There was a review here. It's gone now.

It is an understatement to say that I anticipated this remake to be a mediocre at best due to Bloober Team's track record and how high the esteem held for this iconic title is.

I dove in expecting the worst and I was wrong. They managed to re-imagine a classic and knock it out of the park.

From sound design to level design, from combat to exploration, from story to atmosphere.

Once I started playing, I craved more. I didn't want to stop. I reached the first ending shortly before writing this and the only reason I'm taking time to write this review instead of instantly beginning round two is I need to go to bed.

I can't count how many times I was amazed by how well the town was structured to how sounds around me made me second guess if there was an enemy too close for comfort.

They give you so many options to tailor your playthrough to how you want it. Enjoy a more modern approach to UI? You have that. Want practically no HUD as the original? You have that too.

As for what could be improved:

There are moments where the game doesn't fully acknowledge when you're close enough to an item to pick it up. Sometimes you have to back away and then go back up to the item in order to be able to grab it. This happened not infrequently but will be noticeable during tense scenarios. A big one for me was during the final boss fight. Almost every item in the arena I had to double back for because it just didn't realize I was close enough to grab it.

They seemed to REALLY like the parts in the original where James puts his hand in a hole in the wall and jumps into a bottomless hole in the floor. There's at least 6 different times for both in the remake whereas there was once or twice it happened in the original. Not sure why they felt we needed that, but it is what it is.

Didn't make sense to change Maria's outfit while keeping every other character's outfit 1:1. And no, just because there is a moment where she finds the OG outfit and asks you "Do you think I'd look good in this?" doesn't make it make sense. Does it change the story overall? No, but what's the point?

Yes, Maria and Angela both have the DEI jaw, but neither of these characters are there for fan-service. This is not a coomer game. Weird decision? 100% of the time. Does this make or break a story? No.

While on the topic of story, there are a couple of lines omitted that were present in the original. Most noticeably in the iconic Maria cell scene. While not critical to the over-arching plot, it does dampen the context and character of Maria.

Overall, I'm happy with my time spent returning to a classic with a new coat of paint.
Here's to round two.

Also, the giant knife is no longer a weapon you can use. It is now part of a short-lived section where it's utilized as more of a key. Sad to see it go, but it would have been hard to use effectively with how the enemies are much more aggressive and deadly in this iteration.

Final score: 9/10