Resident Evil 4 is a 2023 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is a remake of the 2005 game Resident Evil 4. Players control the US agent Leon S. Kennedy, who must save Ashley Graham, the daughter of the United States president, from the mysterious Los Illuminados cult. The remake builds upon the original game with an updated plot, new visuals, characters, cast, and improved gameplay. Resident Evil 4 was announced in June 2022 and released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on March 24, 2023. It received acclaim and sold four million copies in its first two weeks, making it one of the fastest-selling Resident Evil games.
Gameplay
Resident Evil 4 is a remake of the 2005 game Resident Evil 4. It features “over-the-shoulder” third-person shooter gameplay similar to the original, while drawing other design aspects from the remakes of Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 3 (2020).[4]Resident Evil 4 features redesigned visuals, designed to create a tenser atmosphere, along with new character designs and backgrounds.[5][6] It offers six control schemes, including one styled after the original game.[7] Occasionally the player must solve puzzles in order to reach certain areas.[8] In some sequences, Leon must protect the president’s daughter, Ashley. She uses a simpler health system than in the original, and can be instructed to stay close or far.[8]
As in the original game, the player organizes their inventory with an attaché case. New to the remake, a crafting system enables the player to create items and ammunition using resources collected. The Merchant returns, allowing the player to buy, upgrade, and trade items while providing new side quests that may be completed during the main story.[9][10] Similarly to the original, the focus of combat is shooting enemies and reloading. However, Leon can now move and use weapons at the same time, allowing him to evade attacks while firing. Leon can use melee attacks to injure enemies and push them away.[11][12] A new parrying mechanic allows him to block, counterattack, and kill downed enemies with his knife.[12][13] Unlike the original, Leon’s knife has a durability meter; if broken, the player will have to speak to the Merchant to get it repaired or increase its durability.[14] Leon can carry multiple types of knives with various attributes.[15][16]
Plot
Following the destruction of Raccoon City in 1998,[b]Leon S. Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) becomes an agent for the United States government after being trained by Major Jack Krauser (Mike Kovac). Six years later in 2004, Leon is sent by the president to rescue his daughter Ashley Graham (Genevieve Buechner) from a village in rural Spain with the remote assistance of Ingrid Hunnigan (Raylene Harewood). Soon after arriving, Leon finds his escorts brutally murdered by the villagers, who are being controlled by the parasite Las Plagas and have pledged themselves to the Los Illuminados cult. Searching for Ashley, Leon meets Luis Serra (André Peña), whom Ingrid confirms once worked for the Umbrella Corporation. Leon and Luis are captured by the village head, Chief Bitores Méndez (Jon Bryant), who injects Leon with a Plagas parasite. After escaping captivity, the pair separate, with Luis meeting with Ada Wong (Lily Gao).
Leon rescues Ashley, who is also infected with a Plagas. They are pursued by Méndez until Leon kills him. With their rescue helicopter delayed by inclement weather, the pair retreat to a castle, but Lord Ramón Salazar‘s (Marcio Moreno) forces capture Ashley. Leon briefly re-encounters Ada following their last encounter in Raccoon City before reuniting with Luis, who provides suppressants for the Plagas and reveals he wants to atone for his actions while working as an Umbrella researcher. The pair use mining tunnels to reach the surface, but Luis is fatally stabbed by Krauser, who has defected to Los Illuminados. Leon and Krauser engage in combat before Luis forces Krauser to retreat. Before he dies, Luis gives Leon the key to his personal lab. Upon returning to the castle, Leon battles and kills Salazar before pursuing Krauser and Ashley to an island facility.
Leon reunites with Ashley and the pair meet Osmund Saddler (Christopher Jane), the leader of Los Illuminados. He uses their parasites to control Ashley and incapacitate Leon, separating them again. While moving through the facility, Leon discovers Krauser kidnapped Ashley and brought her to the village out of resentment against the United States government for their handling of “Operation Javier”, a mission he and Leon narrowly survived two years prior.[c] Desiring power, Krauser uses a Plagas parasite to mutate himself and fight Leon, who kills him. Leon reunites with Ashley, but Saddler returns and attempts to control Leon until Ada intervenes, allowing Leon to take Ashley to Luis’s lab and remove their parasites. While searching for a means of escape, Leon rescues Ada from Saddler before joining forces with her to kill him, who drops a vial of Plagas amber. Ada takes the vial and leaves in a helicopter while Leon and Ashley escape the exploding island on a jet ski.
