We’ve come a long way in the Resident Evil series. After begging for years for a remake of Resident Evil 2, we finally got one and it was such a resounding success that Capcom gave its sister game Resident Evil 3 the same treatment. Now comes a full remake of quite possibly the most seminal installment of the series: Resident Evil 4. A game that not only pushed the franchise in new directions but also influenced third-person action games for years to come. I’ll admit as a big fan of the original game myself, I was apprehensive to such a prospect. Recently I was allowed to have a hands-off demo of the game and can say I’m now convinced of the potential of this remake.
My demonstration opened up with Leon exploring ultra-atmospheric caverns. These areas are a stark departure from the grays and open-endedness of the village and seem to indicate that Leon will have some claustrophobic encounters with the Ganado. In my demo Leon was forced into choke point with a mutating Ganado while another stayed back a distance and proceeded to throw sticks of dynamite at him. Thankfully Leon is well equipped this time around and is able to assign weapons to the d-pad for quick swapping. It looks gratifying to see him pop a few shots off with his iconic pistol and swap to an impactful shotgun without the need to open up his inventory. Leon’s melee skills are also improved from his GameCube incarnation as he’s able to run up to downed enemies and stab them quickly with his knife while on the ground. All things considered, Resident Evil 4 looks to refine the combat to levels unseen in the series.
The caverns Leon explores are also home to a boathouse that looks to have the trademark pathways that cross-over with each other and create shortcuts allowing for opportunities for exploration and backtrack. At one point Leon mentions to himself that a door is locked, meaning players will have to find keys to progress through certain areas. While exploring, Leon will also encounter puzzles and while I didn’t see how the one I was shown was solved, it makes me excited to see them make a return to the remakes after a lack of them in Resident Evil 3.
While exploring a dock area Leon has access to the merchant and a “save” typewriter which acts as an item box holding items that don’t fit in his inventory. Using the merchant he is able to upgrade and customize his weapons, allowing players to capture that feeling of upgrading from the original, and he is also able to swap inventory cases at the typewriter. In a new addition, Leon is even able to equip charms to his inventory case that apply passive buffs. There seems to be a great amount of freedom offered up here when it comes to player choice in how they want to customize their loadouts. A welcome addition, to say the least.
Perhaps the most exciting part of my demo was seeing the iconic castle remade from the ground up in impressive detail. It’s cliched to say that a remake looks like how your brain remembers it but the team at Capcom have poured an impressive amount of effort into the environment. It gives off gothic and spooky vibes in the absolute best way possible; I was very impressed with what I saw. This is also where I first saw Ashley, the fan-favorite character from the original game. Leon and Ashley seem to have the traditional experience of him being able to have her follow him or stay put and there are also some surprises in store gameplay-wise that I won’t spoil here. Ashley seems to be far more fleshed out and an actual companion this time rather than just being a tedious escort mission. Don’t worry though, she can still be picked up and carried away, but with Leon’s new bag of tricks I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of any of that.
My demo concluded with the iconic Krauser fight recreated in brutal detail. Capcom has recently revealed that this remake won’t feature any of the quicktime events of the original and so far they look to deliver on this promise. Leon is fully player controlled in his encounter with the famous Resident Evil 4 villain as they exchange brutal blows with each other, stabbing and slicing in spectacular gory detail. Leon also appears to be able to counter and defend himself against the attacks in this fight which leads to a cinematic experience that seems to be all gameplay. If every single boss fight of Resident Evil 4 received this amount of care and redesign, then old fans and newcomers are sure to be in for a terrifying, adrenaline-fueled experience.
I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on the full release of Resident Evil 4. I had my doubts that it even needed a remake but after seeing more footage and some of the newer elements, I am all in on what appears to be a full package Resident Evil experience. Not much longer to wait either as Resident Evil 4 launches on March 24 for PC, PS5, PS4, and Xbox Series X/S.
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