Capcom has generally rode a high in the last couple years. Whether it’s been the successes of Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter: World, and several of the Resident Evil releases, the last three years of this console generation have been fruitful for Capcom. There have been some missteps with games like Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 3 Remake, but overall it’s been positive. However, from both the announcement of Resident Evil Village and the rumored Resident Evil 4 Remake, Capcom seems to be taking risks.
The risk in Resident Evil Village is abundantly clear, as the setting and changing of characters has been highly controversial among traditional Resident Evil fans. Finding the risk in a Resident Evil 4 Remake, however, is a bit more of a nuanced topic. The original Resident Evil 4 is one of the most highly regarded and critically acclaimed Resident Evil games to be released. The fourth game also came out during a time where the mechanics and gameplay introduced were highly formative, despite the story content being far different from past games. Now, with a theoretical 2021-2022 release window, Resident Evil 4 Remake could have trouble finding a new audience.
There were quite a few reasons why Resident Evil 4 received widespread critical acclaim upon its initial release in 2005. The fourth numbered mainline entry marked Resident Evil‘s first foray in a fully 3D world, among other technical improvements. Most importantly was the changing of the camera view, eschewing the fixed camera angles in favor of the over-the-shoulder third person perspective. Resident Evil 4 was one of the first games to ever employ this player perspective, and served to be incredibly influential for third-person shooters of all kinds. Players could now fire from a number of angles and rewarded players for creativity, like shooting zombies in the leg for them to trip.
Many other controversial gameplay changes were employed in Resident Evil 4 that made the game more action-oriented, which would inspire the next three entries in the series to varying degrees of success. Incapacitating enemies like in the above example opened up opportunities for Leon to follow up with a special melee attack that did massive damage. Resident Evil 4 also employed many contextual actions and quick time events throughout the game as well, which weren’t exactly revolutionary but still a first for the franchise. This was all in service to a much more campy action story, which even at the time was criticized for being a little too goofy for Resident Evil.
All of these aspects are great examples of why Resident Evil 4 was so special back in 2005, but now in 2020, the gaming medium is a very different atmosphere compared to 15 years ago. There’s a whole lot about Resident Evil 4 that can still be found in modern games today, whereas the previous Resident Evil remakes were far more impactful. Both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis were traditional, fixed-camera games that were released on the PS1 over 20 years ago. Remaking those games with modern design attributes made sense because it served to modernize the games from several console generations ago.
The problem with a Resident Evil 4 Remake is that everything that would seemingly date the game is also still present in many third person shooters to this day. Over the shoulder perspective has been adopted across the industry because of Resident Evil 4, so having that game be remade already inherently won’t be as impactful compared to the previous remakes. Not only that, but the third person shooting and “tank controls” are a lot of what made Resident Evil 4 a horror-like experience. Giving more flexibility to Leon means a lot of the open-ended areas in Resident Evil 4 won’t be as threatening due to lack of mobility.
A lot of the modern sensibilities implemented in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 Remake just won’t transfer easily over to a Resident Evil 4 Remake. That’s part of why Resident Evil 4 being remade is a lot harder to pull off compared to the previous games. These aren’t completely new mechanics compared to the original game, and will require a lot of tweaking to both the player’s abilities as well as the environment design. Balancing those changes whilst retaining the original game’s tension has to be quite the undertaking. That being said, if these changes are able to mesh well with the original game’s presentation, then it’d be worth it for Capcom.
That’s not to say it’s impossible, as both previous remakes completely changed the camera perspective and gameplay mechanics to mostly positive reception. Resident Evil 4 Remake could do the same, but a lot of the original frameworks in Resident Evil 4 will need to be changed drastically to justify the remake’s existence.
Resident Evil 4 Remake is rumored to be in development.
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