Resident Evil has been the most important series in my life, as someone who grew up with video games. It’s been a staple that I’ll always return to, even as I drifted off in to online shooters during my high school days, or Madden and NBA 2K in college.

The “fourth” installment is definitely the easiest to just pick up and run through in a day or two when I get the itch, which means I’ve probably played it more than any other RE game. Being that it’s one of the most influential games of all time (no arguments welcome), a remake of Resident Evil 4 had me brimming with nervous optimism.

But sometimes, we’re rewarded for our loyalty and patience. Here’s TGH’s official review of the Resident Evil 4 remake, released March 24, 2023.

**Note: Minor spoilers ahead regarding plot and character details. If you’ve played the original, story spoilers are negligible**

Story and characters

Plot

With respect to the reader, there’s no real reason to dive too far into the plot here. There’s a bit more of it, sprinkled in through notes that can be found much more frequently, but the gist is the exact same as the original.

An evil religious cult leader wants to take over the world by spreading a mind control parasite. He kidnaps the president’s daughter in order to infect her and send her back, causing a chain reaction of infections around the most important people in the U.S. government. Leon is sent on special order to rescue her, and ends up having to thwart the scheme.

That’s about it. How does it tie into the tangled web of the overarching Resident Evil storyline? Like I stated earlier, there’s certain notes that flesh this out, but you’re better off watching a talented YouTuber explain the deeper parts of the lore. We’re not really here for the plot, and that’s okay.

Tone

The word “campy” gets thrown around a lot, and it’s not always used accurately. In a nutshell, “camp” is a word that describes a world that the audience can laugh at, while still thoroughly enjoying it. That definition perfectly encapsulates the world of the original Resident Evil 4.

RE4 has given us iconic lines like, “No thanks, bro,” and, “Your right hand comes off?” It’s a cheesy action movie with a hazardous waste vat of body horror thrown on top. Hell, the third act of the game just looks like if someone remade “Commando” as a horror film.

While the remake takes it self a bit more seriously and turns down the brightness of it all, Capcom was wise to mostly keep this tone. There was really no other way to go. After all, how could you take Ramon Salazar seriously? He’s a whiny, petulant, white-haired Lilliputian dressed like he just stepped off of the set of “Barry Lyndon.” Plus, he’s flanked by two giant bug men in cult robes.

The answer is that you can’t, and that you were never supposed to. I’d liken it to 1981’s “The Evil Dead” versus 2013’s “Evil Dead.” The first one is silly, fun, and would be horrifying if you were in that cabin with them, but you’re not so you just laugh and point at the screen. The remake plays it straight, turns up the gore to 11, but even in these much more dire circumstances, you can’t help but chuckle in awe of the scope and impossibility of the horrors unfolding.

Leon and Ashley

Leon is mostly unchanged in this remake. The biggest alteration is that now Leon is actively dealing with the events of Raccoon City. It sort of hangs over his head throughout the story, which makes it feel like a true sequel to the RE2 remake. This is a great change, but doesn’t overwhelm the fun of the story. No notes here.

Ashley certainly has more of a character this time. She helps out in gameplay and cutscenes a lot more, and she and Leon have some genuinely cute and friendly dialogue with each other during down time. She’ll let the player know if there’s an enemy behind them, or cry out if they’re in danger of dying. Ashley also no longer has a health bar that players have to manage, but she can still become incapacitated, necessitating Leon to come pick her up before she takes another hit. And, of course, the Los Illuminados still try to carry her away.

Is she completely different? No, not really. But it’s nice that she has more of a character and doesn’t just exist as a walking difficulty spike during certain sections of the game. (Fun fact: the original Ashley was voiced by the same woman who voices Sandy Cheeks on “SpongeBob Squarepants.” Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it)

Luis Serra

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that everyone’s favorite self-touted Spanish ladies man, Luis Serra, has a much bigger role in the story this time. Not only that, but his backstory is fleshed out through more interactions and collectable files that rally round him out as a character. It’s surprisingly nice to see.

