Image: Capcom
Resident Evil 4 lets you parry a chainsaw with a knife. ‘Nuff said.
Capcom’s Resident Evil Showcase this week gave us an extended look at the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake, and it looks glorious. Fans who might have expected a more toned-down remake need not worry, as the new trailer confirms that Capcom is going all out to preserve the cheesy, spooky tone of the horror classic.
Watch the story trailer below:
The trailer above shows us almost all of Resident Evil 4’s main players, now featuring updated visual designs on the RE Engine. We see the President’s daughter Ashley Graham, the inexplicably Australian Merchant, the two main villains Father Bitores Mendez and Ramon Salazar, and a recast Ada Wong. Ada is now played by Lily Gao, who played the same character in the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City movie.
We also got five minutes of gameplay footage from the first few hours of the remake:
In case you’re unfamiliar with the original game, Resident Evil 4 begins with a weary Leon S. Kennedy having risen in the ranks to serve the President of the United States himself, after battling a zombie invasion in Raccoon City. He gets set into a mysterious rural village to investigate the disappearance of the President’s daughter Ashley Graham, and it takes no time at all for things to go south.
Some old gameplay features return here - such as being able to roundhouse kick stunned zombies, but the gameplay footage above shows some interesting new additions too. Leon can now shoot down burning lanterns to light zombies on fire, crouch to avoid being seen in stealthy encounters and parry chainsaws with a knife. It looks like the remake is keeping just the right amount of cheese from the original, despite the more grounded tone of Leon’s adventures in Resident Evil 2. He’s even polite enough to ask the Ganados to, “bill him,” after destroying their property. Leon’s a good egg.
The monstrous troll-like El Gigante and underwater Del Lago also return in the story trailer, as well as the Merchant, who continues to buy and sell weapons and other useful trinkets to help Leon on his journey. Just like the original and Resident Evil Village, you’ll have to play a bit of light Tetris to make everything in your inventory fit just right in the Attache case. The Merchant also trades items with Leon now.
Resident Evil 4 Remake launches on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on March 24, 2023.