Resident Evil Revelations vs Revelations 2: Which Is Better?
Resident Evil Revelations
Resident Evil Revelations 2
WinnerVerdict
Revelations 2 takes it four categories to two, winning combat, story, visuals and co-op, while the original keeps the two things its defenders never stop naming: the Queen Zenobia and Raid Mode. The at a glance table above disagrees with that scoreboard, and the disagreement is the interesting part: both reception rows go to Revelations 1, which holds 4.53 out of 5 from our players against 4.29 and a Metacritic of 77 against 72. Revelations 2 is the better built game and the original is the better liked one, on a sample roughly one seventeenth the size.
- Play Resident Evil Revelations if you want the claustrophobic ship, the deeper Raid Mode, and a campaign that behaves like survival horror rather than an action game.
- Play Resident Evil Revelations 2 if you want the better written campaign, the tighter controls, or a second player on the couch next to you.
Scoreboard
Resident Evil Revelations 2 wins 4, Resident Evil Revelations wins 2
At a glance
| Resident Evil Revelations | Resident Evil Revelations 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | February 2012 | February 2015 |
| Platforms | Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC | PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita |
| Length | ~8 h | 9 h main |
| Player rating | 4.53 / 5 (9,800)higher | 4.29 / 5 (163,653) |
| Critic score | 77 / 100higher | 72 / 100 |
| Co-op and multiplayer | online up to 2 | Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Split screen; local up to 2 |
| DLC | n/a | 1 DLC |
| Genres | Action, Horror | Action, Horror |
| Setting | The Queen Zenobia, a derelict cruise ship in the Mediterranean | An abandoned penal colony and the forest around it |
| Leads | Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, BSAA | Claire with Moira Burton, and Barry with Natalia |
| Campaign structure | Twelve episodes, all in one release | Four episodes, released weekly in 2015 |
What the 3DS origin still costs Revelations 1
Resident Evil Revelations began life on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and almost every complaint filed against it traces back to that. The Genesis scanner existed to give a handheld something to do with its second screen. The episodic structure, with its recaps and cliffhangers, was built for short sessions on a bus. The bullet sponge enemies our players still name were tuned for a control stick the size of a thumbnail. None of that was a mistake on the 3DS. All of it survived the port.
Revelations 2 is what the same team built once none of those constraints applied, and it fixes the mechanical half of the list without inheriting the atmosphere that made the first one worth porting.
That is the whole decision, and it is not the one the search results are having. The top nine results for this question are a Reddit thread, four forum threads, a YouTube comparison, a Wikipedia entry and one 2015 review that covers both games together. Not one of them cites a player rating.
- Start with Revelations 2 if you want the better campaign, or if a second person will be on the couch with you.
- Start with Revelations if the ship is what you came for, or if Raid Mode is the part you expect to keep playing.
- Play both in release order if you want the sequel's Claire and Barry story to land, since it assumes you know who these people are.
World and exploration: Resident Evil Revelations
Revelations, and this is the one category where the forums barely argue. The atmosphere and setting of the Queen Zenobia is the first entry in our stored player praise for the original, and the ResetEra thread on this exact question opens with the same reading: Revelations had a better setting and atmosphere, while 2 had a better story. The derelict cruise ship is a closed loop you learn by heart, flooded corridors and ballrooms you keep re-entering from new angles, and it does the one thing survival horror needs a space to do, which is get smaller the longer you spend in it. Revelations 2 answers with an abandoned penal colony that opens into forest and factory. It is more varied and much less memorable, and the repetitive level design in its own complaint list is the cost of that trade.
Combat and gameplay: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Revelations 2, and its own players say so in the plainest possible terms. Improved mechanics over its predecessor sits directly in our stored praise for the sequel, and the matching complaint for the original is clunky gameplay mechanics, particularly the scanner. That scanner is the sticking point: Revelations 1 asks you to stop, raise the Genesis device and sweep a room for hidden pickups, which is a fine idea that punctures every tense moment it appears in. Revelations 2 drops it, adds a dodge and lets you swap between a fighter and a support character mid encounter. The original is not defenceless here. Inconsistent enemy design and bullet sponge mechanics is one of its logged complaints, and the sequel has no equivalent. On feel, moment to moment, the newer game simply plays better.
Story and characters: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Revelations 2, and the gap is wider than the scoreboard suggests. Our catalogue logs two separate story complaints against the original: a convoluted and sometimes nonsensical story, and multiple timelines and character switches that disrupt pacing. Revelations 1 keeps cutting between Jill aboard the ship, Chris elsewhere and a pair of comic relief agents nobody asked for, and the residentevil.org thread on this pair names those characters specifically as what wasted the game's promise. The sequel's corresponding entry is praise rather than complaint: interesting character dynamics between Claire and Barry. Two pairs, two campaigns, one linear timeline, and a relationship between Barry and Natalia that the writing actually earns by the end. The episodic release schedule frustrated people in 2015, which is a logged complaint, but it is not a story problem in 2026 when all four arrive at once.
