes even more useful than the combat characters. Switching between them was easy enough and the AI never annoyed me. There’s a light basic skill tree to add a bit of something to it also.

The story is actually great I think, and the characters with the 2 different campaigns or Claire and Moira, and Barry and Natalia. The character development particularly of Barry and his daughter Moira is great.

The episodic nature of this would have annoyed me if I was playing it when it came out but it doesn’t really matter now that we can play the whole game without waiting for the next episode to come out.

The only negative in my opinion is the environment design. The level design itself is good with the expected backtracking of resident evil. But the environment isn’t really much to look at, it’s all just dark browns, greys, etc. no particularly memorable locations here.

So here we are: the 3rd (and so far, final) Resident Evil game to feature a co-op campaign. I'm of the personal belief that RE5 is perhaps the single best co-op game of all time. I've played through it a bunch of times with an assortment of friends and we always found it to be a terrifically hilarious bonding experience. RE6 is admittedly bloated and less compelling because it removes some of the inventory-sharing and upgrade mechanics that made 5 such a team-building exercise, but still a ton of fun as long as you're in the right mindset. While neither one is my favorite RE, both are criminally underrated for what they are.

So how does Revelations 2 stack up? For starters, it puts the emphasis back on teamwork. In this game, only one character even gets to fire a gun. The other is restricted to melee, throwables and flashlight duty. There's a lot more puzzles that require splitting up and keeping each other safe while one of you turns a crank or something. Inventory sharing is back and is even more streamlined than it was in RE5. Both players feel essential and have their specialties when handling situations. That's the good part. The bad is that Player 2 often gets the short end of the stick when it comes to the simple satisfaction of killing zombies. As Player 2, you are relatively underpowered and just have to run around crafting items as your friend mows down the hordes of undead. As a fix for this problem, I recommend switching between Player 1 and 2 every level so both players get some of the action. Easy fix.

In regards to story, Revelations 2 fills in the time period between 5 and 6 and features the return of Claire muthafuckin' Redfield and Barry gaddam' Burton, 2 characters that get frequently overlooked in the series. It's got a bit of a side-story vibe to it but is as interesting, if not more, than 6 at least. But for whatever reason Revelations 2 just doesn't quite come across as a proper, numbered Resident Evil entry. You can tell that there are were budgetary restrictions and it doesn't look as impressive visually as 5 or 6. It's still a fine looking game and there are even CG cut-scenes for the first time in quite a while that help the story hit some dramatic notes and cliff-hanger endings that are reminiscent of a good TV show.

All in all, RER2 hits all of its marks far more effectively than the first Revelations game and even leaves some doors open for this legendary franchise to move forward.

So i decided to play through both Revelations games, despite how uninviting and overused that title is, i gave them a chance anyway... and i can't say i enjoyed them all that much.

First Revelations was a 3ds designed lower budget game in the vein of old school resi + new school resi, it was a fairly successful marriage of new and old, ported to handheld for what it is, it was pretty okay... i mean the game is not as impressive played on ps3, you can definitely feel the budget, the constant backtracking is a bit annoying, and the story is pretty much on the same level as the Resident Evil movies, it fucking sucks, but it's still not as bad as i thought, it's quite playable.

Second Revelations is radically different, it was designed for 'big boy' consoles, and they pretty much left old school behind, it's more straightforward and i didn't like it, i mean the story and characters are much more interesting in this one, the setting is more atmospheric, darker and slower, and that's great! Unfortunately this game lacks it's own indentity, It plays like a really clunky The Last of Us clone, especially Barry's campaign, minus the exceptional character writing and great pacing which is absolutely terrible here, caused by the nature of episodic chapters and forced fake co-op sections which are really lame and all over this game, and the ending is so goddamn cheesy and predictable i just can't...

Overall both games are just okay, they are only recommendable for fans of the series, which probably already played them...