Resident Evil 2 goes Barcelona: Raccoon City finally has a map

Barcelona now has its very own Raccoon City, Resident Evil 2 style

A homemade video has turned Barcelona into Resident Evil 2's Raccoon City with no studio budget, no actors and no lighting. Just a phone, a few recognizable streets and a voiceover that already works as a rallying cry: that endlessly repeated «cigaaaaarrrooooo». The paradox is rather funny: Europe's most visited city is currently circulating online as a zombie apocalypse set, and nobody seems to find it odd.

From Raccoon City to Barcelona: the map everyone recognizes

The video works through an accumulation of familiar details. A burger lying on the ground, an «Imaginarium» sign that doesn't fit, a «Spare change» placard that, the argument goes, would look classier as «Stopped, 5 kids». The joke isn't the zombie: it's the backdrop. That's why the comparison hops from city to city —London or Paris, people say, would make a fine Silent Hill— and everyone claims their own town as their personal Raccoon City.

It's not the first time the video game has anticipated reality. Years ago, the Left 4 Dead 2 community had already built a Barcelona map that was taken as a joke back then and is now being reread in a different light. The meme also has a political offshoot: a GTA-style version targeting the PSOE (Spain's Socialist Party) is circulating alongside it.

The enthusiasm isn't unanimous

Some celebrate the homemade ingenuity while others dismiss it as a bore saved only by a couple of gags, with the recurring demand for a proper mod. And then there's the uncomfortable drift: part of the reaction moved from fiction to comparing urban insecurity and crime among European capitals, territory where data is usually conspicuous by its absence and slogans take its place.

With the map already drawn and the joke doing the rounds, the question isn't whether there will be a sequel. It's how long it takes for the humor to stop sounding like a diagnosis.