Few video game remakes are as significant as Resident Evil (2002). The formerly GameCube exclusive took a PlayStation 1 classic and exemplified the horror in every sense. Resident Evil Remake is a much scarier game than its source material, with even more modes and unlockables to keep the replay value high. It’s not the only reinterpretation of the original Resident Evil, though.
Released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS, Resident Evil: Deadly Silence is a remaster of the PlayStation original that brings in plenty of quality of life features and even new game modes. A decade and a half later, Deadly Silence remains one of the best ways of replaying Resident Evil. Beginners get access to one of the friendliest versions of a survival horror classic while series veterans get to relive the game that started it all with a new coat of paint.
7 Quick Turn
Quick Turn was introduced into Resident Evil with the third game, Nemesis. By holding back on the analog and pressing Circle, Jill & Carlos could quickly spin around – circumventing one of Tank Controls’ biggest limitations. Quick Turn lets players avoid damage with a bit more agency while simply improving player mobility.
Deadly Silence makes Quick Turn part of Chris and Jill’s inherent skill set, allowing players to turn them around by holding down on the D-Pad and pressing A. Quick Turn naturally makes it much easier to avoid Zombies, Hunters, and everything in-between. This does make Resident Evil noticeably easier, but not in a way that dampens the difficulty curve.
6 Quick Knife
Much like how Resident Evil 3 introduced the Quick Turn, Resident Evil 4 introduced the Quick Knife. By simply holding a button, Leon would arm his Combat Knife without players needing to open their inventory. Deadly Silence revamps the Knife entirely, not only giving players the ability to Quick Draw it with L, but making it a part of both Chris & Jill’s natural tool kit (toning down item management).
Quick Knife makes it extremely easy to cut downed Zombies while Quick Turn allows players to reposition in a flash. Both go together to make combat far more engaging than it was in the PlayStation original. This goes double since Deadly Silence also goes out of its way to add in Auto-Aim, which was inexplicably removed from Resident Evil’s original North American release.
5 Tactical Reloading
In earlier Resident Evil games, players needed to commit to their clip. Chris and Jill couldn’t manually reload their guns in the original game and it wasn’t until Resident Evil 4 where Capcom added in Tactical Reloading. Instead of needing to exhaust a clip to reload or hop into the menu, players could now reload with the tap of a button. Tactical Reload isn’t particularly useful in the context of Deadly Silence’s design, but it does make gameplay more seamless while cutting down on menu time considerably.
4 Door Skip
The original Resident Evil masked loading times by having characters physically open doors, transitioning gameplay to a brief first person perspective in the process. Resident Evil’s ingenious method of hiding load times helped maintain immersion while building tension for the next room.
At the same time, opening every single door slows down gameplay and Resident Evil is a game meant to be replayed often. Completely unique to Deadly Silence, players can actually skip all the door animations in the game. It’s an incredible quality of life addition that’s easy to miss when replaying the original Resident Evil 2 or 3.
3 Rebirth Mode
Deadly Silence features two main story modes. Classic is more or less the original Resident Evil as it was on the PlayStation. There are a few changes to accommodate the touch screen, but DS is ostensibly a completely faithful port. Rebirth Mode is Deadly Silence’s Arrange Mode – a harder version of the main story with remixed puzzles and enemies.
Rebirth Mode seems designed with fans of Resident Evil 4 in mind. There are far more enemies in the mansion, ammo is more abundant, and there are first person Knife Battles where players need to fight back enemies with the touch screen. Most puzzles also use the DS’ hardware in some capacity, including a puzzle where players need to blow into the microphone.
2 Multiplayer
The fact Resident Evil dabbles in multiplayer so often is maligned by the greater fanbase, but it can’t be ignored how often Capcom nails turning a solo survival horror experience into some of the most captivating two player games on the market. Resident Evil: Deadly Silence’s Multiplayer Mode is incredibly obscure, but it’s a fantastic means of revisiting the original RE.
Players are free to choose from half a dozen different characters (all members of S.T.A.R.S.) while the game keeps track of their Rank from mission to mission. The goal is to have two players working in tandem with one another, but it’s very much possible to get through each mission solo – simply using another DS and cart to get the mode running.
1 Overall Presentation
Playing Deadly Silence is a totally different experience than the original Resident Evil on account of the presentation. The visuals are much crisper, Chris & Jill’s character models are rendered in greater detail, and the map is also viewable on the DS’ top screen – letting players know exactly where they are in the mansion at a glance.
The soundtrack also isn’t totally faithful to either the original game or the Director’s Cut rearrangement, missing tracks and reusing others in cutscenes where they don’t necessarily belong. The music isn’t distracting by any means (and is on a whole much better that the DC OST), but the differences are still worth pointing out.