I won’t go into it too much here, but the player really does feel a sense of guilt looming over this reworked Luis. He’s still funny, though, and ties into the overall narrative better. In the original it just sort of seems like he’s there to be there. This isn’t so in the remake.

We’ll end it with that, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that he still takes advantage of an infinite ammo glitch, and it’ll make you jealous.

Krauser

Speaking of “Commando,” Jack Krauser is still here to knife fight with our special agent, and he’s more fleshed out, as well. For as silly as the entire experience is, there’s a cloud of guilt and trauma hanging over all of our main characters, and Krauser’s stems from Operation Javier.

Resident Evil super fans, like me, have seen Operation Javier in the Wii-exclusive rail shooter, Darkside Chronicles. But for the 99 percent of people who haven’t played that game, this was an event in which Krauser saw his men butchered for the sake of the government. His guilt has turned to anger, and now he wants revenge.

Krauser, like Luis, now doesn’t just feel like he’s in the story for no other reason than to spark intrigue. He’s still cartoonish, yes, but the player gets a better sense of how fraught he is. Especially in the lore-dump room before his boss fight. Another good change.

Ada Wong

Ada is the only character that was done a little dirty in this game. She played Leon for her own gain in the RE2 remake, and the developers took that a little too seriously in the RE4 remake. Her writing genuinely makes the player feel like she doesn’t care whether Leon and Ashley live or die.

For how mysterious and generally unhelpful Ada can feel in the original, it doesn’t feel like she’s completely disinterested in Leon’s survival and well-being. It just seems like they have different goals, and letting him in on hers will derail things for both of them, so he’s better left in the dark.

Here, she tells him to leave, and when he doesn’t, feeds him tiny scraps of information that might save his life, then expects a “thank you.” It’s all pretty unsettling. We don’t need her have Bond girl levels of flirtation, but at least some acknowledgement of her respect for him would be nice.

Now, this all may make a little more sense when the Separate Ways DLC hits online stores. But, during the standalone experience, it’s jarring when she shows up.

Finally, a small note on her voice performance; Capcom hired the woman who played Ada in “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.” She is a screen actress, not a voice actress, and that’s fine with me. Want to keep some continuity? Go for it.

But people are harrassing this woman online because of her cold, uninterested delivery. First of all, that’s weirdo behavior and there’s no reason for it. Second, I’d argue this is a failure of the voice direction, not the actress. They clearly had to have told her to tone it down so much that it feels like every line used in the game was a first reading. I simply just don’t believe it’s all her fault.

With that being said, she’s really the only character that gets a downgrade. Everyone else is great.

Gameplay

At first, I thought the gameplay felt a little sluggish. I played the original twice in a row before diving into the remake and getting used to the new controls felt strange. By the time I reached the farm (which is very early on, for those who haven’t played yet), those concerns had completely faded.

This game feels and plays so well, it feels like another sea change is coming for the third person shooter genre. Being that the original is the blueprint for so many games, it’s truly kind of nuts that they could reinvent so much moment-to-moment gameplay and make all the changes feel somehow essential.

Gunplay

Put simply, the gunplay is tighter than ever. Some will still lament the loss of a free laser sight attached to every gun, but not once during either my Standard or Professional playthroughs did I miss it. The reticule starts wide and zooms in, giving you a better idea of what you’re about to hit. It works so well that not even the tiny plagas on the backs of the Garradors (the blind, Wolverine-like enemy) were an issue to shoot with consistency.

The guns feel and sound indescribably great, and as you upgrade them you’ll feel yourself getting more powerful, too. Grenades now have a visual throwing arc, which is a massively underrated change as you sort of just blindly flung them in the original. The only real gripe of note is how expensive they become to fully upgrade, which is balanced a bit with the trades you can make and the sheer amount of Pesetas you’ll be collecting from fallen enemies.

