Resident Evil 3 Remake Demo Deaf/HoH Accessibility
At the end of the day, Resident Evil 3 Remake’s demo is beautiful and exploring the streets of a crumbling Raccoon City is a lot of fun. From exploring abandoned buildings to roaming the streets filled with zombies, there is a lot to see. The graphics are absolutely stunning but no matter how pretty a game is, if it is not playable it is hard to truly enjoy.
Score
4.7 out of 10Capcom released a demo for the upcoming Resident Evil 3 Remake. The game, much like Final Fantasy VII Remake and Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 Remake, is more like a reimagining than an outright remake. The game takes place at the same time as Resident Evil 2 but instead of following Leon and Claire, follows Jill Valentine. Jill was first introduced to the series in the first Resident Evil game. Prior to the outbreak in Racoon City, Jill worked for the Racoon City Police Department’s Special Tactics and Rescue Service, STARS for short.
Her team is under attack and currently, Jill finds herself being relentlessly followed by the terrifying Nemesis. The new demo gives more insight into the gameplay as well as a chance to finally understand exactly how frightening the Tyrant really is.
But despite how far the franchise has come in regards to graphics, gameplay, and menu optimization, deaf/hoh players will still struggle to play this demo proving that Capcom has learned very little about improving accessibility over the years.
I was incredibly hopeful when the game immediately started off with a menu option to turn subtitles on or off, the default being on. However, I immediately lost that hope when I noticed the subtitles were almost identical to that of Resident Evil 2 Remake, way too small. Also, there are no options to make them larger or add backgrounds.
In addition to being fairly small, the subtitles in Resident Evil 2 Remake do not feature full captioning. None of Jill’s grunts of pain or even the zombie growls are properly captioned. The biggest issue with this is that a lot of Resident Evil 3 Remake’s demo relies on sound. When Nemesis finally enters the picture, it becomes clear that without having the ability to hear his footsteps and growls it is almost impossible to avoid him or adequately escape his relentless attacks.
Fans of Resident Evil 2 Remake or even the original Resident Evil will know just how overwhelming Nemesis can be. He is almost impossible to avoid and unlike Mr. X, he chases you through almost every level. Without proper visual cues, this difficult part of gameplay becomes nearly impossible. The only visual cues in the game are arrows that denote items that can be picked up.
On a high note, the game rarely explains gameplay through dialogue and instead uses much more legible text. Everything from notes found around the city to how to navigate the menu is explained in an easy to read format.
At the end of the day, Resident Evil 3 Remake’s demo is beautiful and exploring the streets of a crumbling Raccoon City is a lot of fun. From exploring abandoned buildings to roaming the streets filled with zombies, there is a lot to see. The graphics are absolutely stunning but no matter how pretty a game is, if it is not playable it is hard to truly enjoy.
While this is only a demo, it is hard to feel confident that any of this will improve.
