In every gamer’s heart, there is a single genre of game that stands out from the rest and can ignite something within those gamers’ very souls that others just can’t, and for me, that genre is horror. I can’t explain to you the joy I experience from a good horror, and it’s a feeling very few other games can even get close to, let alone match.
Unfortunately for myself and other horror fiends, a good horror game is hard to find, and if you’re brave enough and bold enough to go back through the archives and dust off an old classic – chances are you’re going to be left disappointed by the outdatedness of the game in any case.
This is why I was beyond excited when two of my favourite franchises, Silent Hill and Resident Evil, announced they would be remastering and or recreating some of my all-time favourite games while the promised Silent Hill games are still to be seen; Resident Evil has been delivering and man oh man am I glad to receive it.
Resident Evil 4 remake completely reimages the 2005 classic survival horror game. Even though Resident Evil 4 is a game that Capcom has repeatedly re-released throughout the years, the reason for this is that Resident Evil 4 is still a great game. The Resident Evil 4 remake is the greatest of all. In many ways, it’s even better than its original was back when it was first released and helped further my love for the genre.
At its core, the Resident Evil 4 remake is still the same game it’s ever been. Players take on the role of Leon S. Kennedy a few years after that fatefully terrible night in Raccoon City. Leon is now a federal agent and gets sent on a dangerous mission to save the President’s daughter, who has been kidnapped by a creepy cult in the middle of an equally creepy part of Europe.
But once Leon starts looking for the girl, everything gets even weirder. To help preserve the mystery, if you’ve never played the game before, I’ll say no more.
However, it’s in the differences, not the sameness, that the Resident Evil 4 remake truly shines. During your time in the game, returning players might notice that some boss fights have been removed and some new ones entered. And the reason for this change is to keep the game and the story moving forward, something that Capcom manages to pull off flawlessly.
Leon can also move and aim simultaneously, bringing the game into this decade as it deserves, and players can no longer look up Ashley’s skirt – all changes for the betterment and longevity of this classic game.
While playing, the Resident Evil 4 remake feels faster, more brutal, and more atmospheric than the original. Still, it’s also not entirely removed from it. Players can still expect and receive much of the quirky charm they remember from the original, like shooting crows for coins or getting eaten by a monster lurking beneath the lake’s surface.
I think what I’m trying to get across to you in this review, even if I’ve used far too many words to get to this point, is that the Resident Evil 4 remake plays how you would expect a game to in 2023, and it looks even better.
Players can now smash barrels without battling to line up a knife swing, and weapons can be switched instantaneously with just a single tap of the D-pad. Players no longer need to pause the game, go into the inventory screen, and then equip a different weapon each and every time.
All these changes are small, but they build on each other, making combat feel more fluid and responsive without dumbing it down or taking away any of the challenges many will remember from when they tackled the game the first time around.
