Fashion assassin
The recent Resident Evil 2 remake is Good. It’s scary and sometimes silly, an all-around engaging (and replayable!) reimagining of a classic game. Resident Evil 2‘s modern incarnation is a survival horror high water mark.
It’s the haunting, photorealistic visual style that truly elevates Resident Evil 2. The Racoon City Police Department is a haunted house in the throes of chaos, a threatening mess of cluttered rooms and barricaded hallways. There’s an almost obsessive level of attention to detail at play here. Capcom’s collection of high-quality textures and impressively rendered models combine to make Resident Evil 2 a game that feels alive—something that’s no small task considering most of the RCPD’s current occupants are reanimated corpses.
The few warm bodies left in Racoon City are fashionable, despite the undead outbreak. Leon Kennedy is a rookie cop so wholesome that he can’t help dressing in semi-casual clothes that practically scream “I don’t want to look too cool, but I sort of want people to notice me,” to his first day on the job. Claire Redfield, the game’s other protagonist, rocks a red leather jacket that is, among other things, rad as hell. Even Ada Wong, a shadowy agent with questionable motives, makes some bold wardrobe decisions, electing to go for a Deepthroat by way of Forever 21 look. She bursts onto the scene in a trenchcoat and wears designer sunglasses inside during the game’s first half, before swapping into a maybe-too-form-fitting-for-subterfuge dress later. Basically, Resident Evil 2‘s cast is a bunch of fashion icons.
But there’s one character who shows up late and steals the show. He’s big. He’s mean. And he bursts onto the scene rocking an absolutely legendary fit. Allow me to introduce you to Mr. X, Resident Evil 2‘s resident style icon.
Mr. X is a biological weapon. In Resident Evil 2 he’s a constant threat, pursuing the game’s heroes with an unrelenting gait. He’s deceptively quick—especially considering the dude is like 6″11—and stupidly strong. Mr. X can lift a helicopter with relative ease and squish a human skull without missing a beat. More than anything though, he can kill on a runway.
I mean, look at this guy. If fashion is the art of looking good, Mr. X is a master of minimalism. With just a dark duster, matching gloves, a fedora, and boots that sound like they weigh seventy pounds, he manages to turn heads. Confidence is key, and the combination of Mr. X’s vacant stare and his willingness to wear a kit of clothes people usually reserve for jokes on the internet point to a post-outbreak career as a model. The problem is that he’s just too good at chasing people.
Mr. X looks like the exceptionally ripped offspring of Thanos and Inspector Gadget. He’s a beefcake in a game full of slender humans. Mr. X is a style god and easily the best part of Resident Evil 2.
