Resident Evil 4 (2023) Review

played on ps5

developed by Capcom

published by Capcom

review published on 17/08/2024

***Resident Evil 4* (2023) is not *Resident Evil 4.***

Resident Evil 4 (2005) felt very punk. Its characters were unabashedly camp, the story was absurd, tight gameplay and level design worked together to make a great feeling game, and its excellent music/sound design and rusty UI made it cohesive. All of these aspects sung in harmony and produced an unprecedented experience, setting a new gold standard for a modern game. It was like nothing that came before it, trailblazing its way to the top of everything. Everyone awed over Resident Evil 4, basked in its amazingness and began to take notes. Only very few games have come close to Resident Evil 4’s prestige since.

During its time in the spotlight, its mere existence influenced countless video games. Now, you can still see its lasting effect in other contemporary titles as it continues to guide creative minds with its helping hand. Players, critics, and the industry at large lifted Resident Evil 4 up to the highest peak. They recognised its purposefulness. Resident Evil 4’s godliness towers over video games. Its DNA created a lengthy family tree, laying lovely soil for future video games to prosper. Without hyperbole, Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest video games ever created.

So, what would happen if you tried to re-modernise a modern game?

Resident Evil 4 (2023) is recognisably unrecognisable, something that is, and isn’t Resident Evil 4. It shows us a familiar face while behaving uncharacteristically. You can liken it to a doppelganger. While the remake offers a great time on its own, it would be disingenuous to not be constantly reminded of the original. It makes it more difficult to view Resident Evil 4 (2023) in its own terms if you are coming from the perspective of someone who adores Resident Evil 4. All you can think of is Resident Evil 4. Personally, I was hoping that this remake would take a drastically different approach, to the point that Resident Evil 4 (2023) would be the new Resident Evil 4 that would live in our minds. It was a possibility, because it already happened in the Resident Evil canon.

Resident Evil (2002), the GameCube remake of Resident Evil (1996), jettisoned its original game, relegating it to the history books. A brilliantly produced game, with a firm vision and delivered on it, establishing itself as the pinnacle of survival horror. This is in fact the best outcome for Resident Evil because the remake elevated the original to such an extreme that it realised the original’s fullest potential. Lovingly and respectfully remade, it now lives on as best-in-class, and, most importantly, Resident Evil. The same cannot be said for Resident Evil 4 (2023) because it and its original do not share the same type of relationship. They both offer vastly different experiences and cater to specific tastes. These differing dynamics between the two allow them to co-exist. The remake treatments of both Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4 are too profound to justifiably compare and articulate in this review, but to put it in painfully simple terms, it was just different times, different audiences.

Giving Resident Evil 4 (2023) the benefit of the doubt, it is a great video game. New sections bring a freshness to a well known classic, character dialogue and story adjustments make it more inclusive for new players, gunplay is very satisfying, new mechanics add jazz to combat scenarios, and, ofcourse, a new coat of paint in the graphics department that makes the game look too clean. These additions ultimately determine the aural, visual, and playing palette of the video game. Due to it being a remake of a modern by design game, it is signposting itself as a modernised modern remake, a hyper fixated effort to adhere to today’s market standards. While doing so, it invites you to relive the nostalgia of Resident Evil 4, with a few twists to give it a different flavour.

Although Resident Evil 4 (2023) attempts to lure you in with all new goodness, it is important to note that as much as the remake giveth, it taketh away in the same breath. Some of its revisions do complement the original game’s core. However, its flourishes, the characteristics that made Resident Evil 4 a lightning in a bottle, are muted in the remake, diluting what made Resident Evil 4 a phenomenon. This is not the case if you haven’t played Resident Evil 4, because you cannot know what is missing when you had no knowledge it was there in the first place. In that case, you will have a grand time, and not be let down.

Some of the aspects that made Resident Evil 4 loveable, for instance the overtly corny dialogue or tank controls, have been stripped away to make room for its replacements. For some, this is a well needed change. However, in the process of doing so, something is lost. You know that phrase ‘you don’t know how much you love something until it’s gone’? I think a lot of avid fans of Resident Evil 4 felt this with the remake. It grumbles in your gut, that some things just don’t sit right. Resident Evil 4 (2023) wears Resident Evil 4 as a costume, like an actor’s rendition of a great stage play. Does Resident Evil 4 (2023) deliver great lines? Yes, but it lacks the charm and weight of the original performance. In a weird way, it feels corporate, and demonstrates a huge contrast when compared with the original production.

Resident Evil 4 was risky. It pivoted away from Resident Evil’s own established gameplay structure. Its cast of characters were stereotypical (the arrogant American, the ditsy blonde, the suave Spaniard, the stoic bitch) and were written in an almost child-like way. A subversion of expectation from traditional survival horror to action horror would have irked diehard Resident Evil fans, and even Leon S. Kennedy going from rookie cop to B-movie special agent is such an absurd jump in his character development that it would’ve left players bewildered. A “jumping the shark” moment. The once tried and true mansion, city, and lab locations are now a rural village, grand castle, and a literal military island. These elements and more were such a huge departure for the mainline series and undoubtedly carried a creative gamble. In a lot of ways, it was an earnest punt. The point is, it all worked, shattering beliefs and the game standard ceiling along with it. Players resonated with the changes, and grew to love Resident Evil 4. All of this culminated into a masterfully crafted fun time experience of a video game. The resulting impact of this success meant that Resident Evil 4 skyrocketed past every other iteration of Resident Evil, cementing itself outwith its own fandom into the general gaming public’s consciousness. Resident Evil 4 (2023) does not match this same energy. Instead, it looks at Resident Evil 4, revises it to meet the industry’s modern standard, and calls it a day.

Resident Evil 4 (2023) played it safe. It will remain beside Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 3 (2020), lumped together and talked about in conjunction with other remakes. It followed the standard set by the previous iterations, something Resident Evil 4 refused to do. After scanning the room, Resident Evil 4 (2023) commits to being like the rest. The remake’s values are misaligned compared to the original, with no forward looking gusto driving it. Clearly, it is not strong enough to stand with Resident Evil 4. The podium this remake stands on is levelled along with every other one, destined to never win any race. Under all its flesh, with new, shiny, and clean additions, the remake’s skeleton only mimics Resident Evil 4, falling short in delivering the same impact.

Resident Evil 4 (2023) is a great game, but it does not break the mould, it only reinforces it. Maybe that was the reason why Resident Evil 4 got remade in the first place.