Resident Evil 2 Remake Returns With Co-Op Multiplayer
Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.
Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.
Resident Evil 2 is one of the most beloved entries in the franchise and widely considered to be one of the greatest horror games available. It has garnered such an illustrious reputation for good reason, its tense gameplay, stunning visuals, and terrifying Mr X. proving to be the perfect blend of fun and horrifying. Fortunately for fans, the game isn't quite content resting on its laurels, as it has plenty more up its sleeve for fans to enjoy.
As Capcom and fans alike continue to tweak RE2's industry-defining remake, it starts to resemble a remaster of itself, a rather impressive feat considering many believed its original release to be the definitive edition of the experience. That sentiment will likely continue to grow, as its latest upgrade, which launches alongside Resident Evil's real-world debut and the smash-hit film adaptation, enhances the experience significantly, ushering in a whole new co-op multiplayer mode for fans to enjoy.
Resident Evil 2's remake proved to be such a success that Capcom has since used its model to rejuvenate its successors and, indeed, is even eyeing up remakes of RE's most controversial releases. However, it absolutely has room for improvement, including the addition of co-op. After all, as the old adage goes, everything is better with friends, including skulking around an eerie police station being relentlessly hunted, and having to deal with all manner of undead.
Fortunately, the recently released Resident Evil 2 mod, simply titled Local Couch Co-Op from creator Shopcreeper01, introduces split-screen co-op for the entirety of the game's campaign. However, this isn't a simple case of having two Leons running around blasting zombies; rather, Local Couch Co-Op completely revamps the experience, adding in several additional playable characters, the ability to play alongside an AI, and so much more. The Local Couch Co-Op mod for Resident Evil 2 introduces seven unique ways of playing the game co-operatively, each with its own levels of difficulty.
The first is by sharing the entire screen with a friend; the second is splitting it between the two of you. You can also play using fixed camera angles for both players, utilize the mod's original HUNK-style controls, or forgo playing with a real person altogether and have the second character be controlled by a rather competent AI. Finally, there's a Pragmata-inspired mode where player two shoots from atop player one's shoulder, and an experimental mode in which player two is the only one targeted, forcing player one to escort them.
In addition to these modes, the secondary character can be given one of three different loadouts. The first, titled HUNK of Boy, ostensibly makes the second player invincible, gives them unlimited ammo, and the ability to heal player one. The second, HUNK'y Friend, is the standard loadout, giving the second player their own loadout while making them susceptible to attacks. The final option, HUNK of War, gives player two a knife and a handgun for a true test of skill. All of these apply to the 15 different characters in the mod, which includes:
- HUNK
- Leon
- Claire
- Ada
- Sherry
- Tofu
- Ghost Survivors
- Chief Irons
- Ben
- Annette
- Marvin
- Helicopter pilot
- Elliot
All of this works seamlessly thanks to several key considerations that ensure the original experience isn't tarnished. All of these additional features can be seen via the game's official Nexus Mods page, where it can be downloaded. This mod only works via local multiplayer, however, which requires two people to be playing in the same space on the same screen. You can use a mouse and keyboard alongside a controller, or two controllers, whichever tickles your fancy. Regardless, it is a transformative mod for Resident Evil 2 on PC and an exceptionally unique way of experiencing its iconic story.
Systems
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.