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A beautiful reimagining of a classic survival horror game | Full Review - Resident Evil 4 Remake

1K View2023-03-28

Resident Evil 4 is the remake of the survivor horror classic bearing the same name back in 2005, as players continue the story of Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 2, and his brand new mission to find the kidnapped daughter of the US president.

🟩Pros

+Stunning graphics

+Well balanced survival horror and action elements

+Fluid and satisfying combat

+Compelling story and progression

🟥Cons

-No cons

📝Notable points:

Ada's Separate Ways side-campaign is missing from the remake

A remake I never knew I needed

After Resident Evil 2 and 3 were remade, the next logical target (aside from Code Veronica) was a Resident Evil 4 remake. I was one of the naysayers back then saying that Resident Evil 4, with its still decent 3D graphics, doesn’t need a remake yet. Boy I was wrong, as the Resident Evil 4 Remake (or just Resident Evil 4) is a beautiful reimagining of the 2005 masterpiece.

Well balanced survival horror and action elements

I also thought that by giving it the Resident Evil 2 treatment which focused on a terrifying horror aesthetic, that the action-packed shooter aspect of the original Resident Evil 4 would be effectively negated — with less enemies and less action. It seemed that I was wrong again, as the new remake has functionally balanced both aspects, providing a terrifying experience on top of providing action-packed shooter gameplay to the game.

Remake canon slowly taking over

At the start of the game, I was presented with the story introduction which expanded upon the original game further, with more details and scenes added to it, and much needed flashbacks from Resident Evil 2’s own remake. The exposition scenes and the initial prologue chapter are longer than I remember. It looks like the canon being used coming into this game is from the remake of the second game.

Everyone is now more grounded

This time around, the story embraces a more serious and realistic tone, gone are the cheesy one-liners and cocky Leon from the original game. And Leon overall has slightly less plot armor shown when it comes to the sequences and events. He is more vulnerable here and it results in a highly suspenseful storytelling experience for the players.

All of the characters from the original have returned, and most of their personalities are more or less consistent with the previous version, but I can’t help but notice some of their charm is gone or toned down for realism purposes. For example, Leon is not as quippy anymore and Luis is slightly less funnier now. However, Ashley is more independent here and doesn't require as much babysitting as the original game.

Stunning graphics

The graphics fidelity is just about on par with the Resident Evil 2 remake, if not better. Comparing it to the original classic, the jump in visual quality is leaps and bounds better. As a modern game on its own, the graphics are highly realistic; the dark medieval-looking setting, life-like lighting and stunning environments it has going on really sets the tone for the rest of the game.

The level of detail in the characters are stunning, from their well crafted animations that blend well with each other depending on the situation, to the characters’ realistic hair effects that look more fabulous than reality.

Gameplay Analysis:

Resident Evil 4 plays like a typical third person shooter, except for the fact that the movement and shooting has actual weight to it. You really feel Leon’s every movement in every step, dodge, and kick he makes.

This feel is consistent throughout all the other gameplay elements; The impact of the kicks are so satisfying, the ammo isn’t as plentiful as military shooters, and headshots here aren’t a guaranteed instant kill but merely a stun for you to satisfyingly kick enemies to the face. All of these elements makes Resident Evil 4 an effectively terrifying game despite being a half-part action game.

As Leon S. Kennedy investigates the missing daughter, he encounters this creepy cult-like settlement in the middle of the woods with even creepier inhabitants and creatures. As opposed to the more open area nature of Resident Evil 2, the design is now shifted into chapter-based linear adventure, in which the players progress through by defeating occasional hordes of enemies and solving fairly challenging puzzles to unlock passageways and move on to the next part. It sometimes require backtracking to previously visited locations, but with some minor twists and changes to spice the gameplay up.

Every once in a while, there will be a boss fight each with their unique mechanics that play out. While the whole map is interconnected and it still looks like an open world from the surface, how you progress through them is mostly linear.

Along the way, Leon will meet other friendly characters, including a mysterious ever present Merchant that can provide him weapons, supplies, and upgrades to help fight the cult. Players can find currency and items scattered throughout the maps, drops from enemies or breakables, to be able to trade with the Merchant's supplies.

There are now optional challenges, mini-games, and bounties that the game gives players across the chapters, providing some form of exploration and rewarding aspects to the game to better appreciate the environment and offer extra gameplay content.

The game is beginner friendly

There are many quality of life improvements in Resident Evil 4 compared to the original 2005 game and even the recent Resident Evil 2 remake. Since Leon is now a trained agent, he can now engage in devastating melee combat unlike when he was a rookie cop who just knew how to use knives.

He can also now counter and parry enemy attacks and easily turn the tide if enemies manage to close the gap. There is also an added stealth kill to further give players options as to how to approach new areas. You may want to thin out their numbers before engaging, or perhaps you just want to conserve ammo. However this mechanic is severely underutilized and its use fades away as you go deeper into the game.

The game also gives us many accessible settings when it comes to the controls and progression. Like the other remakes, there is now a snappy aim assist option which tremendously helps gamepad users, although the laser targeting that was present in the original is gone from the start and now needs unlocking. There is also an auto-save system now that is more convenient than the manual saves done in typewriters.

Overall, these major changes make the gameplay more fluid and convenient than ever, and gives players more freedom than in any of the recent Resident Evil titles, while still preserving that core Resident Evil 4 gameplay.

However, this buff to the main character also comes with caveats, especially with some buffs to enemies; now with more unpredictable animations that will make aiming – especially to the head — very challenging, they can lay down bear traps in the middle of a confrontation; catching players off guard, as well adding a durability mechanic to Leon’s knife – repairable by the merchant -– that will encourage you to conserve it use as much as possible.

Again with the shift to the more realistic tone, the gameplay is also more serious than the classic, with a more grounded action and none of the absurd quick time and over-the-top style of action that Resident Evil 4 started on and unfortunately took too far with its later games. Gone are the boulders, killer lasers, and long drawn out action fight scenes. But there are still action-packed set pieces when the narrative calls for it.

They really nailed the atmosphere of this game, and the survivor horror roots they went back into is retained, not leaning heavily towards the action gameplay it already left years ago. The hallways and interiors are way darker and scarier than ever, the environments are more gritty and dirtier than I remember. The violence is also made more gruesome with more detailed blood and guts put into it.

Even If I have played the original before and beat it multiple times, this still feels like a fresh experience that I was compelled to play from start to end with a laser focus.

Having said these positive points, it is important to note that the game is missing the amazing side-campaign Seperate Ways that show the character Ada Wong's perspective of the whole story, and the less important minigame Assignment: Ada.

Technical Performance:

Resident Evil 4 is a very optimized game that resulted in stable above 60 FPS performances all across the board with my specs (i7-8700k, 32GB, RTX 3080 @ 1440p). I also tested it on the Steam Deck and it can provide a consistent 45FPS performance at recommended graphic settings. (Although a 30fps lock is recommended). This is not surprising considering the RE Engine has performed so well in its past games that I’ve played. No DLSS support unfortunately but FSR is present.

Conclusion:

Resident Evil 4 is definitely a worthy remake of the original game, and perhaps the best remake Capcom has put out so far. Simply a beautiful reimagining of a classic masterpiece that manages to raise the bar even higher for remakes in general, and proves to us that even a masterpiece such as 2005’s Resident Evil 4 can still benefit from some improvements. Unless you get spooked so easily by its survival horror themes, this is a game that I would highly recommend to all fans of the action-adventure genre, and definitely a must-buy for any Resident Evil fan.

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