I love the original, but this remake blew it out of the water. This is just a perfect video game.
One of the most beautiful games of the year, and it somehow looks just as impressive on Steam Deck, which is where I played most of it.
Gunplay is only like 2% less satisfying than the original due to the fact that positional damage & triggering melee takedowns is slightly less consistent than the original. But the gameplay in this remake is still superior due to the satisfying as hell knife parties and the expanded crafting system. And to be clear, gunplay is still incredibly satisfying. If I had the time, this would absolutely be the kind of game I play dozens of times over several months & years. And hell, Mercenaries & the Separate Ways DLC will already have me coming back very soon. Only flaw was with crafting. In the final chapters, I was loaded with grenades and had no craftable uses for them, like explosive ammo, and they were never my first option in combat as I could handle myself with guns just fine.
Exploration is the biggest new addition to the game. Now it's not just about going from chapter to chapter, each act has a fully explorable map with areas to backtrack with new tools, like a Metroidvania. These moments were a highlight and definitely got me to lean into the treasures and secrets more than the original. Some of the most fun I had in the game was secret hunting, or finding new enemies in places I've been once before. Only critique I have on this point is that it wasn't always obvious when you hit a point of no return and can't complete a request or have locked yourself from treasures in a certain location. Locked myself out of rewards quite a bit in the first half.
Even narratively the game is better. I didn't care about RE4's story at all, but this new more grounded & subtle approach makes the characters sing. I love how I came to empathize with Krauser, and how Ada & Leon's relationship felt more authentic, and how Ashley's adoration of Leon was more big brother-y than romantic. I even love the additional lore bits added to flesh out the antagonists and the parasitic threat. It really makes me want to go back and finally play Resident Evil 1-3 remakes to see these characters at earlier stages.
I think this game is just so incredible. It manages to do everything the original game did right, but flesh out so much of its narrative, characters and (most impressively) it's gameplay. I'm someone who loves the original despite playing it for the first time on PlayStation 4, and I still can't believe how incredibly well it has aged. But this new game might eventually be even more timeless, but both will always be worth experiencing.
FUCK Resident Evil is so cool!!!
One of the most beautiful games of the year, and it somehow looks just as impressive on Steam Deck, which is where I played most of it.
Gunplay is only like 2% less satisfying than the original due to the fact that positional damage & triggering melee takedowns is slightly less consistent than the original. But the gameplay in this remake is still superior due to the satisfying as hell knife parties and the expanded crafting system. And to be clear, gunplay is still incredibly satisfying. If I had the time, this would absolutely be the kind of game I play dozens of times over several months & years. And hell, Mercenaries & the Separate Ways DLC will already have me coming back very soon. Only flaw was with crafting. In the final chapters, I was loaded with grenades and had no craftable uses for them, like explosive ammo, and they were never my first option in combat as I could handle myself with guns just fine.
Exploration is the biggest new addition to the game. Now it's not just about going from chapter to chapter, each act has a fully explorable map with areas to backtrack with new tools, like a Metroidvania. These moments were a highlight and definitely got me to lean into the treasures and secrets more than the original. Some of the most fun I had in the game was secret hunting, or finding new enemies in places I've been once before. Only critique I have on this point is that it wasn't always obvious when you hit a point of no return and can't complete a request or have locked yourself from treasures in a certain location. Locked myself out of rewards quite a bit in the first half.
Even narratively the game is better. I didn't care about RE4's story at all, but this new more grounded & subtle approach makes the characters sing. I love how I came to empathize with Krauser, and how Ada & Leon's relationship felt more authentic, and how Ashley's adoration of Leon was more big brother-y than romantic. I even love the additional lore bits added to flesh out the antagonists and the parasitic threat. It really makes me want to go back and finally play Resident Evil 1-3 remakes to see these characters at earlier stages.
I think this game is just so incredible. It manages to do everything the original game did right, but flesh out so much of its narrative, characters and (most impressively) it's gameplay. I'm someone who loves the original despite playing it for the first time on PlayStation 4, and I still can't believe how incredibly well it has aged. But this new game might eventually be even more timeless, but both will always be worth experiencing.
FUCK Resident Evil is so cool!!!