The Resident Evil 4 remake has big shoes to fill. Ask a few members of the PC Gamer team, and you'll hear that Resident Evil 4 is one of the best videogames of all time. RE4's B-movie banter and over-the-shoulder shooting made it the first Resident Evil to feel like a true action game, an approach that held up a decade later when we reviewed it in 2014. And now, RE4's been given the remake treatment, with a modernised overhaul for its visuals and combat.
How is Capcom handling a remake one of the most-beloved games, after almost 20 years? Leon's big day out is going through some changes, leaning into RE4's horror moments for the remake with the addition of stealth sequences and new enemies. But even with a suite of updates, the remake still hews closely to the original game's spirit. Now that the RE4 remake is out in the wild, here's everything we knew in the run-up to release.
What is the Resident Evil 4 Remake release date?
The Resident Evil 4 Remake released on March 24, 2023.
The RE4 remake was rumored for years before it got an official Capcom reveal during a PlayStation livestream in June 2022. The broadcast began with the RE4 announcement trailer backed by flamenco guitar, a slick reference to the unnamed rural Spanish town the game takes place in.
Read our review of the Resident Evil 4 remake
As you'll read in our Resident Evil 4 remake review, Capcom gave itself a big order to fill by revisiting one of its most-celebrated games. We found plenty to celebrate in Leon's revised adventure, particularly in moments when updated enemy AI and combat mechanics add a new thrill to some of the original's best fights. But the remake's modernization ends up sacrificing some of its original charm: it's a satisfying second outing for RE4, but it doesn't quite meet the watermark set back in 2005.
Here's Resident Evil 4 remake gameplay from Game Informer
This new footage from Game Informer's cover story (opens in new tab) is our first look at RE4 Remake's fifth chapter, several hours into the game. Leon has met up with Ashley, and the chapter ends with the cabin fight with Luis Serra. (Note that it seems chapter numbering is different in Remake, as this takes place in Chapter 2-2 (opens in new tab) in the original game).
The footage includes a few things we haven't seen from Remake before:
- Big, fat rain droplets
- The mechanic for rescuing Ashley from a ganado with an execution
- Leon shooting bird nests to get eggs
- A chat with the merchant, who definitely has re-recorded dialogue
- You can now upgrade knives in addition to guns
- The Red9 pistol in action
- Fighting a dog las plagas
- Blue Medallions are still in, though in different numbers
- A new cow-headed enemy type called The Brute (he's got a giant hammer)
What systems did Resident Evil 4 Remake release on?
The game is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Surprisingly, despite releasing a VR version of the game just last year, Capcom also announced it's developing "PSVR2 content" for this remake. That seems to imply the full game won't be playable in VR, but we'll have to wait and see.
How is the Resident Evil 4 remake different?
RE4 Remake seems both deeply faithful to the original, and open to tweaking little things here and there. Here are some of the notable differences between the two so far:
- Stealth is an option now: Leon can crouch
- There are new execution moves with knives, and knives can now break, so you won't be using the same one throughout the game
- Ashley's AI has been reworked. You can no longer tell her to stay somewhere while you go off and fight enemies
- There's at least one new enemy type, a hammer-wielding ganado called The Brute
- QTEs are out, but some events that were handled with QTEs in the original may be in the game in new form
- The laser sight is now an upgrade
- There's a new crossbow weapon
- There's some dismemberment on enemies now
- Capcom's added additional sidequests
- Despite the more serious, horror-forward tone overall, Leon's one-liners are still there