Being that a massive amount of your time with this game will be spend aiming and shooting, it really couldn’t feel better. The only time I dreaded an encounter was when I was low on ammo or healing items. But if I was in any way prepared, I was always excited for the next mob, large or small.

Knife

Being able to move and shoot is expected, and the weapon wheel is a no-brainer, as entering in and out of your inventory to switch weapons feels cumbersome in 2023. But the biggest change comes in the form of Leon’s knife.

The knife can now parry almost every attack in the game, leaving some enemies open to melee button prompts. The downside is that it now degrades as you use it, necessitating repairs that RE4’s (still) iconic merchant can provide. This addition to the gameplay now makes the player feel even more like an action hero, and the satisfaction of pulling off a perfect parry to stave off what would have been a game-ending injury is on par with a perfectly placed head shot.

Stealth

Leon can also crouch around and stealthily dispatch enemies in the remake. This addition had me a bit worried when it was announced, as forced stealth sections are among the most obnoxious things a modern game can hoist on the player.

However, the stealth aspects are really never necessary. They just provide an alternate approach for if you want to save some ammo, or one-shot a few enemies to thin down the horde before they descend upon you. This change simply just makes a lot of sense. No longer is the player biding their time just to draw the attention of the entire room anyway after the first bullet is fired.

Crafting

The remake adds crafting to the mix, as well. Much like Resident Evil: Village, certain components can be combined to produce grenades or ammo for any of your guns, provided you have the recipe. It’s a nice addition, and it deepens the inventory Tetris in which the player needs to engage.

But, on a first playthrough at least, you’re never going to find yourself in a position where you can fully replenish your reserves by crafting. The game simply won’t drop enough materials, and you burn through them too quickly. It works well for when you’re in a pinch, but isn’t game-breaking.

Cases and charms

In a pretty straightforward change, the kind of case the player is carrying can now provide small buffs. The starting case increases handgun ammo drops, a red case sold in-game increases the frequency of red herbs, etc.

Plus, the shooting gallery now nets the player something useful, instead of glorified character art. Either silver or gold coins are given to the player, depending on their success in the mini-game. These coins can be traded for charms that are attached to your attache case, providing even more small buffs. Things like plus-20 percent ammunition when crafting shotgun shells, or a larger health gain when eating fish.

Difficulty

When I booted up the remake, it gave me three difficulties; Assisted (easy), Standard (normal) and Hardcore (hard). Now, I’m a seasoned Resident Evil 4 veteran. Since the original came out in 2005, I’ve likely played the game front to back around 30 times. The game suggested that people familiar with the game as I am start out on Hardcore.

At the outset, I’m very much a casual gamer. I want to have fun and be challenged a bit, but being frustrated is not something I’m looking for when I play video games. There’s enough in day-to-day life that’s tedious, so I’m not really interested in any kind of Soulsborne level of difficulty.

So, against the game’s wishes, I did my first playthrough on Standard. It felt perfectly balanced for someone who enjoys games like I do. I died enough, but not too much. Supplies ran very low at points, but I never had to backtrack to a safety save. It all felt like just enough of a challenge to give me some satisfaction when beating the game.

For my new game-plus playthrough, I thought I’d give it a go on Professional (the hardest difficulty). This was just to see if it was patently unfair, or if I needed to do another, easier run to beef up my arsenal even more before attempting it. And, in short, I’m so glad I did.

Granted, I had my weapons from my previous run and upgraded them all to their limit by the mid-game. But, this difficulty made me feel so accomplished without turning my frustration knob too high. There are definitely some moments that made me say, “I’ll just try again tomorrow,” but it never broke me.

The hardest thing about Professional difficulty is the disabling of the autosave mechanic. If you die, you’re booted back to your last manual save with no exceptions. This can be overcome as long as you’re patient enough to backtrack to the last typewriter (which can be quite a hike sometimes) after clearing a room. Safety saves (a survival horror staple) are also a must, just in case your health reserves run too low.

