In Resident Evil 3 Remake, the bioweapon called Nemesis has been one of the most iconic monsters to fight in the game, even in the original version. With the different varieties of weapons and tentacles that he uses in his humanoid form, he is a force to be reckoned with. There is a story to learn behind the creation of this walking disaster, and game director Kiyohiko Sakata tells PlayStation Blog all about it.
Resident Evil 3 Remake bioweapon background story
Sakata revealed that at first the Umbrella Corporations’ bioweapon research had two branches: Europe and America. Europe had the project Nemesis while the American branch handled the T-virus research and worked at the same time
The Nemesis project was going to make an artificial creation of a parasite that was discovered in the wild, which then created to NE-a. What they planned was to find a live host that could contain this artificial parasite and then make it turn physically and transform its host into a bioweapon. The problem was that there was no host that could handle the power of NE-a, nor was there any means of regulating it. The project was halted.
The American branch had actually finished their creation of the Tyrant bioweapon with the help of the T-virus and they could even do actual field tests with it. Umbrella Europe felt the pressure and decided to use the Tyrant as a base to create Nemesis.
The Nemesis project was pushed forward and then gained results in the end, but it had some caveats. The NE-a needed to be regulated with a fitted chest piece on the host, and the host itself needed a restraining gear from stopping it from going berserk while in the field.
Sakata also explained why Nemesis always shouts S.T.A.R.S. in Resident Evil 3. In the early parts of development, they were actually considering adding some dialogue to showcase its heightened intelligence, but halfway through it made him talk too much and that made it less scary instead. In the end, they went for the S.T.A.R.S. phrase to give it a scarier factor.
The game director also revealed why the Nemesis in this remake had the ability to infect zombies with parasites. They wanted to differentiate it from the Tyrant in Resident Evil 2, make it a more formidable opponent aside from using heavy weapon artillery, and they got inspiration from the Ganado in Resident Evil 4.
Nemesis is indeed a very formidable bioweapon to encounter in this game with different forms, but the humanoid type is still, by far, the most intimidating of them all.
Resident Evil 3 Remake is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
Interview source: PlayStation Blog
