Gaming History 101

Resident Evil 4 is on that short list of gaming’s most notable titles. Despite being two decades old, somehow it manages to hold peoples’ interest with a positive opinion. The remake was highly anticipated, garnered much praise, and as an unapologetic fan of the franchise, I was there day one. While sticking to the original’s formula, Capcom treated this remake like all the others by improving visuals, tweaking the story, updating scenarios, and a slew of quality of life changes. If you are going to play Resident Evil 4 today, I’d highly recommend the remake. Despite this, I often found myself losing interest interest after about 30 minutes and eventually this 20+ hour gauntlet felt more like a slog, and it’s all my own fault. Having finally completed it, I have to admit the journey as a whole was fulfilling, but I think I’ve had my fill of Resident Evil 4 for the rest of my life.

In the beloved times of the PS360 generation, gaming got easier. For whatever reason – many historians smarter than me have explanations – it was rare not to complete a video game that came out from 2005-2013. There were exceptions, such as Demon’s Souls and Ninja Gaiden II, but those were viewed as niche products that didn’t have mass appeal. Most games conceded that if the player was tasked with sacrificing 10, 20, possibly even 40+ hours of their time, the reward would be a robust experience they could enjoy from start to finish. Resident Evil 4 released at the tail end of the previous generation – January, 2005 on Gamecube – and it was challenging. I recall playing it when it first premiered and dying a lot. There are specific places in the game that I recall wanting to give up because I was struggling so much. Whether it was the chainsaw man in the opening village, twin gigantes in the heart of the castle, the Krauser fight, and that on edge final encounter, the push-and-pull of that game sometimes left me defeated, but I was always eager to come back and give it another try. I still remember how satisfying it was to finally beat Resident Evil 4.

The remake manages to capture that friction and sense of satisfaction, bringing it to newer generations and challenging those that have memorized the game inside and out. The scenarios typically are not what you experienced in the original and the volume of enemies is greatly increased, so you have to be acutely aware of your surroundings. Leon has been updated with a plethora of new moves, such as the parry, in addition to more responsive controls and a versatile camera to meet these challenges. If you do not learn these new tools and utilize them regularly, the old methods of completing the game will likely not get you through. This can be frustrating to some, it sure was to me, but that’s the game that Capcom made. Also anyone stubborn enough to fold their arms and say the original was better can simply grab that version for a song, which is still available on most platforms and digital stores right next this remake. That said, coming to terms with these new rules and challenges resulted in me losing interest with the game more often. Remake will be two years old in March and I’ve spent the last 18 months popping in and out of it for 30-60 minute stretches, a total of 25+ hours of completion means I’ve stretched this out over 40-50 sessions! Fortunately the controls are mapped and function so similar to its contemporaries that you can pick up and play after a break for weeks or even months.

So, if the remake is such a refinement of the original, why was I losing interest and taking so long to complete? I thought about this all weekend and the best explanation I can come up with is: fatigue. I’ve played Resident Evil 4 too damn much. Sure, Capcom couldn’t stop re-releasing it, but where most probably didn’t bite, I found myself leaping in over and over. I started on the Gamecube at launch, migrating to the PS2 – which I found easier thanks to the controls and gameplay tweaks – to finally complete it and play the Separate Ways expansion. I bit again in 2011 on the PS3, then again with the PC “HD Edition” (1080p60) in 2014, and again in 2016 with the Xbox One port of the “HD Edition,” and finally last year on the Oculus/Meta Quest 2 for the VR edition. That’s 6 different versions, 4 of which I played to completion and the Gamecube and VR versions I’ve put over 5 hours into. For me, the average playthrough of the original is 17 hours, so that’s a lot of time playing essentially the exact same game over and over again. Then throw in the remake, and the fact that I replayed the XB1 version one more time about 6 months before it released, and we’re talking 8 times. 8 times! I find it hard to believe that most people have played any game, even this one, that many times.

What’s even more odd is that despite being a big fan of Resident Evil, RE4 is far from one of my favorites. I definitely put the original trilogy and RE7 above it, so at best it’s a top 5 for me. It’s also much longer than those early games I like so much, including their remake incarnations that I greatly appreciated, so it doesn’t make sense I would put so much time and effort into it. I can’t explain the thought process other than the fond memories and just long enough spacing of the releases that the hype captured me every time. The takeaway I offer is that one should not replay an unchanged title so often and I definitely need to stop playing original versions shortly before the release of a remake. I find that playing those originals, while refreshing my memory, gets one fatigued on a title. Ultimately this post is more about how replaying a game a bunch of times is probably not ideal for a game that you don’t completely adore and it leads to potentially not appreciating a rock solid release like the remake. A quick Reddit search on those that didn’t enjoy the remake reveals that I’m not alone in my feelings, but also that we’re all largely responsible for why we didn’t get the most out of remake.

In the end, I stand by my initial statement: Resident Evil 4 Remake is another home run from Capcom, continuing the trend of the first 3 games and the definitive way to experience this beloved title. The updated visuals, quality of life, and challenges are worthwhile and commendable. I have a few quick gripes: “gotcha” instant deaths, the extremely challenging updated Salazar fight followed by much easier final two bosses, and Ada Wong’s bland delivery of just about every line in the game. It’s a small price to pay for the upgrades, which are more nitpicks over the course of a much longer and fulfilling experience.

Final Score: 4 Del Lagos out of 5

Platform: Xbox Series X
Total Playtime: 25 hours
Completion: Entire campaign, did not play Separate Ways DLC expansion
Source: Purchased disc copy