Review: Resident Evil 4 Remake
by William Hernandez
Remaking one of the most beloved video games of all time was never going to be an easy task for Capcom. Modernizing Resident Evil 4 to today's standards and conventions risked ruining much of what made the original so enticing to players. But to be frank, the original RE4 definitely needed to be revamped. The nostalgia for the game is plenty warranted, but its tank controls simply feel too restricting these days, especially given how action-focused the title is. That's without even mentioning the unnecessary amount of QTEs and the lack of engaging horror elements. There were things to improve upon and, boy, did Capcom take those problems to heart to deliver this modern masterpiece.
Enjoyability: 11/12
Overall, RE4 Remake is a very complete package. The amount of options in combat you get over the course of the game really feels empowering. The parry system is something available to the players from the very beginning and at no point does it ever get tiring being able to counter attacks. Valdelobos feels a lot more fleshed out and there's just a lot to appreciate as you roam around. In parts where you have the freedom to explore your environment, it feels a lot more like the first three Resident Evil games even if the "puzzles" are fairly rudimentary. Leon isn't exactly a treasure hunter extraordinaire in this iteration of the game, but it does feel like there's more to each area than just going from Point A to Point B with an action sequence in between. Rarely does it devolve into mindless shooting; although, that is valid criticism for some of the final sections of the game. But for the most part, the formula is kept fresh and is everchanging with few engagements ever feeling the same. The result is an experience that holds up very well for the roughly 20 hours that it will take you to beat this game on your first run. Resident Evil 4 Remake is a well-crafted journey that feels like it does everything it sought out to do and does it well. With such great environments, interesting enemy variety, responsive gameplay, and lovable characters, the game will have your intrigue the whole way through. And, hey, the shooting minigames make for a nice mental break every now and then.
Gameplay: 12/12
The combat in this remake feels like the best that the Resident Evil series has to offer. It may not exactly be genre-defining like the original, but it plays like a system that has been near-perfected. Every weapon has its use and enemies don't feel like too much of a chore to kill even on Hardcore (Professional is a slightly different story). Ammo and health preservation is still going to keep you on your toes, however, as it feels like the game is designed to give you just enough to help you get to the next section. To help you save a little bit of ammo, the game has a stagger mechanic which encourages purposeful aiming. Staggering an enemy allows you to roundhouse kick them or suplex them, the former being better for crowd control while the latter does more damage. While you'll ultimately only be saving just a couple of bullets at best by doing this to every enemy you see, it still feels cool as hell.
Speaking of cool, no weapon feels cooler this time around than the knife. It's the ultimate blend of attack and defense. There are both proactive and reactive defensive options that give you a lot of agency in fights whether that means deflecting a projectile or freeing Ashley from an enemy's grasp. On the offensive side of things, the ability to perform stealth kills adds a whole new way to approach this remake that simply wasn't present in the original. And when it comes down to the wire, it's not too shabby as your primary weapon...even if Krauser definitely should be outclassing you. The trade for all this added versatility comes in the form of weapon durability, a feature present only in this remake. While your personal knife won't break, any other knives randomly scattered around the village most certainly will as well as a few other pieces of equipment. This is the perfect segue to talk about weapon upgrades which you can perform anywhere that you can find the merchant. Here is where you can personalize your run and give preferential treatment to your favorite weapons. Big fan of big damage? Go ahead and upgrade one of your shotguns. Have a special affinity with the Red9? Get its exclusive upgrade and use it religiously. There's so many different ways to play this game and every playstyle is rewarding in its own right.
Atmosphere: 12/12
Nothing quite sets the mood like getting chased around by a whole village worth of people not even thirty minutes into the game. RE4R is concerned with making the player feel three emotions above all: panic, fear, and dread. Yes, those are pretty much the same thing. But seriously, this remake does a fantastic job of grounding itself as part of the survival horror genre. It begins with the locations themselves that don't feel safe even in broad daylight. Something feels off about every single place you step foot into and that mistrust you slowly build is something that the developers absolutely play with. The environments give you plenty of reason to be anxious. Sneaking through dark, dingy, bloodied rooms always feels tense. It certainly doesn't make you feel any better when you know you have something plenty capable of killing you right there with you.
