Resident Evil 4: How the teenager stands in the 2023 version

How do you heat up a modern classic? The developer team at Capcom must have asked that question once or twice during the development of the Resident Evil 4 remake. When the original was released in 2005, it defined survival horror as a genre and third-person shooters as a phenomenon. A whole new era began there and then.

Resident Evil 4 was on top of everything incomparably good and is the game signed acquired for the most platforms: Gamecube, Wii, Playstation 4, PC and Nintendo Switch. It’s a work of such magnitude that I remember where I was in life when it was released, how I was sitting in bed at home in my teenage room just eating the crap out of it. Loved every second, loved Capcom for creating this perfect action adventure when I needed it most.

Did we need a remake?

The recently remade Resident Evil 2 and 3 needed a facelift – it’s hard to argue against that. The graphics were ancient, the controls difficult to maneuver and the fixed camera angles unforgiving. But Resident Evil 4 threw all that overboard back when it was released in 2005, so the question has to be asked: Do we really need a remake of this? A satisfied “meow” is the conclusion after a first playthrough.

I once again put on the leather jacket like Leon S. Kennedy. The police aspirant from the sophomore has now grown up to become a special agent, sent to a run-down village on the Spanish coast to search for the kidnapped daughter of the President of the United States. Things quickly go south when it becomes apparent that the villagers are both extremely inhospitable and infected with a sort of collective parasite called Las Plagas. Rough action with slingshots and roundhouse kicks is of course the only way out as Leon fights his way through the village. The odds are uneven.

Old mixed with new

During the opening hours of the adventure, I am struck by how finely tuned Capcom balanced the old with the new. In addition to obvious updates such as significantly better graphics and tighter control (now you can walk and shoot at the same time), everyone’s favorite Ganados have become much smarter and more deadly. The new Resident Evil 4 is difficult in a way that I don’t really recognize from the original – even though the game mechanics have become more forgiving, I struggle with both a lack of ammunition and a lack of healing herbs.

The opening is almost identical to the 2005 version, but the longer I play the more noticeable the conscious steps Capcom took from the source material become. Brand new segments, surprises, and sub-quests reward returners like me and leave me not really knowing what’s waiting around the next corner. Most of the game’s more iconic sequences have remained reasonably intact – while some have been removed entirely. This is not always a good thing and I find myself missing more than a handful of events from the original.

All the more gratifying is that we now avoid the hateful quick time events that involved timing button presses with prompts on the screen. These were cash already in 2005 and added the most frustration. Almost everyone anyway – Leon has updated his fighting repertoire with several useful moves that require some form of foresight and reaction.

The battles are still characterized by a weight and a certain clumsiness that gives both satisfaction and challenge. The knife has taken on a more significant role and, not entirely unexpectedly, it is now also possible to sneak up on the infected and cut their carotid artery. The arsenal of weapons is relatively large and you need to think carefully before you decide which ones to invest in with upgrades and so on.

“Everybody Loves Ashley”

Resident Evil 4 made a name for itself as perhaps gaming’s longest escort mission, and that hasn’t exactly changed here. After the release of the US President’s daughter, Ashley Graham, it is up to Leon to keep her safe and out of the clutches of her enemies. Ashley can be ordered to follow, keep her distance and hide, or perform certain more specialized tasks when required of her. One new thing is that Ashley no longer has her own health meter, but when she’s down for a count I have to go over there and get her back on her feet.

Unfortunately, Ashley is still completely helpless and needs to be kept under constant supervision – just such a plot hole as Leon not even giving her one of his many knives for self-defense is annoying and something Capcom should have taken the chance to change. There are some hints of a more independent and competent Ashley, but the line doesn’t run out. Her forced cockiness almost comes off as a bit ridiculous considering what a pushover she is – still – as a companion.

The adventure winds on at a high pace. Resident Evil 4 is as mediocre an experience now as it was then and clocked in for me at about 15 hours. A particular supporting character takes on a more prominent role, occasionally serving as Leon’s battle buddy in Ashley’s absence. Weapons are upgraded in the same well-functioning system as before, the attache bag is optimized for maximum capacity and treasures are searched for and sold for pesetas. Most of the boss battles are fairly untouched – but are now slightly fewer in number.

Entertaining (almost) to the end

Just like the original, unfortunately this work also loses some quality towards the last third. Not as much now as then, though, partly due to one of the more classic (and super cute) enemy types getting a facelift that makes it far more challenging and entertaining to fight against. But the environment (fortified military base with gun turrets) easily stands up to both the village and the Gothic castle I just came from. It’s also a bit too action packed for my taste.

The Resident Evil 4 material may be hard to fail with, but Capcom has somehow still impressed me. I’m giddy to think that Resident Evil 4 turns 18 these days and perhaps hold my teenage experience a little too high for what a well-balanced action game should look like today. Maybe that’s why I’m also a little extra critical. But fear not – this is another brilliant gaming experience and a new feather in Capcom’s magnificent remake cap. Now if we get Resident Evil from 2002 in first person I can die happy. Or is a remake of a remake simply too much?

Resident Evil 4 (2023)

Tested: Mars 2023
Genre: Action
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Windows, Playstation 4/5, Xbox Series S/X
Platform tested: Playstation 5
Size: 58.4 gigabyte (Playstation 5)
Taken: From SEK 599 via Prisjakt
Released: 24 mars