Resident Evil 4 (2005) (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Since its original release in 2005, Resident Evil 4 (RE4) has seen continuous praise and success, including over a dozen different hardware ports, enough that it is widely considered one of the greatest video games ever made. Of all the Resident Evil games, however, this one had one of the most troubled developments. The short version is that starting in 1998, four different versions were proposed and subsequently discarded before the final release. The first of these, and the most well-known, started as an attempt at a more “stylish” action game directed by Hideki Kamiya that was spun off and retooled into the original Devil May Cry, which released in 2001. The second, known internally as the “Castle” version, would include story elements that made their way into the 2005 survival horror game Haunting Ground. The third and fourth versions, “Hallucination” and the lesser-known “Zombie”, were scrapped for technical reasons, though elements from both would still make their way into the final game. Interestingly, “Hallucination” would have taken some influence from the Silent Hill series and “Zombie” was criticized by Shinji Mikami for being too similar to previous Resident Evil games, as he didn’t want to bore fans by relying on tired tropes.

This consistent desire for a different kind of Resident Evil game resulted in a more action-oriented game, a direction that had a ripple effect on the rest of the franchise until Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (RE7). In the intervening time, I had tried getting into Resident Evil through the PS2 version of RE4 and the PS3 version of Resident Evil 5, but only got to around Chapter 2-1 in the former and barley got anywhere in the latter before I moved on to other games. However, with the release of Resident Evil 4 (2023), as well as a personal deep dive of the series following a playthrough of Resident Evil Village, I finally had an excuse to go back and finish what I had started in RE4, this time through the 2016 PS4 release. With this zombie from the past finally slain, I can safely say that while it’s a little rough now, RE4 has aged much better than many of its predecessors and has definitely earned its longstanding reputation.

Six years after the events of Resident Evil 2 (1998), Leon S. Kennedy is a special agent for the U.S. government thanks to his actions in the Raccoon City incident. For his first assignment, he travels to Spain in search of the U.S. President’s daughter, Ashley Graham, who was abducted just before he started working for the President’s family. What starts as an investigation in a rural village, however, quickly turns into something much greater as he learns about Los Illuminados, the cult who had kidnapped Ashley, and a plan revolving around the mysterious parasite Las Plagas.

Compared to the original (read: non-Remake) “classic” Resident Evil games, RE4 has one of the best and most memorable stories in the series. There are a few moving parts, but nothing too complicated for anyone to follow. Leon’s mission to save Ashley has a number of effective twists and turns brought on by new insights into the motivations of Los Illuminados and their increasing desperation to stop him from derailing a sinister plan that specifically requires the President’s daughter. Although Los Illuminados’ plan is revealed in a note near the end of the game, it’s very hard to miss and isn’t executed much differently from other Resident Evil games, plus it puts all of the pieces together in a very terrifying way. As an added bonus, Leon getting injected with a Las Plagas egg in an early Chapter adds a very effective ticking clock for both himself and the player. Related subplots include secondary character Luis Sera’s past as a Los Illuminados researcher and his willingness to aid Leon in destroying the cult, including recovering a sample of Las Plagas to cure him, and the mysterious Ada Wong occasionally showing up and helping Leon while looking for a sample of Las Plagas herself.

In an interesting twist, the Los Illuminados cult are the first time the main villain isn’t directly affiliated with Umbrella, making them a nice change of pace. It helps that they all have a unique presence, with Bitores Mendez consistently overpowering Leon and treating him like a minor nuisance until wrong assumptions lead to desperation, Ramon Salazar preferring words until his hand is forced and Osmund Saddler manipulating events from the shadows until Leon proves too much of a threat. Although mostly unaffiliated with Los Illuminados, Krauser is also memorable based on his professional relationship with Ada Wong and implied past with Leon, not to mention his desire to restore Umbrella to its former glory, whatever the cost. Following up from the original Resident Evil and Code: Veronica X (CVX), Albert Wesker is present as well, though he’s only mentioned in passing during the main campaign. Someone starting with RE4, as many likely have, may find this Wesker more mysterious, which is honestly for the better considering how CVX treated him.

