Resident Evil Revelations 2: Contemplation was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Capcom Entertainment Inc. It was released March 3, 2015 for $5.99. XBLA Fans’ Michael Cheng purchased a copy out of pocket for review purposes.

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Fun fact: one of my favorite characters in the Resident Evil series is Jim Chapman from Resident Evil Outbreak and Resident Evil Outbreak File 2. His classic line was “my life is s—.” So hearing Resident Evil Revelations 2: Contemplation‘s Pedro Fernandez spout out, “my life is awesome” in a similarly whiny tone to Jim’s made me crack a smile.

Contemplation has Claire arriving at a seemingly deserted fishing village surrounded by fellow TerraSave members that were abducted and dropped on an unknown island. Once you’re allowed to leave the bar, you can step outside and wander around the fairly open village. This area is reminiscent of Resident Evil 4, and the events that occur during Claire’s campaign continue to follow that game’s vibe. Players will encounter one or more boss fights, which can be challenging on higher difficulties if you’re unprepared from a lack of ammo, a lack of health items or even having the wrong type of ammo. All in all, Claire’s section is a high-octane action sequence with many segments that instill a false lull of safety.

Barry’s campaign follows in the footsteps of Claire’s campaign as he attempts to visit Moira’s last known position. While the tougher monsters exist in Barry’s second episode campaign, the section as a whole is fairly uneventful. There is only one major event in Barry’s segment that might not even happen depending on the actions taken in Claire’s section. Barry’s episode two campaign was very disappointing; however, it’s where most of the major story reveals occur, preventing it from being a complete waste of time.

The story is making good strides forward and has the potential to be captivating — despite being made up of nothing but convenient plot twists and reveals — and the major villain is an interesting throwback to a previous Resident Evil title that very vaguely mentions this character.

Play time for the first playthrough of episode two clocks in at about two segments of around one hour each depending on how much time you spend exploring. Players on Xbox One at the time of writing have earned around 18 minutes for Claire’s campaign for episode two and seven minutes, 55 seconds for Barry’s. Expect this kind of time to be a trend for the remaining episodes.

The part of Resident Evil Revelations 2 that continues to shine is Raid mode. Contemplation adds three more characters and another 12 levels across three difficulties making for 36 additional stages. This has extended the life of Raid mode further with players now being able to reasonably reach the level 100 cap for a character as well as being able to unlock the secret character for earning 90 completion medals. (There are currently 90 stages total not counting DLC stages.)

Episode is overall superior to the first episode, and it adds in many things that Penal Colony might have left out, showing that Resident Evil Revelations 2 may yet have more tricks up its sleeve.

To find reviews of other episodes (as they become available), check out the Resident Evil Revelations 2 review hub.