Despite not appearing in a mainline game for quite a while outside the remakes, Claire Redfield is still considered to be one ofResident Evil’sprimary protagonists, and a very important character to the overall lore and narrative. First appearing alongside rookie cop Leon Kennedy inResident Evil 2, Claire would go on to have a few of her own adventures where she would eventually meet some friends, allies, and of course, horrifying B.O.Ws along the way.
Just like with the rest of the protagonists, there isn’t exactly one solid depiction of Claire throughout the games. While she always retains a few key characteristics and a fairly similar appearance,Capcom have still experimented with different versions of the characterthroughout the years to see what fans like the most. While she hasn’t been changed around as much as the likes of Leon or Chris, there’s definitely a noticeable difference between how Claire is presented in the games, but which iteration really stands as among the very best of them all?
Operation Raccoon Cityis a spin-off game that focuses on a group of Umbrella soldiers that are tasked with sweeping the streets of Raccoon City by eliminating any survivors. Because it’s set during the events of the second and third game, it means that Claire does show up in a few scenes here and there, and while her designs look great, she unfortunately doesn’t get enough screentimeto really let her charismatic personality shine through.
Still, she does get a pretty badass scene where she starts firing a grenade launcher down at the Umbrella troops to try and keep them at bay, and her undying care for Sherry is showcased by the way she tries to protect her near the end. WhileOperation Raccoon Cityremains somewhat faithful to her original depiction, Claire sadly doesn’t get enough screentime to make her very interesting or compelling as a character.
By the timeRevelations 2takes place in the storyline, Claire is a much more hardened and experienced version of her past self, being a little more serious and stoic this time around. While Claire still loves throwing out a one-liner or two, even going as far as to call herself a “Claire sandwich” at one point, she loses a lot of her charm and personality roughly half-way into the game when the stakes reach a boiling point.
Her affection for Moira and her boss Neil still showcases just how much Claire cares about helping people around her, which is a nice development from herResident Evil 2iteration, but it can also feel like she’s a bit of an outsider to the story at times, especially compared to characters like Barry and Alex Wesker being top-priority. With that being said, this version of Claire still has plenty of shades of her former self, along with a few combat segments that prove that her experience with taking down B.O.Ws and maniacal scientists has made her a true force to be reckoned with.
Capcom decided to take a more realistic and gritty angle to Claire’s character in the remake ofResident Evil 2, and while it definitely makes her a lot more believable and grounded, it also sacrifices just a bit of the charisma that a lot of fans adored from her previous depictions. Claire shows that she’s more than capable of holding her own in the remake, taking out countless zombies and even managing to escapethe behemoth known as Mr. X, all while protecting Sherry in the process.
Claire’s protection over Sherry is heavily emphasized in this depiction, which does make her story feel a little more personal, but the missing scenes between her and Leon from the original mean that her interactions with him feel a little jarring and forced at times. While Claire is usually known as being quite sarcastic and witty as a character, this was also stripped back in the remake, and although it’s still a unique depiction of the character, it’s not quite as memorable as some of the others.
Despitethrowing out a few clever quips now and again to break up the tensionof the situation, the Claire seen in the originalResident Evil 2is constantly shown to be a very caring and concerned individual who’s always putting her own life on the line to save others around her. While she initially shows that she cares for Sherry and doesn’t want to see her put in harms way, Claire eventually becomes dedicated to helping the girl after learning more about her parents, and what they did to her.
Her underlying passion to rescue her friends and escape the zombie-infested city also shows in her attitude towards the villains, such as when she seems baffled and annoyed that Annette doesn’t know that her own daughter is missing in the sewers. Her determination to continue finding Chris after she escapes also proved to fans just how dedicated and forward-thinking Claire is as an individual, and it was ultimately this depiction that made her such a fan-favorite.
Darkside Chroniclesprovides a re-telling ofResident Evil 2andCode Veronica, and although the cutscenes are more or less identical, there are a few changes made to Claire which modernized her character and made her a little more engaging, especially in theResident Evil 2section. The moment Claire appears on-screen, she flings a knife straight at a zombie which saves Leon from getting attacked, showing that she’s not to be messed with, while also demonstrating the extensive training she received from her brother.
While she keeps this no-nonsense badass persona for the whole scenario, there are still several scenes where Claire’s more considerate side shines though, such as when she meets Leon in the sewers after he’s been shot, or when reuniting with Sherry. Considering that this game wasa fairly niche spin-off title, Capcom poured a surprising amount of effort and time into updating Claire, and while she isn’t much different in theCode Veronicascenario, herResident Evil 2re-iteration is a lot of fun to watch.
After the destruction of Raccoon City, Claire made her way to a secret Umbrella facility in France where she believed Chris was being held. After being caught red-handed and thrown onto Rockfort Island, Claire finds herself fighting to survive against the hordes of zombies, the Ashford Twins, and even Wesker, who occasionally appears out of the blue to attack her. Despite being on the back-foot for the entire game, Claire has an endless amount of charisma in this game, often speaking very sarcastically to get under other people’s skin.
Nowhere is this more clear than when she first meetsAlfred Ashford, the primary antagonist of the game, who she labels as “One of Umbrella’s lower level officers” and calls his private palace a “Back water base”. This is similarly demonstrated when she interacts with the endlessly annoying Steve, whom she isn’t afraid to patronize, but also shows that she cares a lot for him, going out of her way to save him on numerous occasions. Claire is just so much fun to be around inCode Veronica, and it feels as though Capcom took all the good aspects of her character inResident Evil 2, and simply enhanced upon all of them to make her a little more engaging and layered as a protagonist.
