Original Resident Evil gets gorgeous Unreal Engine 5 remake

An incredibly talented team of 3D artists, known as ARKLAY, have remade the original Resident Evil in Unreal Engine 5, allowing fans to enter the survival horror from a completely different perspective.

The team recently shared a 30-minute long video on the RE Biohazard YouTube channel showcasing the Spencer Mansion - the iconic and twisted setting of Resident Evil (1996) - remade using Unreal Engine 5.

Yet to dive into the Resident Evil 4 remake? Take a look at our review below.

The video takes the camera through various parts of the eerie mansion, which have been masterfully recreated with graphical fidelity that puts parts of Resident Evil 4 (2023) to shame. It features many key locations that fans of the original game will find familiar, such as the foyer, the library, and some of the safe rooms.

It’s absolutely gorgeous and the team has done an outstanding job of recreating the original mansion’s disturbing look and feel, whilst giving it a fresh coat of paint. Despite the mansion itself being quite well-kept, it could be pretty terrifying to explore since the player would have no idea what could be lurking in its countless rooms and hallways.

ARKLAY has promised more showcase videos will follow, showing off other areas from the original Resident Evil, including the backyard, the guest house and the secret laboratory areas. Unfortunately, the team has no plans to release the demos to the public, so if you’re itching to get your hands on it, you’re out of luck.

Oddly enough, the first Resident Evil game did receive a remake for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, which was later re-released on modern consoles. Despite being over a decade old, the remake still holds up in gameplay, story, visuals, and sound design. It’d be nice to see Capcom revisit the game that started it all once again and give it the same REmake treatment that Resident Evil 2 (1998), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) and Resident Evil 4 (2005) received. Even better if it could have the same level of graphical quality ARKLAY’s team has achieved.

Hopefully any future remakes like Resident Evil 5, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica will have graphics that are comparable to Unreal Engine.