Resident Evil 4 remake strikes fans, critics as respectful evolution to original

Mar 23, 2023 | Arts

When Capcom first released Resident Evil on PlayStation in 1996, it laid the blueprint for the survival horror gaming genre. In 2004 with the release of Resident Evil 4, the industry was shaken again. On Friday, Capcon will release a new remake of Resident Evil 4, and many gamers are hoping the company might just do it again.

Andy Robinson, founder and editor-in-chief of Video Game Chronicle, said he’d been a fan of the game series since 2002.

“My earliest memory of the Resident Evil series was watching a friend play the second game on his PlayStation, but probably the most enjoyable memory of the series, when I was younger, was playing the GameCube remake of the first game with friends, start to finish after we’d finished our school exams,” Robinson said.

The remake sees main character Leon S. Kennedy returning to Spain a few years after the events of RE2, not as a member of the Raccoon City Police Department, but as a part of the special forces tasked with rescuing the President’s daughter Ashley Graham.

In it’s over 25-year history, the Resident Evil series has sold 135 million copies. As of 2023, the series has spanned 12 main games, four remakes, and 11 spinoffs. There are also seven movies, six starring Milla Jovovich, which grossed over $1 billion at the box office.

“Few franchises have delivered consistent quality and managed to reinvent themselves as Resident Evil has. The series has meaning to multiple generations of players, and Capcom has shown its ability to cater to new and old fans,” he said.

The original series creator, Shinji Mikami, departed Capcom in 2006, a move that left many fans worried. He directed the original resident Evil 4, and was seen as the person who gave pulse to the games.

Robinson said Capcom had struggled to recapture his magic – until now.

“As the director of the original game and Resident Evil 4, his influence has been all-encompassing,” Robinson said. “It speaks volumes that Resident Evil 4 is by far the most faithful of its remakes.”

As far as the original Resident Evil 4’s cult status among fans, Robinson can’t pinpoint a single reason, arguing it’s down to the perfect blend of many elements.

“In truth, no single element made Resident Evil 4 a masterpiece. The game’s success was down to its near-perfect blend of mechanics, pacing, and world design, which combine for one the most absorbing 15-hour action games of its time,” Robinson said.

In the attempt to recreate 2005’s Resident Evil 4’s success some critical failures, such as Resident Evil 5 and 6, saw Capcom stuck in a rough period. This all changed with the rejuvenating Resident Evil 7 (RE7), which sold 11.7 million copies and again energized the series,

In 2019, the company released a Resident Evil 2 remake which sold 11.20 million copies and ignited a trend of remakes,

“Just this year we’re seeing Dead Space, Silent Hill, Alan Wake, System Shock, Alone in the Dark get remakes – and that’s just off the top of my head. Developers have cited the success of Resident Evil’s remakes on record to me as the inspiration to revive their own survival horror franchises,” Robinson said.

Gameplay from Resident Evil 4 remake of Leon  S. Kennedy fighting off the evil villagers of the infected town in rural Spain.

Gameplay from Resident Evil 4 remake of Leon S. Kennedy fighting off the evil villagers of the infected town in rural Spain. Photo credit: CAPCOM & IGN

George Yang, a freelance games writer whose work appeared in Vanity, and IGN, points toward the gelling of the original and remake as two different approaches coexisting.

“I think it’s the fact that the remake is more supplementary to the original. They can exist at the same time.”

Yang said the remake capitalizes on industry trends toward more realistic and gritty games, but adds “the remake has also benefited from 20 years of industry innovation.”

Yang has been a fan of the series since PlayStation 1 and has seen the progress of the series, both good and ugly, every step of the way. He notes the series’ rebooting into horror as a key aspect of the return to success.

“That’s what RE7 did. It was a return to form for the entire franchise as it relied more on horror elements after the more action-based RE5 and RE6. The RE2 remake focused more on the horror elements and it was great for that. RE4 struck a perfect balance between horror and action for me,” Yang said.

As far as the future, Yang sees success for Capcom as long as they stick to the current trajectory.

“With the trajectory that Capcom is going, I don’t think they have anything to worry about. Again, I’d like them to try something new, but over the past few years with the remakes, they’ve been hitting it out of the park,” he said.