After enjoying the heck out of Resident Evil Requiem earlier this year, I’ve come to realize that the Resident Evil series might be one of my favorite in all of video games. There are few franchises that are as consistently good as Resident Evil; I want to know what’s happening with all of the characters, I want to know what happens in every story, and I haven’t even gotten to how fun the gameplay is. And while I am a Nintendo man at heart, I do play games hosted on the various consoles of the Distinguished Competition, so suffice to say, the remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 are all titles that I have previous experience with. When I heard the trio was coming to Switch 2 on October 16, 2026, I was beyond excited to see some of the best modern action/survival horror games are coming Nintendo fans.
Recently, Capcom was kind enough to let us go hands-on with all three games running on Switch 2, and I walked away from my play session immensely impressed. Before I dive into how the titles run on Switch 2, there are plenty of fans out there who likely aren’t hip to what the remake trilogy (well, until Resident Evil Veronica launches, at least) is all about. Yes, there are the cloud versions of Resident Evil 2 and 3, but we don’t talk about those. Instead, let’s discuss what makes this trio special.
It all started with Resident Evil 2 back in 2019 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The most obvious change that RE2 and each subsequent remake have brought to the table since are stunning, overhauled visuals. Not that the Resident Evil series on PlayStation was anything to sneeze at—the pre-rendered backdrops of those titles remain stunning piece of art and design—but with modern hardware, Capcom was able to push the level of realism through the roof. You can practically smell the decay of the living dead as you roam the streets of Raccoon City, its details never more vibrant than they are here. It’s a rare example of a modern reimagining truly capturing the feel of the average player’s fantasies of what it would actually be like to wander around the game world.
It was sad knowing that the voice actors for Claire Redfield and, especially, Leon S. Kennedy were being recast, but actors Stephanie Panisello and Nick Apostolides, respectively, fully inhabit the roles of both and make the characters truly their own. Their performances humanize both characters quite a lot, which is likely a testament to both the skill of the actors as well as Capcom’s broader decision to jettison the camp from the original games. That’s something I’ll touch on more in a bit, but insofar as striving to make this iteration of RE2 more realistic, I can concede that the direction of the performances perfectly suits that.
The gameplay is where things really change in RE2, adopting a control setup more in line with the one introduced in Resident Evil 4 back in the days of Nintendo GameCube. At the time, RE4’s controls were something of a revolution, not just evolving the Resident Evil series’ signature tank controls for something more modern, but third-person shooters, in general. Carrying over this style of third-person shooting and exploring to the RE2 remake was likely something of a no-brainer, and it’s implemented with great effect. What’s more, joined with the inventory system of the first three Resident Evil games on PlayStation, there’s a nice mix of resource management in the remake that later games in the series lacked.
The RE2 remake was a hit, and was swiftly followed by remakes of Resident Evil 3 in 2020 and Resident Evil 4 in 2023. Like RE2, RE3 and RE4 bumped up the quality of the visuals and modernized combat, but retained much of the spirit of what made the originals so endearing. With RE4, Capcom opted to maintain things like the attaché case inventory system, as well as the more arcade-like nature of shooting and melee brawling, from the original. Taken as a whole, the trilogy is everything one could hope for from remakes of as beloved games as RE2, 3, and 4, but they’re not perfect. The lack of camp, as mentioned above, is noticeable, as there’s a dourness and grimness to these games that isn’t felt as strongly in the originals. And while it’s easy to argue in favor of the new shooting mechanics, RE4, in particular, is arguably not quite as compelling as its predecessor in terms of gunplay.
Any grievances about the remake trilogy are admittedly small, however, in comparison to everything the games do right. Which is why it was so exciting to hear that all three games were coming to Switch 2, and on the same day, no less. Sitting in Capcom’s headquarters, Switch 2 in hand, I wondered how well the games translated to Nintendo’s hybrid console. And the answer is… they’re all running great. Really great. I expected Resident Evil 2 and 3 to look and perform best as they were both older titles, and I wasn’t wrong. Everything ran buttery smooth, and I didn’t experience any stuttering or slowdown as I played. RE4 was the bigger question mark, as it was targeted for PlayStation 5 upon release, with the PlayStation 4 version running considerably less optimally. How would that shake out on Switch 2?
Again, quite well. I did feel that of the three games, RE4 was the most compromised in terms of visuals. I played all three titles in handheld mode exclusively (we weren’t given the option for docked play), so I’m sure this factors in, but the graphics were a little fuzzier than those in RE2 and RE3. Everything ran solidly, however, and I can forgive a lesser fidelity for smooth gameplay any day of the week. As it stands, the Resident Evil remake trilogy is shaping up to be a fantastic addition to the Nintendo Switch 2 library. These are three legitimate modern classics that show great respect to the source material while also doing new, interesting things with them. Whether you’ve played the originals or not, if you’re a fan of action games, and/or survival horror, be sure to have 10.16.26 marked off on your calendars.