Aside from adding new side content, the Resident Evil 4 remake has radically changed certain gameplay sections involving Ashley.
It was easy to be sceptical of the Resident Evil 4 remake, considering you’re not supposed to be able to improve upon perfection. However, we came away from our preview session impressed and far more enthusiastic than we thought we’d be.
Part of that is down to how faithful it’s set to be, with plenty of that classic Resident Evil cheese (Leon even keeps his iconic ‘bingo’ line).
However, Capcom has since shared new details highlighting everything that it’s doing differently with the remake. Not just changes to the gameplay, but all-new content such as actual side quests.
Unlike the original, where Leon remained steadfast on his mission to rescue the president’s daughter Ashley, you can be distracted by these side quests acquired from blue flyers posted across the island.
So far, they don’t sound especially complex, such as delivering three snake carcasses or collecting blue medallions. That second one was in the original game too and was one of the only pieces of side content in the main campaign (the other being a shooting gallery).
Leon will also be able to acquire multiple knives, as opposed to just one, to compensate for the fact that they can break. Everyone’s favourite merchant can upgrade them, though, and it’s confirmed that it’s possible to do a knife-only run.
Capcom has teased brand new enemy types as well, which are bound to keep even diehard fans of the original game on their toes. One example given was an enemy that wields a hammer while wearing a bull mask.
So far, it sounds like the biggest changes have been applied to the Ashley escort sections. For starters, she’ll always follow Leon and never stand still in one place, although you can press a button to change whether she sticks close to Leon or hangs further back.
She also won’t die immediately if she takes too much damage, but you’ll only have so much time to revive her. Most surprisingly, the remake won’t feature rubbish skips for players to hid Ashley in, which was a common strategy in the original. Time will tell how much harder this makes these sections.
The most controversial detail is the removal of quick time events (QTEs). Ordinarily that might be viewed as a positive but Resident Evil 4 is widely regarded to have the best QTEs ever, before the concept got abused and dumb-downed in other games.
In particular, the knife fight against Krauser may well be the best QTE ever made, but perhaps the new obsessions with knives in the remake hints at how Capcom is going to replace it.
These details come via Game Informer, which was able to play the first and fifth chapters of the game, as well as speak with directors Yasuhiro Ampo and Kazunori Kadoi, who directed the Resident Evil 2 remake together.
The Resident Evil 4 remake launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC on March 24.
