To play Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake is to witness a development team grappling with a near-impossible task. Enough time had passed since Resident Evils 2 and 3 for contemporary updates to feel viable, and indeed sensible – created in the PS1 era as they were, with their static camera angles and purposefully unwieldy controls. But, even 18 years on, refurbishing their Shinji Mikami-helmed successor, widely acclaimed as a masterpiece, and a game which all but laid the template for the thirdperson action game, always seemed a more daunting assignment. Wrenched between eager homage and an evident desire to innovate, at times it strides confidently into new territory, while at others you can sense the desperation not to stray too far from the original path. It is eager to please in more ways than one: at once respecting Mikami’s vision while doubling down on fan-favourite moments and characters.
Take the opening, which is both familiar enough to stir memories of 2005 and yet sufficiently different to establish a clear agenda. As Leon S Kennedy arrives in a Spanish
