Resident Evil 1.5

Resident Evil 1.5
Gameplay screenshot of Resident Evil 1.5, showing protagonist Elza Walker and a more modern Raccoon Police Station.
Developer(s)Capcom
Director(s)Hideki Kamiya
Producer(s)Shinji Mikami
SeriesResident Evil
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Survival horror
Mode(s)Single-player

Resident Evil 1.5 is a scrapped prototype version of the 1998 survival horror game Resident Evil 2. It was under development by Capcom for the PlayStation, and was directed by Hideki Kamiya and produced by Shinji Mikami. Beginning development a month after the completion of Resident Evil in early 1996, the game was drastically different than the completed version of Resident Evil 2. It starred a female biker, Elza Walker, rather than Claire Redfield. It ultimately reached 60-80% completion before development was restarted nearly from scratch.

With builds rumored to be circulating since the 1990s, Resident Evil 1.5 became the focus of dedicated fans and video game preservationists to obtain and release a copy to the public. Purchased by a small group of fans in 2011 from a video game collector and kept private, a half-finished version was leaked online in 2013. While a more complete version of the game is theorized to be possessed by Capcom, it has never been shared in any capacity. Despite this, the game's existence has been referenced by Capcom, who included Elza's motorcycle suit as an unlockable costume for Claire in Resident Evil 2's remake.[1]

  1. ^ Burns, Benjamin (2019-03-08). "The 15-year hunt for Resident Evil 1.5". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2023-08-25.