Resident Evil 4 (RE4) is a survival horror third-person shooter game developed and published by Capcom. It was released on January 2005 for the Nintendo’s GameCube and later on it was released on PS2 in the same year.
The game was also ported to many consoles and even iOS and Android. RE4 was universally praised and well-loved by many gamers around the world for its gameplay, characters and story.
The success of Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3 remakes has fans clamouring for a RE4 remake as well, and fans got their wish granted when Capcom released a teaser trailer during PlayStation’s State of Play on 3 June 2022.
In a news report by Kotaku, Capcom told Game Informer and IGN more details about the new RE4. One of the biggest changes are Ashley Graham, who is an NPC that Leon S. Kennedy, the main protagonist, must rescue and escort to safety.
In the original game, Ashley has a health bar and players need to keep a watchful eyes on her at all times. If her health bar goes down, it’s game over. But in the remake, she no longer has a health bar. When she took too much damage, she will enter a downed state and players must revive her.
According to Capcom, this changes will “feel more like a natural companion and less like a second health bar to babysit”.
Another new addition is the ability to stab an enemy in the neck if they are carrying Ashley. You can only shoot or slash the enemy with a knife in the original RE4.
Besides that, Leon’s combat knife no longer has unlimited uses. Players of the original game will know that the knife is useful for slashing enemies when they are down and breaking open wooden boxes and barrels. In the remake, his knife will deteriorate over time, but players can have multiple knives in their inventory.
There will also be new side quests. You can pick up optional jobs you can do as side quests by finding blue flyers spread throughout the game. In the original RE4, the only “side quests” you can do is finding and shooting 15 blue medallions and a shooting gallery.
Furthermore, Quick-Time Events (QTE) will be removed from the remake as well. The original game has frequents QTEs and players have to mash a button as fast as they can.
Capcom is planning to release Resident Evil 4 Remake on 24 March 2023 for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.