The game has primarily two different methods of heightening the fear factor: by either giving you too much agency or giving you too little of it. Being afraid to mess things up is a very real emotion that gets targeted. In this remake, enemies rarely feel overwhelming and overutilized compared to the original, allowing this horror approach to feel more effective. A wave of enemies is at its scariest when you can't plan ahead for it. Sometimes, though, you can't just shoot your way out of all of your problems. The setting then begins to present itself as an antagonist as well. Suddenly, there's a much bigger price to pay if you wander aimlessly. And it's not been discussed until now, but the music and ambient sounds are well implemented. They just add further depth to the locations that already have a very distinct presence to them. The combination of all these aspects makes for a perfect thriller - what was envisioned for Resident Evil 4 from the very start and what has been finally realized.
Design: 10/12
The original Resident Evil 4 suffered from how little pause it gave you as a player. Here in the remake, things get slowed down just a teensy little bit and it feels much better for it. It gives the player a little more room to appreciate the variety of setpieces that are present throughout the game. Each new setpiece isn't just another action sequence to suffocate you with; they are moments that make good use of the surrounding environment to feel like a natural, new obstacle in Leon's journey. Again, the variety is genuinely impressive as it feels like each area comes with completely different expectations and requirements compared to the last. This is evident both in the method of progression as well as in any skirmishes you may encounter. Sometimes, it may feel like you're going through a labyrinth just to get one thing working; at other times, you might be running away for your life. There's a lot of depth to the game and thankfully it doesn't feel like it conforms to a basic formula until the final stretch of the game. Without giving away too many details, the final few chapters in RE4R are when the game starts to become a bit of a slog. Much like the original RE4, the sections become way too action-intensive and even the most basic of skirmishes are long, drawn-out battles. While the final area has some really big highlights to it, the game loses the sense of pacing that it had earlier. It's not so bad to the point that it sours the whole experience, but it very much feels like this remake's approach to level design was completely thrown out the window and it feels worse for it. Overall, though, the game does a really good job of keeping intrigue in its gameplay over its total runtime. While it is not its strongsuit, it does improve over the original and makes good use of the strong atmosphere.
Direction: 11/12
From a narrative perspective, there's a lot more intrigue this time around compared to the original RE4. While the 4K-rendered cutscenes make it easier to get invested just from how good they look, it mostly comes down to the improved characterization of almost the entire cast. Ashley Graham went from being one of the most universally hated characters in the series to becoming one of the most beloved and it all boils down to her improved interactions with Leon. Her character simply feels more genuine. Her struggles aren't overlooked and she isn't just cast aside as dead weight that will impede you until you somehow escape. This is reflected in the gameplay with there being more obstacles that require her assistance. She's more of an equal, an actual partner to Leon, and that gives the player more reason to actually be invested in the plot surrounding her. Luis Serra sees a similar effect as he has a slightly bigger role in the remake. He's more than just a mysterious Spaniard with a gun. He actually gets to be of significant use to Leon and there's a lot more to learn about his history.
The weakest aspect of the game's story is its main antagonist. You don't really get much time to think about them and unlike Ashley or Luis, the enemy forces of the game don't get expanded on much at all. Thankfully (or perhaps, unfortunately), their significance doesn't get pushed onto the player until the latter half of the game; so, the main intrigue for most of the game is actually driven by the more immediate "bosses" that present themselves as obstacles. This actually isn't so much of a bad thing because these enemies have interesting dynamics to them and they do actually move the plot. The story being broken down into chapters actually does help quite a bit because these "bosses" tend to signify the end of a main act. That means substantial progress and it does feel like it as you immediately get pushed into a whole new place to explore. While RE4R is fairly linear, some sections are more open than others and that invites players to explore at their leisure. These then become opportune moments to fulfill merchant requests, a new set of sidequests exclusive to the remake. The result is a game that simply has more content to parse through; one that rewards being thorough. There's no one correct approach and that keeps the game interesting. Whether you're building up spinels or money to make a purchase, there's always something that comes next. The novelty of that doesn't ever dissipate — even at the very end of the game, you'll be planning for your final battle.
