Interactive Resident Evil 2 Trailer Asks You To Make A Choice

Resident Evil 2 is set to launch next week and, to get everyone ready for the zombie-infested romp, Capcom has released an interactive trailer that lets players determine what happens next.

Player choice has certainly become popular these days. Telltale Games (RIP) got the ball rolling with series like The Walking Dead and Batman, while series like Assassin's Creed have started giving players more agency (sometimes) in determining how to play their character.

Now the idea of player choice has even crept into our video game trailers, such as the one where Capcom is asking players to decide things like whether they'll follow Resident Evil 2 protagonist Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield.

It's a pretty cool way to tease various aspects of the game, as well as give players an idea of what playing as each character will be like when the game launches next week. The above trailer is pretty short and ends with a single decision: Which character will you follow? If you're looking to see both trailers through to the end, we'll at least take out one of those steps for you and give you the option to jump directly to the Leon or Claire trailer. First up, the series' golden Boy Scout, Mr. Kennedy.

I don't want to get into too much spoiler territory here because that would be a tremendous waste of the work Capcom has put into these brief adventures. Suffice it to say that Leon makes a mad dash for the Raccoon City Police Department, where he was supposed to be serving his first day on the force before all hell broke loose. In the trailer, you'll need to decide whether or not you want to heal yourself following an attack or look for a weapon. The choice you make will determine how the trailer ends.

Capcom states that "Survival is only the beginning" before reminding everyone that Resident Evil 2 launches on January 25 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. There are a few different versions of the game available for pre-order, so I suppose you could consider that your "first real choice."

Now, on to Claire Redfield's tale.

As you probably gathered from the intro trailer, Claire is in Raccoon City because she's looking for her brother, Chris. Chris is a member of S.T.A.R.S., the group of agents sent in to explore a zombie-infested mansion in the original Resident Evil. He's also the beefy hero of several other entries in the series, and even got a free DLC chapter in the recent and wonderful Resident Evil VII.

Once the big separation happens with Leon, Claire finds herself exploring the city's underbelly, which is just as infested with undead nightmares.

To be clear, this game is not a "choose your own adventure" tale, but rather a straight-up third-person action game. The point Capcom is trying to make is that you'll be making a lot of choices on the fly throughout Resident Evil 2, all of which have the potential to end in you becoming a snack.

If you're still unsure if this creepfest is right for you, be sure to check out the demo sometime this weekend.