Resident Evil 4 remake

RE4's Leon sets his sights on the hottest new game of 2023. Image: Capcom. The Resident Evil revival marches on with a vengeance. Early ...

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. 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. Kennedy](https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-4-remake-chainsaw-demo-nexus-mods-leon-1850224617) sent to a Spanish village to rescue the President’s daughter from a weird cult. [Resident Evil 4 remake](https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-4-remake-re4-ashley-qte-knife-durability-1850062148) makes it sound like the best game of 2023 so far. “When it’s good it’s brilliant, but largely in the exact same ways as the original.” Here’s what other reviewers are saying about the year’s latest blockbuster: [Giant Bomb](https://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/resident-evil-4-2023-review/1900-803/) 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.

Leon and Luis getting up close and personal. Screenshot by Oscar Gonzalez/CNET. Resident Evil 4 Remake is a substantial improvement over the original game, but ...

He's on a mission to rescue Ashley, the president's daughter, from a cult in rural Spain. One issue I and many other Resident Evil fans had with the original RE4 was simple: It wasn't that scary. These enhancements make RE4 Remake a wonderfully horrific experience for any Resident Evil fan. Capcom ups the fear factor with several improvements to the mood and setting, from the horrific-looking monsters to nerve-wracking areas where Leon's flashlight is the only light source. With its over-the-shoulder camera and precision aiming, Resident Evil 4 revolutionized not only survival horror but the shooter genre as a whole when it was released in 2005. This time around, the control and presentation advancements are a little less dramatic, mainly because Capcom is updating a newer video game.

Since then, it's been hailed as one of the best video games of all time. Its goofy dialogue and action-based gameplay made for an entertaining adventure with ...

Whether you’re a long-time fan of “Resident Evil 4” or a newcomer to it, this remake is an incredible game. These new features are smart touches that honor the foundation of the original game while also modernizing it for the current day. The game is also intensely replayable as there are multiple difficulty modes and special unlockable weapons for finishing a playthrough under certain conditions. When Ashley is accompanying Leon, you have the option to either have her stay close in order to run past enemies or give you space so you can safely shoot them down without her getting in the way. The haptic feedback from the trigger buttons also adds a touch of immersion as you can feel your weapon’s drawback and recoil. Enemies will come at Leon in droves, but he has a huge arsenal of pistols, machine guns and shotguns to take them down. The game follows Leon on a mission to a rural village in Spain. Whenever Leon patches in a radio signal to speak with someone, you can hear it through the controller’s speakers. In this “Resident Evil 4” remake, the combat sequences are exhilarating but afterward allow for moments of brevity in between. It’s a very silly premise that works as a sort of B-movie aesthetic in the original game. In this remake, Leon has much more flexibility and is able to perform motions such as backing up while also aiming down and shooting. But the remake still retains some of the original’s levity by allowing Leon to melee wounded enemies with a roundhouse kick or suplex.

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.

Just as Capcom's remake of “Resident Evil 2” had the highest aggregate score of any 2019 game release on Metacritic, it looks as though the upcoming ...

Will they try and bring Dreamcast’s “Resident Evil: Code Veronica” into the modern day? With the game’s release imminent, the obvious question becomes where does Capcom go next. 2019’s RE2 remake snagged a tad lower 93/91/89, 2020’s RE3 remake sits at a decidedly lower 84/79/77, and 2021’s outright new game “Resident Evil Village” stands at 84/83/83.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is so focused on being taken seriously that it forgets it's a remake of Resident Evil 4, one of the least serious horror games.

No matter what situation you put him in, the man finds a way to suck the energy out of the moment, and that lack of enthusiasm just seeps into everything A grumpier Leon Kennedy growling "Give me a break" for the fifth time in a row like it's his only spoken line of dialogue. Instead of undercutting the tension, it allows Mikami to amplify it with Resident Evil 4, while sprinkling in more levity alongside. Leon Kennedy was a decent lead in Resident Evil 2, but it's not like he had gallons of personality in that game. So it's a bit jarring how utterly, painfully joyless Resident Evil 4 Remake sets out to be for far more of its runtime than is ideal. Even in the more grounded games like Resident Evil 7 and Village, you have rednecks on a rampage in a chainsaw duel and a towering dominatrix vampire queen.

I've enjoyed using a controller and playing an action-adventure game on a console, and I couldn't be happier.

I had no incentive to learn the gamepad, as my button-mashing ways were never punished. I bought the console to play After a couple of close calls and quick time encounters, I soon got to grips with the PS5's pro controller, the DualSense Edge, and honestly, I haven’t looked back since. It had been so long since I’d used a controller that I feared the part of my brain responsible for that area of expertise had died a rotten death. Being able to quickly cycle between guns in the weapon wheel or parry and dodge upcoming shots with infinitely better ease than you would have on a keyboard is a by-product of Capcom thinking about consoles and, therefore, controllers before anything else. Monks are crashing down from the sky and crawling out of the sewers like a plague of rats; they’re swarming the water hall with no sign of stopping.

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.