Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Resident Evil 3 occupies a fascinating and genuinely complicated position within the series. After two entries with their feet firmly planted in survival horror territory, the third game adds a considerable amount of action into the mix. It's still obviously a survival horror game, but it ups the intensity, the pace, and the general atmosphere — and my overall feelings on it are genuinely mixed.
It definitely isn't a bad game by any means. Some of the new additions are fantastic. The pressure and relentlessness of the newly introduced Nemesis enemy makes you feel hunted in a way that's entirely its own thing — it's everything Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 was, but turned up considerably. The new systems, like the gunpowder crafting mechanic and the faster, more aggressive zombie variants, make the game feel fresh and give it a distinct identity rather than feeling like another upgrade to an existing formula. And the scope of Resident Evil 3's environment is probably one of its greatest strengths — the game has expanded to encompass an entire city. In Resident Evil 2, that city was an implication glimpsed through rain-soaked windows. Here, it's a literal projection of the world, and it feels genuinely larger as a result. The background and history of the city itself feels present — the suggested lives destroyed, the routines obliterated, the implicit tragedy of a place that was teeming with life now rendered desolate. The backdrop of this game isn't just a building that once housed jobs. It's an entire city captured and hollowed out.
But not everything in Resident Evil 3 works. The structure and relentless pressure often feel like too much for the format. Those moments of great atmosphere and slow-burning tension that were so common in previous entries simply don't appear as often. The game overshadows that atmosphere with the rampant stress of Raccoon City's streets and the constant looming presence of Nemesis. Personally, I don't think that particular tone lends itself as well to the Resident Evil format. Action isn't misplaced in the series — it would become a defining characteristic at a certain point — but in this moment, in this style, it wasn't entirely my thing.
That said, Resident Evil 3 isn't bad. It's just different. That's what this video is about....
Resident Evil 3 occupies a fascinating and genuinely complicated position within the series. After two entries with their feet firmly planted in survival horror territory, the third game adds a considerable amount of action into the mix. It's still obviously a survival horror game, but it ups the intensity, the pace, and the general atmosphere — and my overall feelings on it are genuinely mixed.
It definitely isn't a bad game by any means. Some of the new additions are fantastic. The pressure and relentlessness of the newly introduced Nemesis enemy makes you feel hunted in a way that's entirely its own thing — it's everything Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 was, but turned up considerably. The new systems, like the gunpowder crafting mechanic and the faster, more aggressive zombie variants, make the game feel fresh and give it a distinct identity rather than feeling like another upgrade to an existing formula. And the scope of Resident Evil 3's environment is probably one of its greatest strengths — the game has expanded to encompass an entire city. In Resident Evil 2, that city was an implication glimpsed through rain-soaked windows. Here, it's a literal projection of the world, and it feels genuinely larger as a result. The background and history of the city itself feels present — the suggested lives destroyed, the routines obliterated, the implicit tragedy of a place that was teeming with life now rendered desolate. The backdrop of this game isn't just a building that once housed jobs. It's an entire city captured and hollowed out.
But not everything in Resident Evil 3 works. The structure and relentless pressure often feel like too much for the format. Those moments of great atmosphere and slow-burning tension that were so common in previous entries simply don't appear as often. The game overshadows that atmosphere with the rampant stress of Raccoon City's streets and the constant looming presence of Nemesis. Personally, I don't think that particular tone lends itself as well to the Resident Evil format. Action isn't misplaced in the series — it would become a defining characteristic at a certain point — but in this moment, in this style, it wasn't entirely my thing.
That said, Resident Evil 3 isn't bad. It's just different. That's what this video is about....
