When one thinks of survival horror entertainment, the natural viewing atmosphere is one spent in solitude with low-lighting. The recent release of the “Resident Evil Revelations” duology on the Nintendo Switch seeks to change that perception. While these titles have been around on handheld machines before, the Switch incarnations seem to have improved them.
2012’s Revelations was widely perceived as a return to the series’ foundation of tense atmosphere that seemed to transition into action horror with Resident Evil 4. Revelations features a similar control scheme and perspective as Resident Evil 4 while allowing players to shoot while moving. Most of the game has players guiding Jill Valentine through a cramped cruise ship left to rot as biological weapons overtook guests and staff, occasionally switching to Chris Redfield in scenarios that feel more at home among the later RE games. One improvement with the Switch version is a greater sense of fidelity than the initial 3DS iteration, letting players absorb every terrifying second and image while laying in bed, playing in handheld mode with headphones inserted. Additionally, players will note a better presentation when playing away from the dock as docked play struggles to maintain a framerate of 60 fps.
Revelations 2 comes with a bit more baggage than Revelations. While the title released for multiple systems and the Switch version offers a constant 30 fps when docked to a 1080p television, some would be confused for thinking you had hooked up the PS4 release. Despite the name, Revelations 2 has little directly connecting it to its forebear; the game features a completely detached storyline that was initially offered in an episodic release schedule that changed the focus character with each iteration. While Revelations 2 looks better in docked mode than Revelations, it is just as appreciable in handheld mode. The only mechanical negative the game faces is abhorrently long load times that twist the knife of reloading from a death.
While both games are available for the Switch for $19.99, buyers should beware that the two-game bundle only features a physical copy of Revelations-Revelations 2 comes as a download voucher. Switch owners should be mindful that, at 25 GB, Revelations 2 will require Switch users to have a microSD card of at least 32GB capacity. As the Switch was built with portability in mind, going all-in and buying both titles from Nintendo’s digital shop is a sacrifice work making.
