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Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Episode 4: Metamorphosis PS4 Review

Capcom’s episodic experiment with their long-running Survival Horror series has proven to be such a successful concoction that almost feels like it was created by accident; a lower-budget spin-off that releases its content piecemeal while also featuring a heavy emphasis on non-fighting support characters (one who is a vulgarity-spewing teenager and the other a precocious little girl) sounds like a recipe for disaster. But the team in charge of Revelations 2 wisely utilized the tools in their possession to build a functional, fun and fast-paced experience as well as a surprisingly entertaining story made better through plot twists that made each cliffhanger an agonizing week-long wait. But all good things must come to an end, with Episode 4 delivering the final chapter in Claire and Barry’s campaigns and tying all the loose ends in the storyline…as long as you know what you’re doing.

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First, the bad news. Claire and Moira’s final chapter lasts under an hour and barely features any combat. The final portion of this duo’s adventure features a penultimate confrontation with The Overseer that offers most of the remaining pieces of the puzzle, but it’s up to Barry to fit them all together. As what was speculated from the start, the true focus of Revelations 2 has always been on Barry and his pint-sized partner, with his final chapter featuring a lengthy combination of combat and puzzle-solving, as well as a couple of new mechanics to watch out for as well as a recognizable shout-out to one of the series’ most recognizable landmarks. The final confrontation leads to some actual revelations in Revelations 2, followed by an abrupt ending that would have made for an interesting, if not infuriating, cliffhanger for a theoretical Revelations 3.

Except it turns out there are actually two endings to the game, which is understating the amount of content players would be missing out on if they failed to meet the conditions of the “good ending”. To unlock this ending, players must make a crucial decision two chapters prior to the finale. Thankfully, you are not required to play everything in-between: simply replaying the decisive chapter and jumping ahead to the finale will suffice, and is also encouraged as the true climax of the game is one of the most entertaining in the history of the series, an epic action set-piece before the series became chalk-full of them with numbing frequency.

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The shorter length and arbitrary conditions of the final episode may not be as well thought-out as previous episodes, but as a combined whole it is a solid finish to a spin-off that successfully restored a lot of lost faith with the Resident Evil brand. The extra amount of content, including additional challenge modes, costumes, weapons and the consistently entertaining Raid Mode only sweeten the deal even further without factoring in the two additional DLC episodes. Hopefully Capcom can take the lessons learned here and apply them to future Resident Evil games. If nothing else, the concept of a third Revelations game with another episodic format is now met with much excitement instead of reservation.

8 out of 10