Review of the game Resident Evil 4 (2023). So coolly remade that it’s scary again

Here comes the official release of one of the most haunted games of 2023 – a remake of Resident Evil 4.

The series has gathered a popular fan base, but not a universal part of love. So I was among those who could not fully master the “four”. Back in 2005, it seemed to me too slow and sometimes boring.

Although I am a fan of the franchise, this episode is not lost on me at all. And in order to keep abreast of events, I then had to observe accelerated development with a general description of the plot.

And now, 15 years later, Capcom announces another remake of its iconic games. From the first trailer, I had a hope that now I will definitely be able to complete the game to the end, and it will be an exciting journey.

If you are also part of a group of people who bypassed RE4, and are now thinking about whether to take a new product, this post is for you.

We have already met and are in a hurry to share our impressions. Spoiler: This is a great remake, but far from the best game in the series.

A classic that needed a shake up

This game has long been in need of a rethink. Yes, at one time it was a breakthrough for the series and not common for the industry as a whole. She introduced many elements that are still played in games today.

However, I still cannot say that the novelty of 2005 could have the right to stand out against the general background. What happens, plot. In the series as a whole, there are many problems with this: from part to part of the general structure it has not changed much, the general concept remains the same – we face another serious danger that threatens the whole world and is widespread with viruses.

Gameplay, although the game was ahead of the previous parts, it still slowed down the gameplay, either due to the weak game design of some locations, or because of the overall pace, which, although it increased in search with prequels, was still not dynamic enough for reimagining the series as a whole.

However, then the game reversed the research and made adjustments, as if the view was from behind the head. Now the achievements of Shinji Mikami are used in games.

Enough about the original. Let’s finally talk about the remake.

The game looks much better

At the same time, it naturally forms the style of the original, for which I automatically put a fat like.

The developers have greatly upgraded the fixed graphics from 2005 and brought it to the level of 2023. Or rather, until the remakes of 2023. Still, this is not a major AAA title, created from scratch and without any base.

steel locations more extensive, emergency social situations. Their levels themselves have become more thoughtful, it’s hard to get lost even without maps. Designers obviously knowingly changed their bread. They were able to make semi-open locations a bit more linear.

Even if there are several forks, you will catch where you need to go and where approximately you need to look for the puzzle element.

Detailing of objects and levels in general is at a high level here. These are individual cases and Digital Foundry experts who thoroughly analyzed the games.

I especially liked the fact that the player is now not shy in actions. He can come in, climb in and take anywhere. To do this, the developers have provided a lot of moves and made the environment more interactive. For example, many houses in the village can be climbed through the window, enemies are killed through them, and they themselves are destroyed after causing a certain amount of damage.

Thereby tactical benefits both the player and the enemies becomes even more. Opponents start not only from behind, but also rise from below or, conversely, jump from above. Danger surrounds you everywhere, which has increased the tension (some people think that this is not the case, but I fundamentally disagree with this).

The lake near the village reminded me of something Lake of the Nine from the soft restart of God of War. The same vast area with many exits, each of which covers another secret. If necessary, these are treasures or cross items.

As for the plot, they did not decide to repeat the mistakes here and didn’t cut anything important. On the contrary, the history of minor manifestations has expanded a bit, their motivations and actions have become clearer than in the original.

But nothing important happened. Lore games have been expanded a bit, and boring episodes have been cut. That’s all. The general history remained unchanged.

But personally, I need to know more about the same old village, which could become an analogue of Mr. X from RE2. With all his appearance, he is drawn to a man who is downright obliged to pursue you with all sorts of nooks and crannies, but … no. With it, you deal with it only once, although it is extremely effective. The boss fight is really great.

The story got serious and it’s not good

Many elements of the original in the remake are now changing in a very different way. They currently look different.

For example, the same merchant who breaks the fourth wall, that many theories have been built on the network, such as those that he is just a ghost or a person with immunity. The general tone of accumulation moved away from consistent goofiness and became more insistent on carrying horrors, and this character caused knock-outs from observation and even allows himself to make jokes (not the sharpest ones). This is a bit confusing and confusing.

The same merchant

Due to the outcome in greater seriousness, the authors seem to have lost that national thread, violated the perfect balance between metahistory and a harsh horror thriller. The characters now look more cliched, and a traitor in their ranks can be identified literally from the first sight.

However, the story remains the same, and due to its diversity, it still looks good. It is interesting to watch a lot of characters, and you even manage to empathize with someone. There are no superheroes and terminators here, everyone is in real danger.

The arsenal has become wider, weapons can also be upgraded. And reading text prompts even directly say what and how to improve in order to make life a little easier.

Puzzles are simple to disgrace, but they are varied and constantly replace each other. From this I only want to study them, because behind them valuable prizes are often more hidden, helping to enter the passage.

Level performance

I completed the game on the PlayStation 5 and did not notice any losses or FPS drawdowns.

The game has two graphics modes: high speed and high resolution. On PS5, they didn’t name each other, so I advise you to immediately put a high resolution. With him you will have stable 60 fps.

In this case, you can even additionally activate ray tracing, due to which the reflection will look an order of magnitude better.

Seriously, without ray tracing, reflections turn into just a mess, in which it is impossible to make out almost nothing. Obviously, this was done to please the consoles of the past generation, but this is not cutting-edge ubergraphics: why couldn’t they have been made at least a little more decent?

In general, I did not notice any cases of errors. The game is well optimized.

Again, great remake. Capcom well done

Despite nitpicking about the more serious tone of the take, the Resident Evil 4 remake is still a great game.

Yes, in some ways it is inferior to the original, but, looking at the surrounding picture, it is head and shoulders ahead of the 2005 game. It is dynamic (although sometimes it sags in action), interesting in plot, and also improved in many gameplay moments. In addition, the game has full Russian voice acting.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Even now, Capcom has started working on the public for PS VR2.