Visuals and performance: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Revelations 2, and the reason is structural rather than a matter of budget. Revelations 1 was built for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012 and reached PlayStation as an upscale of that game, so its asset density, its corridor widths and its enemy counts were all decided by a handheld. Revelations 2 was designed for home consoles from the start. Neither is clean, and it is worth saying so: technical issues and bugs in certain versions is a logged complaint for the original, and technical issues and optimization problems is a logged complaint for the sequel. This is not a comparison between a polished game and a broken one. It is a comparison between a handheld game wearing a high definition coat and a console game that occasionally stutters, and the second of those holds up better on a PS4.
Replayability and builds: Resident Evil Revelations
Revelations, and this is the category that keeps the original in the conversation at all. Raid Mode is enjoyable and offers replayability is stored player praise for the first game, and a solid weapon upgrade system sits right beside it. The sequel's Raid Mode is logged as engaging with RPG elements, so both are liked, but the Steam thread on this pair draws the distinction sharply: Revelations 1 is more skill oriented, and Revelations 2 is more farming and grind oriented. That is the difference between a mode you get better at and a mode you put hours into. Repetitive gameplay and level design is a logged complaint against the sequel and not against the original. If the campaign is a one time thing for you and the side mode is what you actually keep installed, the older game is the deeper one.
Co-op and multiplayer: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Revelations 2, with a caveat that decides it for some readers. The sequel's campaign is built for two, with one player on the fighter and one on the support character, which is why it sits on our best co-op horror games list and the original does not. The GameFAQs thread on this pair splits it the same way: 1 is better in single player, 2 is better in multiplayer. The caveat is in the at a glance table above. That row lists the original at up to two players online, and the sequel at single player, multiplayer, co-operative and split screen with up to two players local, so the sequel's campaign co-op is the couch next to you rather than a friend in another city. If you have a second controller and a second person, this is a real win. If your co-op partner is online only, it is not.
What players say
Resident Evil Revelations
Praise
- The atmosphere and setting of the Queen Zenobia
- Raid Mode and a weapon upgrade system players still call solid
- A diverse character roster
Complaints
- A convoluted and sometimes nonsensical story
- Clunky mechanics, the Genesis scanner above all
- Inconsistent enemy design and bullet sponge enemies
Resident Evil Revelations 2
Praise
- The character dynamics between Claire and Barry
- Raid Mode with RPG progression layered on
- Improved mechanics over its predecessor
Complaints
- Technical issues and optimization problems
- AI companions players find frustrating
- Repetitive gameplay and level design
The games
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Resident Evil Revelations 2 better than 1?
- On balance yes, by four categories to two. Revelations 2 takes combat, story, visuals and co-op, and the original keeps setting and Raid Mode. Both reception rows run the other way, though, and that is worth knowing before you choose: Revelations sits at 4.53 out of 5 from 9,800 Game-Scout ratings against 4.29 from 163,653, and holds a Metacritic of 77 against 72. The older game is better liked by a much smaller and more self-selected audience, and both are filed as mixed in our catalogue.
- Should I play Resident Evil Revelations 1 before 2?
- You do not have to, but it helps. The two campaigns share no plot, so nothing is spoiled, and Revelations 2 opens with a new cast on a new island. What the first game gives you is the people: Claire Redfield and Barry Burton both matter more in the sequel if you already know them, and Revelations 2's strongest logged praise is the character dynamics between Claire and Barry. Release order is the better run if you intend to play both.
- Is Resident Evil Revelations 2 the same as Resident Evil 2?
- No, they are separate games that only share a number. Revelations 2 is a 2015 episodic spin-off starring Claire Redfield and Barry Burton on an abandoned penal colony. Resident Evil 2 is a mainline entry set in Raccoon City with Leon Kennedy and Claire, originally from 1998 and remade in 2019. The Revelations games are their own sub-series and sit outside the numbered timeline.
- Which Revelations game has the better Raid Mode?
- The original, and this is the main reason to still play it. Both games list Raid Mode in their stored player praise, but the Steam thread on this exact question draws the line clearly: Revelations 1 is more skill oriented, and Revelations 2 is more farming and grind oriented. The sequel layers RPG progression on top, which some players prefer, but repetitive gameplay and level design is a logged complaint against Revelations 2 and not against the first game.
- Is Resident Evil Revelations 2 free?
- Its first episode is. Episode One, Penal Colony, is free on the PlayStation Store and includes Raid Mode, which is why our availability data files the game as free; the other three episodes and the extra content are paid. That makes the sequel the cheaper way to test whether the paired-character system suits you, since Revelations has no free entry point.
- How long is Resident Evil Revelations 2?
- About 9 hours for the main story across its four episodes. The length row on this page reads roughly 8 hours for the original against 9 hours main for the sequel, but those are two different measures: a median recorded playtime for Revelations and an IGDB main-story estimate for Revelations 2. Read that row as a rough guide rather than a ranking. Both campaigns run well past either figure if you commit to Raid Mode.
Sources
- Reddit r/residentevil: Which Resident Evil Revelations is better, 1 or 2?
- ResetEra: Resident Evil Revelations 1 VS 2, Which One is Better?
- Steam Community: Revelations 1 VS 2?
- GameFAQs: Which Resident Evil Revelations is better 1 or 2?
- Game-Scout players: Resident Evil Revelations
- Game-Scout players: Resident Evil Revelations 2