Resident Evil 4 remake

This reimagining includes all the design knowledge of the whole series, from the awkward shuffling tension of the first version to the gory horror of ...

It is resplendent, delicious and decadent, like an incredibly rich banquet served amid the detritus of some horrible battle. Rest assured, Resi 4 is still a grandiose mix of hostage rescue drama and occult horror story, and those who played the original will get to revisit familiar moments as well as discover fresh twists. The canyon area is a vast maze of wooden walkways, the wood weak and old enough to give way at any moment dropping you into the maw of another desperate standoff. Honestly, the subliminal environmental signposts in this game are some of the best I’ve ever encountered – this is an experience that somehow feels tight and controlled yet also at times unscripted and emergent. The locations where big fights take place are expertly designed, always featuring places to run to and catch your breath for a second, so you learn to read the spaces as well as enemy attack patterns. Gone were the awkward expressionist camera angles and roving third-person perspective; gone too was the peculiarly staccato and unintuitive combat of the first three titles.

The Resident Evil revival marches on with a vengeance. Early praise for Resident Evil 4 remake makes it sound like the best game of 2023 so far. While.

And so, while I think it can show you why Resident Evil 4 was fun, goofy, and endearing, if you’re someone interested in just why this old game has such an enduring legacy – especially one strong enough to warrant such a massively expensive remake – your best bet is to still play the original, to try and put your mind in a pre-Resident Evil 4 world to understand how that game could change everything. With all due respect to the likes of The Last of Us and God of War Ragnarok – which are both excellent in their own ways – Resident Evil 4 has no time for dialogue-heavy deep and meaningfuls. As great as this remake is – and let me reiterate, it’s incredible – I do not think it will show you why Resident Evil 4 was so groundbreaking. The Resident Evil 4 remake feels like what it was like to play Resident Evil 4 in 2005. But this is not a standalone game, it’s a remake of one of the greatest games ever made and, when it comes to the crunch, it falls short. Resident Evil 4 remake is the re-envisioning I wanted, but also not the one I expected to get. If Resident Evil 4 remake was an original, standalone title, it would be a very great game indeed, and anyone who plays this will have a good time (maybe not on Hardcore though: it really is brutal). The trouble with Remakes is you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t – change too little and players will ask what the point of it all was. The Dead Space remake feels like what it was like to play Dead Space in 2008. Two fire-breathing dragon statues from the original game are now moved into the infamously difficult “water room.” That giant robot is also reimagined to be a bit less silly and is now mixed in with another infamous late-game challenge. Kennedy](https://www.kotaku.com.au/2023/03/resident-evil-4-remake-mods-free-leon-from-his-shirt-among-other-things/) sent to a Spanish village to rescue the President’s daughter from a weird cult. Out March 24 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, the Resident Evil 4 remake updates one of the best entries in Capcom’s long running survival horror series.

Capcom offers a safe and more intense remake of RE4, but is it worth buyin' over the original, stranger?

As a remake, it could have done more, but that’s holding it to the highest esteem compared to Resident Evil 2 remake – one of the great games of all time being remade and compared to one of the greatest remakes of all time is a tall order. [Resident Evil 4 remake](https://stevivor.com/tag/resident-evil-4/) is a darker, more intense and faithful remake of one of the greatest games of all time, but plays it very safe. The village segments and unravelling the mystery of the Plagas is fantastic – and it’s essentially a shot-for-shot remake early on, right down to the catchy tunes playing as Leon solemnly arrives in the back of a police car. Nailing the perfect headshot in Resident Evil 4 (2005) is one of the great joys in gaming. The opening hours of Resident Evil 4 remake remain my favourite, as they were in the original. But the satisfaction of perfect headshots is few and far between in Resident Evil 4 remake. Even with the ‘snap’ aim assist enabled, it’s sluggish and out of time with the speed of combat. Taking influence from the increasing pace of combat in Resident Evil 5, 6 and 2 remake, Leon is more dextrous in motion, but so are his opponents, and must rely on more than popping headshots. On the scale of its predecessors, reimaginings of the PS1’s [Resident Evil 2](https://stevivor.com/reviews/resident-evil-2-review-a-return-to-survival-horror/) and [RE3](https://stevivor.com/reviews/resident-evil-3-review-its-own-nemesis/), RE4 finds itself somewhere in the middle. The Resident Evil clunk is still there, in-line with the recent remakes, so it doesn’t really feel like a modern game – well, not a 2023 game. In approaching a remake, Capcom has acknowledged the original game’s sacrality and has been careful to preserve that experience – warts and all. [Resident Evil 4](https://stevivor.com/tag/resident-evil-4/) (2023) is a faithful, much darker, intense and challenging remake of Resident Evil 4 (2005), but one that’s very risk-averse.

