Thoughts on Resident Evil’s 4 Rumored Remake
A remake has long been rumored, but is there fire behind the smoke?
Rumors of a remake for Resident Evil 4 (RE4) have made some noise for a while. The franchise has regained a lot of its strength in recent years, in part thanks to remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, and while the RE3 remake might not be as well-liked, it still received good scores and good sales overall). Resident Evil 4 has had a constant presence in gaming since its release, as it has been ported to many systems with few changes, and with Capcom’s success with their recent remake it’s not surprising that they would be working on a remake for RE4.
RE4 marked a turning point for the franchise, with later installments focused on being more action-oriented, and the game has remained popular with consistent sales on new platforms. But even though the game has a good balance of horror, challenge, and action, it might finally be time to give it a new spin, with changes in the story and gameplay — the tank controls will likely have to go with the remake, for example.
Rumors have been fueled by this tweet from last year — “4. Itchy. Tasty.”, a line from Resident Evil 1 — and there have also been reports of changes coming with the remake:
- Having a darker, scarier atmosphere, getting it closer to the feeling evoked by RE4’s demos, which featured supernatural elements
- Rethinking the roles of both Luis and Ashley and giving them more importance to the story, and more development for Ashley
- Better integration of Ada into the progression of the story
- Starting from night rather than day
After taking the time to go back and finish RE4 again, there’s something about the supposed changes that worries me, the one point that many might consider of little importance — starting at night.
In the main game, we don’t spend much time with natural lighting, but I think it’s incredibly important for gameplay and atmosphere related purposes. By starting in the daytime, you have better visibility to deal with the Ganados, it’s easier to know where your enemies are or if a particular route is safe, and it is just less scary.
But the daylight serves another critical purpose — delaying the appearance of Las Plagas, as they are weak to light (the same reason flash grenades kill them). So the daylight gives new players time to learn how to deal with the controls and enemies. They can stay relatively safe, learn the initial area of the game, and become immersed in the game’s setting. And whatever protection the sun gives us will only last for around an hour of gameplay, give or take.
One could argue that after you master the controls, you probably won’t feel quite as on-edge, the same need to always be on your toes, at least until you get to the regenerators. But this gives Capcom a chance to deliver a more horror-focused experienced for those who wanted more of that in the game’s original iteration. Thankfully, the many many devices for which RE4 is available means that even if you don’t like the changes, you should have more than enough options to play the original.
In the end, I’m curious to see if the rumored changes to RE4 remake will be allow for an effective introduction to the game, as the one generations of players have gotten to know from the original version. And will there be an explainable ramp up of difficulty, or will gamers just need to accept that it “happens because it happens”? These kinds of details show the designers have a desire for the game to make sense, even if the story itself might not always do so.