Ada contacts her boss, Albert Wesker (Craig Burnatowski), to inquire about his intentions for the vial. When he promises a new dawn will break at the cost of billions of casualties, a disgusted Ada forces her pilot to change course.
Development
The original Resident Evil 4 was released for the GameCube in 2005. Development of the remake reportedly began around 2018, led by the studio M-Two.[17] Capcom brought the development in-house in early 2021, led by the Division 1 team, with many staff members who worked on the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 returning for Resident Evil 4.[18]
Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi said he found the idea of remaking Resident Evil 4 challenging as a result of its popularity. Kazunori Kadoi and Yasuhiro Anpo, who worked on the Resident Evil 2 remake, were selected as directors. Kadoi supervised gameplay elements, most notably how to use Leon’s knife and its durability after encounters with enemies. Capcom minimized the use of quick time events in comparison to the original game.[19] The development team was split into three groups that worked on three areas: the village, the castle and the island.[20]
The team aimed to expand Ashley’s characterization and relationship and make the story more horror focused. The visuals were developed to improve the idea of horror. The game was developed with the RE Engine.[19]
While most of the Japanese voice cast returned from previous Resident Evil games,[21] many English-language roles were recast.[22] As with previous Resident Evil remakes, an additional cast provided likenesses, 3D modeling and performance capture.[23]
Combat
The team modernized the gameplay in line with the most recent Resident Evil game, Resident Evil Village (2021), and the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. To assist in aiming, the original game used a laser sight on each weapons; this was replaced with a reticule. To appease fans preferring the laser, Capcom included it as an attachment early on.[24] As with Resident Evil 2, the knife has limited durability and becomes worn with use, but can be modified.[25] A new addition is the bolt thrower, a crossbow which can be used to stealthily kill enemies.[26]
The Ganados were reworked as more dangerous, forcing the player to use the environment against them, such as igniting flammable objects or barricading doors and windows.[27] Changes to the environment are saved in the game, so return visits to the area will acknowledge the moved or destroyed objects.[28] When grabbed by an enemy, the player can press buttons or use the knife to escape.[29] As the Ganados’ signature move is for their Plaga parasites to erupt from their bodies, work was done to incorporate this into gameplay, with them dropping to the floor and convulsing instead of them immediately erupting; this action forces the player to ignore nearby enemies and prioritise killing the downed Ganado, putting themselves at risk.[30]
Ashley
Ashley’s role in the gameplay was reworked to reflect Capcom’s intention for her to remain with Leon “because, realistically, she would never want to be left alone in such a dangerous environment”.[31] In the 2005 game, players could command her to “follow” them, “wait” in place, or “hide” in a dumpster. In the remake, however, Ashley follows Leon either closely (“tight”) or remotely (“loose”); “tight” formation is used to escape enemies together, while “loose” formation helps prevent Ashley from being attacked by enemies. The “hide” command appears in a small part of the game where players can ask Ashley to hide inside the lockers.[28][32]
To maintain the challenge, Ashley’s health bar has been removed and can no longer be boosted with the use of yellow herbs. When Ashley takes severe damage, she falls and must be revived to avoid a game over, a similar idea used in Resident Evil 6.[28] Like the original game, Ashley can be sent out at times, with the player being able to lead her through holes to unlock doors.[28] Unlike the original game, Ashley can descend a ladder on her own, rather than force the player to assist her.[7]
Other additions
While conducting their replays of the 2005 game for ideas, the developers took notice of the Blue Medallion mini-quest in the village, which was not replicated elsewhere in the game. New mini-quests were added to the village, with Leon being rewarded for finding certain items and hunting target enemies to the Merchant.[33]
A second trailer and additional gameplay were shown during a showcase in October 2022. Preorders include Leon’s briefcase and Leon’s handgun ammo as charms.[36] A third trailer debuted as a part of PlayStation’s State of Play on February 23, 2023.[37] After the rain effects in preview footage drew criticism, Yoshiaki said Capcom would release a patch on the day of the game’s release to modify it.[38]
A playable demo was announced during a Capcom Spotlight livestream on March 9, 2023, and released immediately afterwards for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.[39] On March 20, 2023, Capcom released a television commercial in Japan that parodies the anime series World Masterpiece Theater.[40] A collector’s edition was made available for the console versions, featuring extras such as a Leon figurine, a hardcover artbook, a village map poster, and a digital soundtrack.[41] On April 7, Capcom released a free downloadable minigame, Mercenaries, in which players must kill as many enemies as possible in a time limit.[42] On the same day, Capcom added microtransactions to allow players pay extra to upgrade weapons faster.