Capcom's remake of Resident Evil 4 highlights what made the original special, but shapes it into something more thrilling and cohesive.

The remake purposely messes with the expectations of those who know the game inside and out. I also found the post-story content to be quite light, aside from a harder difficulty mode and the bonus shop for purchasing alternate cosmetic items for Leon and Ashley. Generally, I was able to make it past these hurdles after rethinking tactics and making sure I was using all the tools I had available to me, but it’s still a frustrating situation to find yourself in. Unlike the zombies from other Resident Evil games, the Ganados and other monsters in RE4 utilise more coherent tactics and applied aggression to pummel Leon. Whether it’s a simple case of using Leon’s firearms to disarm foes or open them up to melee counter attacks, or using more complex tactics like taking advantage of environmental objects to trap enemies, the number of ways I could dish out damage and survive a scrape gave me a strong sense of satisfaction. The many new flourishes and details added in the RE4 remake are truly enjoyable. Of course, there are some details and sequences from the original that didn’t make the cut for the remake, but I wasn’t as bothered by their absence as I thought I would be. The remake reinforces what made the original Resident Evil 4 such an essential game, and in modernizing and rethinking the game’s overall tone and structure, it also makes for a more intense and satisfying descent into survival horror. Where the original Resident Evil 4 really set a new standard was in its approach to third-person action gameplay with cinematic flourishes. With a story set in 2004, the Resident Evil 4 remake sees a jaded Leon S. While the remake puts more effort into grounding its story, adding more meaningful character moments and contexts for the setting, it retains that core idea of RE4 being a horror thrill ride. Given the immense legacy of Resident Evil 4, the idea of remaking the game from the ground up feels like a daunting proposition.

Resident Evil 4's remake builds on the original in great ways, though it doesn't go as far as previous remakes have done.

We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Even leaving aside the fact that it’s a remake, it’s still a solid game overall, and it’ll give joy for new players who experience this refreshed and renewed Resident Evil 4. The two characters to benefit the most from the remake treatment are Luis and Ashley, Leon’s two main side characters in the story. This becomes more troublesome later in the game when you have to sprint away from larger, more aggressive enemies (and those horrible Regeneradors), and it feels like Leon’s running through quicksand. While I sometimes wish the developers had changed even more than they did, I’m satisfied with the ratio of faithfulness-to-new in the remake. Her scenes with Leon lack the chemistry of his with the other two allies, and it makes her appearances (which are admittedly rare) fizzle. These extra bits give the game some replayability and extra stuff to do. The game almost takes glee in pushing the limits of what the player can handle in all three of the main areas of the adventure. It’s not hugely useful, but it is nice to have the option so you can save a few bullets before the hordes starting coming after you in force. There’s enough of both to keep the veterans guessing and the newcomers entertained. Leon can now move while aiming — which is way more of a boon than you might realize — and he can also crouch to hide. The assignment quickly spirals out of control as he must contend with a whole town of parasitized Ganados, a shady parasite-based cult and keeping tabs on a few allies who aren’t quite what they seem to be.