It’s no small task remaking what is perhaps the dictionary definition of a game changer. Capcom’s groundbreaking 2005 classic, for better or worse, brought survival horror to the masses with its now standard over-the-shoulder shooting style and adaptive difficulty. Resident Evil 4’s signature mechanics have been refined and incorporated into its sequels as well as remakes of its predecessors. And so ‘RE4R’ is not as much a reinvention, more rather a preservation, a celebration, of its contribution to the RE canon.

That is not to discredit a variety of fun new additions. The ‘open zone’ level design now makes the village, castle and overall world (‘somewhere in Europe’) feel real and connected, encouraging exploration and discovering secrets new and old. The treasure seeking is all the more engaging with the furthered mechanic of adding gems to trinkets to increase their worth. The puzzles have been reinvented but more or less capture the fun and challenge of the originals: I spent longer on those cyber-circuits than a number of early Silent Hill puzzles.

More than anything, Resident Evil 4 just has the most fun story. Sure, it’s pure schlock - rescuing the president’s daughter from evil Europeans - but the balance of horror, action and adventure is perfectly achieved. The remake enhances that balance through both its gorgeous presentation and refined gameplay, although my only gripe is it may be too refined. There’s still a handful of cheesy quips and b-movie character stereotypes that made it into RE4R, but for the most part it strives for a certain self seriousness, often playing things safe. It can sometimes render the outrageous plot a bit clinical. Playing on hardcore - recommended for players of the o.g - can certainly make things exciting particularly in horde situations but I still found a number of bosses and previously challenging Ashley-escort segments a little dialled down compared to before. It’s no secret that games nowadays are made easier to play in order to appeal to a wider demographic but the imbalance is quite noticeable here - with or without that adaptive difficulty mechanic.

But small gripes aside, the remake manages to be both faithful and entertaining in its own right. Purists will argue it’s not the true way to play Resident Evil 4, but thankfully the heavily ported original is still an available option on most platforms - the opposite of such is my key concern with a remake like Silent Hill 2 (fingers crossed it doesn’t suck). Anyways, onwards and upwards: let’s see what they do with Resident Evil 5.