Players control former elite agent Jill Valentine and mercenary Carlos Oliveira as they attempt to find a vaccine and escape from a city during a zombie outbreak.

The game is played from a third-person perspective and requires the player to solve puzzles and defeat monsters while being pursued by a creature called Nemesis.

To honor the more action-oriented approach of the original, developers revamped the movement speed and animations from the Resident Evil 2 remake and added the ability to dodge attacks.

[11] On higher difficulty settings, ammunition and health recovery items are scarce, and getting past opponents without killing them is generally encouraged.

Points are earned by completing a number of challenges, ranging from finding all weapon upgrades to destroying hidden bobbleheads known as Charlie dolls.

[14] On September 28, 1998, 24 hours prior to the events of Resident Evil 2, most of Raccoon City's citizens have turned into zombies as the result of an outbreak of the T-virus, a mutagenic virus secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella.

officer Brad Vickers before he is killed by zombies, Jill evades Nemesis and is rescued by Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (U.B.C.S.)

Jill helps them reactivate power to the subway and departs on a train with Nicholai and Mikhail, while Carlos and Tyrell remain behind to find Dr. Nathaniel Bard, an Umbrella scientist who may have developed a vaccine for the T-virus.

After Carlos retrieves Bard's vaccine and administers it to Jill, Tyrell discovers that the U.S. government plans to destroy Raccoon City in a missile strike to eradicate the T-virus infestation.

She also learns that Nicholai is a supervisor hired by an unknown contractor to sabotage Umbrella's efforts to hide their involvement while collecting combat data on the company's bioweapons, including Nemesis.

[16] The team wanted Jill to be resilient and capable of surviving nearly impossible odds, while Carlos was designed to feel like her true ally.

[20] To honor the more action-oriented approach of the original game, the team revamped the movement speed and animations from the Resident Evil 2 remake, and included a counter action which allows the player to automatically aim at an opponent's head after dodging an attack.

[22] Although the art team made sure the new character model stayed true to the original concept,[22] they redesigned it so that it could fit into a reimagined and photorealistic setting.

"[25] In an interview with PlayStation Blog, Sakata further explained that Nemesis's new attire was meant to be "restrictive gear that was haphazardly, quickly created to contain it, which is why it has such visuals.

[26] As a result, the team improved the artificial intelligence of Nemesis so that he could use weapons, grab Jill with his tentacles, and jump long distances to appear right next to her.

[29] Additionally, the Mercenaries - Operation: Mad Jackal mode, which involves the player trying to escape the city within a time limit, was excluded from the remake.

[17] Resident Evil 3 was officially announced during Sony's State of Play livestream presentation on December 10, 2019,[32] shortly after development on the game had been hinted by several sources.

[33] A tease referencing the game was then added to the Resident Evil 2 remake via an update, awarding players with an achievement if they found and read an in-game letter left behind by Jill.

[38] A collector's edition was made available for the console versions, featuring extras such as a Jill Valentine figurine, a hardcover art book, a Raccoon City map poster, and a two-disc soundtrack.

[39] A board game based on Resident Evil 3 was released by Capcom on April 28, 2020, supporting up to four players and featuring a 19-hour campaign with an overarching storyline.

[40] A downloadable content pack that allows players to unlock Jill's S.T.A.R.S costume and items from the in-game shop without the need of completing challenges was released in August 2020.

[47][48][49][58] In a very positive review, IGN considered Resident Evil 3 as strong as its acclaimed predecessor, stating that the game "does an amazing job of recapturing the horror and tension of the late '90s original while completely modernizing its gameplay.

[9][56][57] GameSpot stated that, although the opening hours are very effective, the game fails to sustain the same level of excellence when its scope begins to narrow towards the end.

[9] PC Gamer called Resident Evil 3 "an extremely shallow game, with lavish production values failing to mask just how rushed and unambitious it feels.

"[56] The game's presentation and visuals were highlighted very positively, with critics praising the detailed and polished environments,[3] tense atmosphere,[9] lighting effects,[59] and interesting and varied locations.

[51] IGN praised the storytelling for delivering dramatic moments that carry the gameplay without unnecessary exposition,[3] while Edge magazine said that the game was better written than its predecessor because it knows how to embrace the original's pulpiness while modernizing its characters.

[57][53] Critics generally agreed that Resident Evil 3 lacks its predecessor's depth because it places more emphasis on moment-to-moment action than exploration and puzzle solving.

[12][9][56][53][59] GameSpot explained that the fact that the game follows the same premise as the original but excludes some locations such as the clock tower and park, making its short length even more apparent.

[67] Although the latter is a 55% decline from its predecessor's 4.2 million copies sold within a similar time span, Capcom considered the game's sales to be solid and in line with their expectations.