Resident Evil 3 opens a slice of Raccoon City in today's free demo
Infectious
A deadly outbreak, broken quarantine, a malevolent pharmaceutical company and store shelves utterly devoid of toilet paper. Perhaps Resident Evil 3 is hitting too close to home right now - or perhaps, it's never been more timely. With the RE3 remake's release just weeks away, Capcom have opened the gates to Racoon City a little early with today's free demo. Take on the Nemesis, evade the walking dead - but just remember to wash your hands, yeah?
Resident Evil 3 will hit Steam in full on April 3rd. Until then, though, Capcom are offering a good chunk of the game through a free demo on Steam.
The RE3 demo lets you play through the opening sequence of one of RPS's most exciting games of 2020. It's all gone to shit in Raccoon City - nobody told the infected about self-isolation, so they're all crowding the streets, trying their damn best to stop series vet Jill Valentine and friends from escaping.
From what we've seen in livestreamed footage, RE:3 is a bit more action-packed than its predecessor - with quick dodges and more liberal application of shotgun blasts. Pretty vital, given the demo will have you square off against the Nemesis. He's sorta like Resident Evil 2's Mr X in that he's an unkillable brute stalking you through at every turn. He's different in that Mr X never had a flamethrower meat-hook for an arm.
Being 20 years since the last time RE3 popped up on PC, Capcom have put together this handy little catchup video explaining the story so far. As I understand, things get real silly post RE:4, but this still helped a distant observer like me finally work out what the hell's going on in these games.
If you clicked through that YouTube vid, you'll also have noted beta testing for Resident Evil: Resistance kicking off later this month. RE3's asymmetrical multiplayer spin-off pits four survivors against a trap-setting, zombie-spawning dungeon master, and you'll get to try it out for free come March 27th.