Resident Evil 4 remake review - A terrific reimagining of an iconic survival-horror game

The Resident Evil 4 remake is the game fans of the series have been waiting for for years now. Capcom has been faithfully remaking its titles over the past few years, but let’s be honest - Resident Evil 4 is the most popular entry in the RE/Biohazard series. No matter what, Leon Kennedy’s adventures through Spain really struck a chord with the audience.

It’s a grim, horrifying tale, and Capcom put the original together in a way to capture the attention of its fans forever. Now, personally, I wasn’t a big Resident Evil fan at the time of the original game’s launch. This just means I was able to go into the Resident Evil 4 remake without preconceptions or feelings about how things should be.

I played some of the original on both the Gamecube and the more recent PC release, but on a personal level, it wasn’t for me. That said, I adored the Resident Evil 4 remake. The quality-of-life changes, visuals, and striking gameplay really hooked me.

Resident Evil 4 remake brings the classic survival-horror game to a new generation

The story of RE4 is familiar to basically every fan of the franchise, and the Resident Evil 4 remake will be no different. However, without spoiling any of the changes or updates, the storyline has been expanded and updated in ways that, as a player, made sense to me. The transition between the chapters went smoothly and made sense, while also continuing to build tension.

Though the original RE4 improved the controls immensely from the previous game’s tank controls, I still really wasn’t a fan as it still felt clunky and outdated. I was so thrilled that Resident Evil Remake 4 had improved, modern controls. It might be one of my favorite things about it.

It was a blessing having two different buttons to run and to easily navigate through my weapons. On that note, though, running felt incredibly weak in some situations. Leon Kennedy, while incredibly strong, is not a fast man.

Watch: The first of many creepy cultists.

On that note, swapping weapons was another amazing change. Being able to quickly switch to the briefcase and put specific weapons and grenades into a hotkey system was a major blessing. Then all I had to do was use the D-Pad to swap weapons, reload them, and get back to killing creepy cultists.

Another great change is that the Resident Evil 4 remake feels like you can sneak around in stealth much easier. I’m not saying that it’s possible to go through the whole game in this manner, but it’s certainly more viable.

Between these and the ability to auto-sort your briefcase, the Resident Evil 4 remake is filled with useful quality-of-life changes. The movement is good, the changes make sense, and even Ashley herself seems to have better AI.

What is the world of the Resident Evil 4 remake like?

The story is set in a very similar fashion to the original, but there have been some additions to the game that help tell the saga of Leon and Ashely in a clear, concise way.

Though I did not beat the original game, I knew enough about it going in. Or at least, I thought I did. Fans are going to love the grim hopelessness of each area that Leon explores, but there have been some changes that will make things feel fresh.

Watch: Leon Kennedy attempts to be stealthy.

While I will not discuss how they have changed, the Resident Evil 4 remake’s puzzles are different. Some have changed more starkly than others, but I can tell you, as someone who tried to look up YouTube solutions to many of them, I didn’t find anything of value or use. I think this was a good idea, in retrospect.

While solving some of these, I won’t lie, there was deep frustration because I wanted to solve the puzzles so I could move on. However, it was the right call, and it made sense. I always felt a surge of satisfaction as I solved these, especially since I had not explored some of them deep enough to find the clues.

Players also know that there are new request missions, such as the Golden Egg Request. These are scattered throughout the game, and they are all worth doing. I appreciated having reasons to search and scour throughout the game, and do side quests/missions.

Watch: Find the yellow.

There was also some talk online about the world itself. A few users on social media complained that it’s easy to see where you can climb and breakable objects - they have yellow paint on them. Personally, while I don’t think there’s a good in-game reason for it, it’s nice to know what you can and cannot break.

After all, I spent nearly this entire game with virtually no ammo. Sure, you can craft ammo and things like that, but most of my playthrough had a small amount of ammunition. With that in mind, exploring is so important, and so is knowing what to break.

If I could have made one change though - a minimap would have been the biggest, best change in this game. I often find myself opening the map. Thankfully, the time between screens is almost non-existent. Even popping open the briefcase takes no time at all, so I didn’t feel like it was a chore to do any of this stuff.

Accessibility in Resident Evil 4 remake

Not everyone is going to want to use these accessibility settings in the Resident Evil 4 remake, and that’s fine. But for people like me, who suffer from hearing problems and motion sickness, some of these settings were an absolute godsend. There are presets for Visual Accessibility, Auditory Accessibility, and Motion Sickness, and you can turn these on and off at your leisure.

You don’t have to turn all of these on, either. They’re all found in the various options settings in the game. For me, Motion Blur absolutely had to be turned off and subtitles needed to be on. Text is always on for me in games that allow it, but for this one, I had some pretty serious hearing problems a few chapters into the playthrough.

The visuals were incredible, but there was a minor audio problem

I played the Resident Evil 4 remake with the “Resolution” being the priority, with Ray Tracing, HDR, and all of the good stuff turned on. I have to say, it is a gorgeous game, very aesthetically pleasing.

The stages are well-designed, and the character models are terrific, especially the Chainsaw Man. There's so much detail in every model, and I'm so glad that there are Spanish accents on appropriate characters now.

Watch: Intense combat in the dark.

Without spoiling any of the areas you go to, I certainly found the aesthetics of each chapter appealing. The animations looked smooth, and the gory explosions of bodies were fantastic. I did admittedly have a hard time figuring out where voices and sounds were coming from, but that’s more because I only have one good ear, than anything else.

However, you will occasionally receive communications from “The Roost” via a mobile phone in the Resident Evil 4 remake. Early in the game, I could hear this crystal clear. After a few chapters, I stopped being able to hear them, only seeing the subtitles. I imagine they were coming in via monoaural sound. As I can’t hear in my left ear, I wasn’t able to hear these.

Other than that, the sound design was solid. The squelch of the Plaga exploding from my shotgun sounded amazing. Thunderous explosions were suitably loud, and you could hear the echo of firing a pistol in the appropriate rooms.

In Conclusion

This might be the best Resident Evil remake I’ve played. My problems with money and ammo in the Resident Evil 4 remake were demons of my own design. The gameplay was generally quite smooth, though there were one or two moments where it was impossible to save Ashley from the forces of evil.

Leon Kennedy as a character is improved from the original game as well. He is a more serious, duty-bound man, with the occasional clever one-liner.

It’s a suitably challenging game, and you can make it easier by putting it onto Assisted Mode. I did find it frustrating that every time you lose a few times, it suggests turning on that Difficulty Reduction mode. This is a solid story, well told, with challenging puzzles and plenty of tough gameplay.

I didn’t feel like it was impossible to win. Boss fights have new mechanics and changes, as do the puzzles. Fans of RE4 will find this familiar, with enough new and interesting changes to keep things flavorful. The Resident Evil 4 remake is truly a masterpiece. If you like the original, you will love this modern take on the iconic horror game.