According to Microsoft exec Larry Hryb, who often refers to himself as "Major Nelson," Xbox One owners can now download the Resident Evil HD Remake ahead of the game's release on Jan. 20. Major Nelson made the announcement in this official blog post.

Though Xbox One players can download the game now, they won't be able to play it until 12:01 a.m. PT/3:01 a.m. ET on Jan. 20. This gives fans of Resident Evil plenty of time to clear off space on their Xbox One hard drives in order to make room for the game. According to this official Xbox Store page for the Resident Evil HD Remaster, you'll need 14.68GB of hard drive space in order to play the game, which only costs $19.99.

Capcom is giving the original Resident Evil another significant face-lift in the form of this remastered edition. The initial version of Resident Evil was released back in 1996 and was a huge hit for the PlayStation. Resident Evil popularized the survival horror genre, which was explored by previous games, but none reached the level of success the first Resident Evil did.

Since then, multiple successful survival horror video game franchises have been launched, including Silent Hill, Bioshock, Dead Space and others.

This is actually not the first time that the original Resident Evil has been remade and re-released. Back in 2002, a Resident Evil remake was developed and released exclusively for the Nintendo Gamecube console. That game, as this Metacritic page demonstrates, was warmly received. Some critics and fans regard it as the best game of the entire series.

For instance, Metacritic indicates IGN gave the first remake a score of 90 with the reviewer concluding it was "the prettiest, most atmospheric and all-around scariest game we've ever played."

Meanwhile, GameSpot said, "Capcom has nearly perfected its craft and created the best Resident Evil ever."

It will be interesting to see whether this new remake will enjoy a similar level of success once it's launched in less than two weeks.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.