I’ve had a cursory interest in the Resident Evil franchise ever since Resident Evil 7. I’ve watched people play that game along with the Resident Evil 2 remake. But until this particular remake, I never played a RE game myself mostly because I have never been one for horror games. The remake for Resident Evil 4 however piqued my interest. Through various channels I had heard that RE4 definitely leans more into its action rather than its horror.
Folks, I am glad to report that I really enjoyed this video game. As a whole, I can’t really any pick any aspect of the game that I thought was bad or poorly executed. Mechanically, the guns felt good to shoot with a good amount of feedback. I enjoyed the bits of treasure hunting the game throws in. Even the escort sections with Ashley in tow were decent.
I really enjoyed how the game dealt with the survival aspects, namely ammo and resource scarcity. The game always managed to give you just enough ammo and resources to get through a section but never enough to truly feel comfortable and secure with your situation. This is a game where I never felt like I was truly hoarding resources. I used what I had whenever I needed it because I trusted the game to never leave me truly empty handed.
Perhaps unusually, I found that the boss fights in this game were easier than the normal enemy mobs I encounter during a level. I think this is because with a boss you are focused on a single enemy but with the amount of enemies this games throws at you with its normal mobs its easier to find yourself a bit overwhelmed and making mistakes. Especially when the game throws a mini-boss in there along with the normal enemies.
Speaking of bosses, I enjoyed all the boss fights in this game. They are all unique and fun. I also never felt that any of the bosses were annoying or unfair to fight. If I died to a boss, it was usually because of a mistake on my end.
As for the narrative, well I wasn’t paying too close attention to various little details in the narrative but I enjoyed what I got from the cutscenes. I love all the main characters, everyone is charming in their own way. Of course, I am especially a fan of Ada and sometimes I wish I was playing the game as her instead of resident twink Leon Kennedy.
I played this game on PC and did not run into any performance issues or other bugs/glitches. The game runs and looks great for me. I really love the way this game does its environment design, an example below.
To conclude this review: I really enjoyed this game and it has increased my interest in the Resident Evil franchise. I put the remakes for RE2 and RE3 in my Steam wishlist and I want to play them when I’m getting the horror itch again. This one gets a strong recommendation from me.