Resident Evil 4 for the PS5 Remake lived up to the hype I had for it, I was blown away by all of the story improvements done over the original with Ashley Graham and Luis Sera for instance. They had better character development than the original while having more compelling personalities. The RE Engine gameplay fit RE4 pretty well and expanded on the OG's gameplay amazingly by increasing the aggression of the enemies to match Leon's improved moves. Areas that were originally linear pathways were given a more explorable approach, feeling more akin to the gameplay of classic REs. The weapon selection was improved, and the Merchant now gave Leon more side tasks to do beyond the original 15 medallions mission in OG RE4. The first Krauser fight was reworked into a boss fight versus a QTE memory game.

The main flaw of the game was Ada Wong's character direction in the Remake, the actress didn't seem to give it her all like with the other cast members. Either that or the director had odd ideas about Ada's portrayal. They cut a couple of areas in the game including a boss fight to save for later, which is annoying. Lastly, the bonus modes such as Mercenaries and Separate Ways weren't available at launch. While Separate Ways wasn't in the first launch of OG RE4 too, Mercenaries plus Assignment Ad, was, however. Mercs is in the game now via update, but it still doesn't have 2 characters that were in the original. There's also the fact Micro Transactions are included in the game, which hurts the score a bit.

Overall, despite the flaws; it's still an excellent Remake that in my opinion matches the original in excellence. Just now it's more serious in many ways and overall has now an Action-Survival Horror vibe instead of being Action Horror. Fans of the silly action in the original RE4 will not like the more serious way, but the fans of RE being more horror-focus will more likely love this. I see it as a new, alternative way to play Resident Evil 4. and it perhaps will be my favorite way to play RE4 for years to come.

After release, I was hesitant to pick this up. Would I enjoy it as much as the first? Would it be more faithful than the other 2 remakes we have seen in the last five years? Can it balance action and horror as well as the original? And after playing, I can answer, yes, yes and yes. This game is phenomenal.

First off, graphics. These are some of the most beautiful and clean graphics I’ve ever seen in a horror game. No, it doesn’t look like horizon, but this game takes advantage of the dark, dirty, and frankly disgusting colour palette of your typical horror game very, very well.

Although I was initially disappointed with the tone being less “campy” and “cheesy”, I eventually accepted that this game would be more serious and “realistic” (if you can even say that about a resident evil game XD) just like the RE2 and RE3 remakes. Although the tone is much more fitting, the story much like the original, still suffers from being predictable.

However, a big improvement in this game compared to the original Is the characters, they are all very much more 3-Dimensional then they ever were in the original, I think this is partly due to each character being able to speak and banter between each other during gameplay but it may also be due to that fact that CapCom have had another chance with these remakes to improve on the original, the character that I think mostly is improved is Luis who now appears a bit more and with every single second of that new time added on he really steals the show, for me at least. That doesn’t mean that Ashley hasn’t been improved either, she has really gone from an annoying girl that screams in your ear a lot, to a girl that is a lot more confident in her abilities and tries to help Leon out as much as he helps her, she is a lot more likeable in this remake.

The reason I saved gameplay for last, is because it is the single best thing about this remake. Although broadly speaking the gameplay appears the same “shoot, stagger, kick”, due to the addition of parrying, it has added a lot more depth to the gameplay and height to the skill ceiling, whilst also making it more fun and satisfying for the newer, less experienced players.

This remake has kind of brought my faith back into AAA gaming, from receiving disappointing high-budget games like cyberpunk and saints row, and with more games adopting a strategy of putting microtransactions into every aspect of their games, this feels like a big step back up that both gives the player what they want and takes advantage of the hardware. I give this game a 9/10

As a newcomer to the Resident Evil franchise and the survival horror genre, I can undoubtedly say that Capcom is the best at what they do. I'm disappointed in myself for not getting into the franchise when RE2R came out. As soon as I purchased RE4R, I bought and played RE2R first to understand Leon's character development and backstory.

I've played RE4R 3 times in under 2 months, and I've never done that with any other game, so that says a lot about what this game has to offer. The story, characters, gameplay, graphics, audio and game design are perfect, all of which create a fun experience, therefore worth replaying and unlocking extra content. Its combat is action heavy combined with survival horror, which is ideal for players like myself, who love action/action-adventure games. Its pacing is also sublime as the in-and-out-of-combat ratio is balanced, so in between combat encounters, areas can be explored in order to upgrade weapons and just to take a breather. You never get the feeling that exploration and combat overstay their welcome. The adaptive triggers and haptic feedback gained from the PS5 controller add to the immersion, even Leon's walking and jogging can be felt.

I have 2 minor complaints about the game:
1. Lily Gao's portrayal of Ada was poorly executed. I'm not sure if it's due to the direction or if it was substandard acting, but most of her lines sounded wooden, and her voice doesn't fit the character, unlike Jolene Andersen whose portrayal and voice were perfect in RE2R. Lily Gao's Ada doesn't feel like the Ada we know and love from RE2R as she feels like a different person. Overall, Lily Gao's performance is adequate and doesn't ruin the game for me.
2. Saddler is rarely shown throughout the game when he's the main villain, but I can understand as they wanted to portray him as a mysterious figure. I wish he would have caused more problems for Leon and Ashley so as to make him a more menacing and powerful villain.

I completed my first playthrough in 25 hours as I like to take my time in order to fully experience and enjoy the games that I play. Both Remakes have been a blast, and I'm looking forward to future RE Remakes, especially a RE6 Remake if Capcom decides to do it. For now, I can't wait for the release of the Separate Ways DLC. It's worth the price, and I definitely recommend this game to newcomers and veterans of Resident Evil.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is another smash success by Capcom, who can't seem to do much wrong with this series. The original was a major icon in gaming history and often considered one of the best games ever made, but the remake improves on essentially every aspect of it, changing elements in interesting and surprising ways that remain faithful to the original while making it simply better.

Examples:
-Gunplay is more dynamic, with new options such as parries, moving while a gun is drawn, and more.
-Ashley's relationship with Leon and her gameplay incorporation are also both majorly improved. Ashley's growth in confidence throughout the game makes her consistently likeable and useful, and the changes to her system-wise, such as the removal of her health bar in favor of a downed state, make her feel less of a burden and more of a partner.
-The other side characters, especially Luis, are also improved in a story sense, with excellent performances, stellar visual redesigns, and renewed writing. This also applies to the villains, such as Saddler, who has a much more religious feel and gravitas.
-The changes to levels and progression make the game more well-paced than the original, already quite good in this area.
-In terms of presentation, graphically the game is gorgeous with very granular graphical options that aid an already good optimization effort; music and sound are also quite good.

There are, of course, some minor negatives:

-Some performances, such as Ada's or Krauser's, seem to have lower audio quality and don't quite match up to the rest of the cast.
-The level of improvement and change is inferior to that of RE2R. Of course this is because RE4 was already more modern to begin with, but you shouldn't expect too many major surprises.

Overall, any fan of the Resident Evil series, horror, or action-adventure will want this game in their collection, and it's difficult to see how any future Resident Evil remake could hope to match such an amazing effort. Highly recommended to basically anyone who might be interested.