A remake for Resident Evil 4 is in the works. Here are some ideas that we have for improving upon the original classic.
We’ve got a one-minute teaser reveal, and yes, there is a release date: March 24, 2023. All of this during the State of Play earlier this summer, Capcom opened up their appearance at the event with this surprise (But not really. We all knew that it was in the works, right?).
Old fans and newcomers alike have feasted on the promise that is the teaser for the remake. We can only think about what will be different and what will be maintained in the modern classic that is Resident Evil 4.
And as a seasoned veteran of the series, I do have some ideas of what we should keep an eye for in the new Remake coming next year. So read on to see what I would like to see improved.
More developed fall of Umbrella
Resident Evil 4 starts with a cinematic that briefly gives you a backstory of previous titles, as well as explaining how Umbrella fell as an enterprise, and along with it their evil plans… or so it seems.
But wouldn’t it be more refreshing to see Umbrella’s demise with a bit more detail? At least an animation or something, even though Leon’s narration has charm to it, seeing a change of pace would refreshing, right? And speaking of things that happened off-screen…
Leon the government agent
Leon is enlisted as a government agent, with the task of protecting the President’s family, and since Ashley has been kidnapped well… to a rural part of Europe you go. And again, this is all told to us, not SHOWN to us, which is something that the teaser shows us as changing.
No more campiness
Resident Evil 4 is campy, and this is not a bad thing. In fact, I think a lot of us old fans keep coming back to the game, over and over again, for this very reason. Resident Evil 4 abandoned its origins and turned into a more action-oriented game. More so than its predecessors, it embraces comedy and irony in how it embraces the story and narrative, making it hilarious at times.
The first watch of the trailer already left me with a big impression: this remake feels serious. Will RE4, as funny as it is, be narrated now like a serious and actually scary story? It’s an interesting possibility.
I also notice that stories that are funny or hilarious are more likely to get a rewatch, read or replay, rather than stories that are depressing or way too serious, at least from me, but whatever. What were we talking about again? Right.
The balance of action and actual “survival horror”
RE4 always stood to me as a perfect marriage between action, or gameplay, and its narrative portion, because they complemented each other perfectly. “ludo narrative dissonance”, a very popular term these days, is nowhere to be seen in good ol’ RE4.
Will REmake 4 strike that same balance, or will they veer in the direction of a different style altogether? Something more akin to…
Similarities to the betas of Resident Evil 4
The Resident Evil 4 that we know and love to this day is not its first iteration. More specifically, it is the only one of its versions that saw the light of day as a released game, unlike its three previous iterations.
This is a rabbit hole I’d prefer you searched for yourself, as it is worth your time if you are a fan of RE4, but I can tell you this: One version became what we now know as “Devil May Cry” (another favorite of mine), another one featured “mist creatures” in the Umbrella Labs. Yet another one occurred in a haunted mansion with paranormal enemies and a boogeyman of sorts chasing you.
On a final note, speculating about the matter is all we can do of course; plenty has been talked about already with only a teaser. But no matter all the talk we could be having, I do believe Capcom will do the game right if they follow their philosophy in game-making they followed while doing Resident Evil 2 Remake. One can only hope…