This is the way to play the game, in my opinion. Start out on Standard, to see what the game has to offer, then carry through your weapons and knowledge into Professional. It feels amazing to finally get to that last cutscene, and the sense of accomplishment very much outweighs any out-and-out frustration you’ll deal with. You won’t regret it when you make it to the other side.

Presentation

Graphics

While I played the full campaign on PS4, I had the opportunity to play the first few chapters on my brother’s PS5. And let me tell you, the quality of the presentation is night and day different.

The PS4 version has nearly constant texture issues. From pop-ins to some textures that never look fully rendered, regardless of how many times and at what distance they’re viewed. These usually happen when the camera zooms in further than it does during normal gameplay, and it’s consistent enough to be pretty distracting.

When a small mob of enemies is on screen, their movements can look jerky, especially when they’re at a distance. Honestly, the Japanese horror movie-type movements would be pretty cool and creepy if they were meant to be included. But, having seen the game perform on the PS5, I can say confidently that they were not.

If Leon grabs an item for the first time, a special screen will be shown with a model of the item, letting the player know what it is. There were multiple times during my two playthroughs that the models weren’t shown at all on this screen, just small text with a large blank space where it should have been presented.

Now, with all of that out of the way, the game does generally look great. The RE Engine may go down as the best of this generation when it’s all said and done, and it’s definitely working overtime on the PS5 platform. These issues are certainly not ideal, but it’s probably ruining absolutely no one’s overall enjoyment of the title.

However, the dip in quality from PS4 to PS5 is very disappointing. If you’ll allow me to play “Man of the People” for a moment; times are hard for a lot of the population right now. Not everyone can afford a PS5, and some still can’t even find one, regardless of whether or not they could pay for it.

It really would have been nice to see more love and care go into the version of the game on which that segment of the player base spent their hard-earned $60. In my opinion, it’s not really fair for Capcom to shrug its shoulders and say, “Should’ve bought a PS5.”

Level design

The level design in this game is impeccable. That’s really all there is to it, frankly. It captures the feel of the original three areas without copying them outright. It encourages clearing out a room and then backtracking for missed items, but doesn’t punish you if you’d rather run and gun through them and collect as you go.

Merchant side quests have you revisiting old areas to find new threats, in true Resident Evil fashion. Collectable treasures, which become essential to sell if you want to beef up by the end game, have you exploring the heights and depths and corners of every room, and it makes you appreciate how well designed it all is.

With how different the locales are in the three acts of the story (Village, Castle, Island), it could feel disjointed, but it doesn’t. It just makes the player feel like they’re progressing, and after each level it’s exciting to see something new. Nothing overstayed its welcome, even in my 17-hour first playthrough.

Overall, it’s hard to describe just how good the level design is with words. Just know, you’ll be pulling up your map a lot, and it won’t feel like a chore.

Conclusion

Listen, no game is perfect. BioShock has that ungodly annoying escort mission in the penultimate level. Half-Life 2 has very little enemy variety. Batman: Arkham City has a truly absurd amount of Riddler trophies, and a horseshoe level design that gets really tiresome eight hours into your playthrough.

But knowing that nothing is going to be perfect is true enlightenment. Always searching for absolute perfection, and knocking anything that doesn’t quite achieve it is the path to madness. We, as consumers, have to take the wins where we can find them. This game is one of those wins.

Resident Evil 4 remake is not only a faithful adaptation, but it grows one of the most important games ever made, somehow never to its detriment. Is it perfect? No. But it’s as close to perfection as we deserve.

Final Score: 10/10

Ben is primarily a sports writer for TGH, covering breaking news from all four major North American professional sports. Stay tuned to The Game Haus for all of your gaming and traditional sports news and info!

Featured image courtesy of Capcom

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