Resident Evil 4 Review: Going Back In Time

The original release of Resident Evil 4 still holds up in 2023. Ask my brother, who played it for the first time on Switch just a few months ago and came away unable to stop talking about it for weeks. I last did a full playthrough of it in 2005, shortly after release, and while I’ve replayed parts of it a few times over the years and watched some of my brother’s recent playthrough, I hadn’t fully returned to this all-time great action game since. Despite that, I was left somewhat confused when Capcom announced a remake of it last year. While you could certainly modernize many things about it, few games from that era felt less in need of a remake. The original release is already widely available on every platform known to man. When Capcom remade Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, they were able to offer a transformative experience. That didn’t seem nearly as possible here.

Playing the remake of Resident Evil 4 hasn’t entirely made those feelings go away. While a fair amount has changed since the original release, this is still very much Resident Evil 4. This isn’t a complete overall, and considering how great that original game still is, that’s a good thing. Still, Capcom has cleaned things up around the edges and left us with what is easily the best version of Resident Evil 4 to date.

Save The Girl

The story of Resident Evil 4 hasn’t changed in a major way. Leon Kennedy is one of the only survivors of the Racoon City incident, where the town was overtaken by zombies before being nuked off the face of the Earth. Hard to imagine a much worse first day on the job. After years as a special forces agent, Leon is sent on a mission to rescue the President’s kidnapped daughter Ashley who is being held in a small village in Spain. Shortly after arriving, though, he finds things aren’t quite what they seem, as the local villagers are behaving in quite a strange and rather murderous way.

While the actual plot is mostly identical, the tone of Resident Evil 4 has shifted a bit. The original release had a cool story and interesting characters. Still, it was also incredibly over the top at times, with terrible overacting and a layer of unintended camp, making it somewhat divisive. That camp hasn’t been entirely excised, but it certainly isn’t unintended this time around, which means it feels quite different. In many places, it’s been reigned in, and some of the lines remaining feel a bit forced in this new context. Still, some of the more iconic lines left a smile on my face, and while things are overall a bit more serious, there’s still plenty of fun to be had here. Several characters have seen their characterization updated a bit as well, which leaves Leon seeming a bit more boring though it does inject a bit of extra pathos into his actions that really work. Several others, such as Ashley and Luis, have seen updates which make them a bit more likable as well.

A Blast From The Past

When you first start wandering around the initial village in Resident Evil 4 you’ll be forgiven if you think you’ve gone back in time to 2005. The layout is exactly the same as you remember, and the combat and hopelessness of the situation feel identical to how I remember them as well. It’s a great first sign that the makers of this remake got what people loved about the original game, and it helped me feel more confident that I was in for a good time. Just like in 2005, it took me several attempts to survive as well.

Closer examination, however, will find that there are more than a few changes to how Resident Evil 4 plays. It’s easy to forget after so many games have copied its mechanics in the years since that the original release didn’t allow you to move and shoot at the same time. Resident Evil 4 originally still used a form of tank controls, albeit an over-the-shoulder one. That’s no longer the case, with a far more standard third-person control scheme feeling right at home. There are also some excellent quality-of-life options, such as quick selection of weapons so that you don’t have to go into your menu nearly as much. Swapping back and forth in the middle of combat feels far more fluid as a result.

Perhaps the most significant change to Resident Evil 4 is to your knife. It now has durability, meaning it can break and become useless until you can repair it. With this downside, though, comes some significant advantages as well however, including the ability to upgrade it and a new parry system which can be invaluable when fighting in close quarters, though it can, at times, make this version of the game feel a bit more like an action title than the original release did. There’s even a new stealth mechanic, which I didn’t use all that often but which definitely proved helpful at times.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

The other major change is to Ashley. One could uncharitably call Resident Evil 4 an extended escort mission without being entirely wrong, as once you rescue Ashley, you’ll spend most of the game with her following you around as you need to keep her safe. A lot of players were more bothered by this than I ever was, I consider Resident Evil 4 perhaps the first truly good escort mission, but it was definitely true. It still is, for that matter, but how that plays out has shifted a bit.

In the original game, you’d often find places you could hide Ashley away to keep her safe. While there are a few lockers here and there, they’re rare, and most of the time, Ashley is running right alongside you. Instead, you can now ask her to stay close to you so that you can keep her safe or to give you a bit more space to work with which is useful in combat. Of course, you’ll need to keep an eye on her, but the AI rarely got her in trouble, and when it did, it felt natural.

To go along with this increased danger, Ashley no longer has a health bar for you to manage. Instead, major attacks will knock her down. You can help her up and reset her damage, but you’re vulnerable while doing so. If she takes another hit while downed, that’s game over. It feels like a better balance overall.

From The Ground Up

As a remake made from the ground up 18 years after Resident Evil 4’s initial release, this remake, of course, looks far better than the original version. The lighting is positively fantastic, and the character models are incredibly well done. It mostly captures the look and feel of the original with all the modern bells and whistles. My only complaint would be that the environments are a tad overdesigned, best exemplified by the game needing to slather destructible items with yellow paint to help them stand out from the environment. This is a bit of an ongoing issue in modern design, but I’d much prefer art design that could make this work in a way that feels more natural.

It’s also worth noting that while the developers have updated or even completely replaced certain sequences, Resident Evil 4’s late-game pacing issues are still present. They aren’t perhaps as pronounced as they were in the original release, but this is a game that peaks by the middle of its runtime. That isn’t to say that the later sections of the game are bad; they’re still a lot of fun, but things do feel like they go out with a bit of a whimper.

Conclusion

These are minor critiques, however, when we’re talking about an excellent remake of one of the best games ever made. Resident Evil 4 remains a must-play title in 2023, and while it may not be better in every possible way, this is overall the best way to experience it. Those who have enjoyed it in the past will find enough updates to keep things fresh, while new players won’t miss the few changes I might have skipped. So don’t make a horrific mistake and miss out on this one.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Available on: PS5 (Reviewed), PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC; Publisher: Capcom; Developer: Capcom; Players: 1; Released: March 24th, 2023; ESRB: M for Mature; MSRP: $59.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Resident Evil 4 provided by the publisher.