Capcom’s reveal of the Resident Evil 4 remake took fans by surprise. At first glance, it looks like it’ll be close to the original, but closer examination has us wondering if that’s the case. We’ll look at what changes the Resident Evil 4 remake might bring and what those differences could mean for the game.
What changes are being made in Resident Evil 4 remake?
On first viewing, the Resident Evil 4 remake trailer doesn’t seem like it brings many changes. In particular, the locations shown seem to be very faithful recreations of those from the original. For example, the first Ganado encounter looks much the same, and the village is practically a 1:1 recreation from the angles we saw it from. However, there are a few notable changes.
Character designs have changed a bit. Leon’s outfit is close to the one from the original, but his jacket has a larger collar that looks lifted from his RE4 beta design. Ashley’s design is also close to the original, but she’s wearing a jacket in the scenes where we see her. On the other hand, Ada’s wardrobe has completely changed. Instead of her red dress, she’s wearing a more practical red sweater.
The description in the PlayStation Blog that accompanied the announcement confirmed that some of the story would be changed:
“This time, the game is being developed to achieve state-of-the-art quality for a survival horror suitable for 2023, while preserving the essence of the original game. We aim to make the game feel familiar to fans of the series, while also providing a fresh feeling to it. This is being done by reimagining the storyline of the game while keeping the essence of its direction, modernizing the graphics and updating the controls to a modern standard.”
From the trailer, we can see that the devs are leaning into horror, and I expect the cheesier moments of the original will be toned down. This version of Resident Evil 4 continues the continuity that started with Resident Evil 2 remake. So, there’ll likely be some changes to the returning characters’ personalities since they went through a different experience. We already see this in Leon’s brooding attitude during his car ride toward the village in the intro. I wouldn’t be surprised if the RE4 remake put more emphasis on his Plagas infection than the original did as well. It’ll also be interesting to see if Capcom tightens the link between RE4 and RE7 and RE: Village with the remake.
Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long to see all the changes that are coming in the Resident Evil 4 remake. The game is scheduled to launch on March 24, 2023.
