First Impressions: Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 2: Contemplation [Barry & Natalia] (NS)

This is Part 2 of my look at Episode 2: Contemplation from Resident Evil: Revelations 2 from Capcom on the Nintendo Switch.  Part 2 covers the second chapter where you play Barry Burton and Natalia Korda, whereas Part 1 covered the first chapter where you play as Claire Redfield and Moira Burton with a cameo appearance by Natalia.  And just to warn you anyway, there are going to be spoilers here, but I will do my best to be as ambiguous as possible.

The real question is where did Natalia get that sweater!? Did Barry possibly
bring it for Moira? It does look a little baggy on Natalia. . .

Barry and Natalia's chapter starts right where their previous chapter left off, which was a welcome relief after the jostling start that Claire and Moira started off with.  Plus, having recently come off of playing the bonus episode Little Miss prior to even starting Episode 2, it was nice to already be familiar with a lot of what the areas that were covered in B&N's chapter, but also because a lot of that was also covered in C&M's chapter.  The point here is, we are again backtracking through areas we have already played before (twice now), but things are a little different because Natalia has a stun ability (throwing bricks at enemies, which is something I completely forgot was a thing until the end of this chapter), and because Barry is also armed to the teeth with a pistol, magnum, submachine gun, and a scoped rifle.  Now if I could only teach Natalia how to fire a pistol, we would be set because having her yell at Barry where to shoot can be a bit frustrating, but more on that bit later.

One thing that I ended up doing but it did not make sense as far as in-game logic is concerned, was that I used the knowledge I had from Claire & Moira's chapter to locate places and boxes (the kind that only Natalia can unlock) and then looked for those places in this chapter.  Since none of those characters had been to the shantytown before, they would not have that knowledge and I am also not going to play this game as if I did not already know where to go while looking around.  I enjoy roleplaying my characters, but not to the point where I am going to be at a significant and unintended disadvantage.

Image taken from Resident Evil Fandom page.

The biggest in-game mechanic that was introduced in Contemplation happens in this chapter while B&N are in the shantytown; although I think that these creatures might technically have been introduced chronologically in Little Miss, which was released after Episode 2.  Glasps are invisible to Barry and only appear as a shimmering pus-colored mist to Natalia, but they produce a buzzing and warbly visual effect to both when they are near.  The mechanics behind the Glasp are purely because RE: R2 is a co-op game and creating a monster that benefits from two people playing cooperatively probably seemed like a great idea.  In a single-player game, however, there is only one way to approach these disgusting maggot filled blobs of grotesqueness.  You first need to use Natalia to get a general idea for where the Glasp is, then be sure that the Glasp is close enough to you for Natalia (as controlled by the computer when you switch back to Barry) to be able to kind of direct your shots once you, as Barry, start firing.  To date, I have not been actually attacked/hit by a Glasp, but I do not know how many bullets I have wasted trying to hit them while Computer Natalia tells me directions like, "No, higher!  To the left!  It's getting closer!  More to the right!"  The directions themselves are somewhat helpful to an extent and I can perfectly imagine a second player actually giving similar directions to the other real player, except with real people, you could have Barry shoot the Glasp with a rifle from a distance and possibly kill it with one shot instead of using a full clip of pistol ammunition to hit three-to-four times.  I would genuinely love to see how quickly these creatures move because right now, I only have a general idea of where they are by the fleshy blood splatters followed by a lot more pock-marks on the wall from missed shots, topped off with the Glasp's corpse splooching on the ground when it dies.

There really is not a whole lot more to Barry and Natalia's chapter.  There is some banter between the two characters about Barry worrying about Moira, Natalia having been rescued during the terror attack on Terragregia, and a little bit about what happened to her at the end of C&M's chapter. There is also fair amount of scouting by Natalia and sneaking by Barry as the most common enemy in B&N's chapter are the Revenants which thankfully always follow a pattern in their patrols, so it is not too difficult to sneak up behind one and one-shot stab them in the back.  You do end up backtracking through a lot of the same areas as Claire and Moira, as well as in Little Miss until you reach the building where C&M fought the Vulcan Blubber.  Except this time, you move up floors and end up fighting Mr. Drill-Man from C&M's chapter back in the shantytown.  I did read that if you manage to somehow kill Mr. Drill-Man in the shantytown with C&M, that this boss will no longer be there when you play B&N, which is a nice touch, but one that I think I would only attempt on an easier difficulty setting. 

After the fight with Mr. Drill-Man, which did take me three or four attempts, becoming increasingly better at dodging (also having upgraded the recovery time before being able to dodge again) you take the two characters all the way into the tower where more of the story is unveiled in the way of who had been communicating with C&M through their bracelets and how she fits into the greater Resident Evil mythology.  I did enjoy the lull in action leading into the tower, which allowed for many breaths to be taken and to take in the atmosphere.  While in the lobby of the tower, there was some environmental storytelling that was not recognized by either of the characters, but immediately drew my attention, creating hypothesis as to where the story was going, which still may be the case, but I feel like I am a bit off on my assumptions.  Barry & Natalia's chapter ended with a scene that really makes me hope that there will be a jump in time the next time around (unlike their start of this chapter) because I really do not want to start off a chapter with a big ol' boss fight.

You know, despite my occasional frustration with Natalia when having to kill the Glasps, I did enjoy this chapter more than C&M, if only because I was actually able to kill Mr. Drill-Man, and that there was not a return of Vulcan Blubber; I really hope that this bastard does not make a return outside of the optional Raid Mode, but I would not be surprised if it showed up again if only to make additional use of this asset.  I am looking forward to seeing where B&N's story goes in the search for C&M.  And I am interested to see what happened with C&M, but am not looking forward to the two mini-boss fights that seem to be the standard for this duo, unless that formula is flipped and B&N's chapter ends up becoming the action-heavy chapter.  I will just have to wait and see then.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental-ish


P.S.
And for those of you who want to see my results for this chapter can check out my sweet, sweet results below!

I still have no idea what those flea-looking bloody puss bubble things are under the blue Tower coins.