Pros
- Graphics look crisp and hyper-detailed.
- Gameplay is a vast improvement over the original.
- Stealth is a nice, albeit optional, addition to the game.
- Story is not a 1:1 retread of the original.
- Dualsense (on PS5) adds an extra level of immersion.
- World map showing destinations and side quests is a massive help.
Cons
- Slight and infrequent framerate hiccups.
- Lack of moving any item from inventory to storage (resources, herbs, etc).
- Besides dropping to assisted for the rest of the game, no adjustable difficulty mid-game can hurt when you get to certain areas.
In Summary
Resident Evil 4 when it was originally released was a perfect blend of horror, action, and tension which the remake remains true to and then some. I’ve enjoyed every remake thus far but I haven’t loved any of them until now. There are so many quality-of-life improvements, story tweaks, gameplay changes, and an even stronger emphasis on minute-to-minute gameplay that has me hooked as only the original version could. Even in the original, I had to stop playing from time to time because I’d hit areas of frustration but this remake took all of that away and added so much more. Yes, there are slight performance issues on the PS5 version I reviewed it on, but these in no way hamper the gaming experience, though I do wish I could change my difficulty when I got to certain parts of the game and bump it back up after.
2023 has already been a banner year for remakes and RE4 stands above them all, this is not only the best version of that game, but of any Resident Evil game to date.
Score: 10/10