 

The members of Los Illuminados are memorable in their own ways.

While RE4 has a fairly serious storyline, it still includes some of the series’ signature cheesiness without getting too much in the way of the emotional core. A lot of this shines through in Leon’s one-liners (ex. “Where's everyone going? Bingo?”, “Your right hand comes off?”), some of which are more memorable than others, as well as the energy of side content like the shooting gallery. That said, some elements are perhaps a bit too silly, like Salazar just having a giant robotic statue of himself in his castle or Ashley getting caught in a trap that had a one in a million chance of actually working. Others, like Luis’ infamous “ballistics” line, haven’t aged as well and elicit a small groan at worst or a small exhale at best.

Although I didn’t have too many issues with the story, I did notice that some characters didn’t have much characterization. For example, Ashley isn’t much more than a coward, even when she can push through the terrifying situation that she’s in, and Luis and Salazar don’t have too much going for them. The story works even with these qualities, though different players may have different responses to these characters as a result. It doesn’t help that you will hear Ashely call Leon for help. Repeatedly.

While RE4 does shake up the series formula in a big way, it has some similarities at its core. As with CVX, it unfortunately doesn’t give a difficulty select at the start, defaulting to Normal difficulty with the option to play on the harder Professional difficulty upon completion. The main menu is very basic, with very few options, including, for some inexplicable reason, a permanently grayed out Subtitles option unless you’re playing in a language other than English. Although you play from an over-the-shoulder view, which was highly revolutionary at the time and influenced games like Gears of War and Dead Space, you still play with archaic tank controls, which means you have to stop moving while aiming and have access to a quick turn.

As for the differences, the more action-oriented shift introduces plenty, even those that are relatively minor. One that I really appreciated right off the bat was that compared to the “classic” games, you no longer need to collect physical maps to see all possible paths, plus the new optional side quests (of which there aren’t that many) are marked in blue so you never lose track. On the flip side, you do need to buy optional maps if you want to keep track of optional Treasures that you can sell for Pesetas (more on that later). Speaking of pesetas, this is the first Resident Evil title with a currency system that the game’s combat is partially designed around. You can find pesetas either from killing enemies or within the environment by breaking boxes and barrels with a gun or knife (I personally recommend the latter to save ammo). Breaking objects can also contain useful items like healing items or ammunition, but also has a chance of containing a snake that will attack Leon a moment later, seemingly regardless of distance. Should you take revenge on the snake and kill it, it will drop a Chicken Egg, a new healing item that also has more effective Brown and Gold variants that are also randomly laid by Chickens in certain areas. Naturally, you can also throw eggs as a weapon, though I’d advise against it unless in extreme emergency.

One of the bigger changes is that the game is divided into three sections: Village, Castle and Island, each one clearly divided into Chapters. For the most part, each of the three sections is interconnected with potential backtracking, but progression is always linear, as is the level design. This means that it’s impossible to get lost and while there are hidden areas, this aspect is severely downplayed, though exploration in out of the way areas is usually worth it for extra items. Players are also scored individually by Chapter, though they’ll receive a Ranking at the end based on their overall performance. Safe Rooms are still a place of refuge and Typewriters thankfully no longer require Ink Ribbons, but in exchange, similarly to Resident Evil 0 (RE0), there are no Item Boxes to be found.

In exchange for the lack of Item Boxes, however, players manage a massively overhauled inventory through Leon’s Attaché Case. No more do players have to juggle six to eight slots with limited space for all items, keys and weapons. Instead, the case has a grid that starts at 60 squares, with optional (but very useful) upgrades that increase the total space as follows: M (77 squares), L (96 squares) and XL (120 squares). Instead of taking up one square each, each item takes up a certain amount of space within the case, which quickly results in playing “Inventory Tetris” by picking up and rotating each item to make sure everything fits. Although players may sort their inventories in any way they wish, my personal strategy, following my behavior in Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 3 (2020), I kept track of my items more easily by putting weapons and bullets at the top, grenades in the lower left and healing items in the lower right. I still ran into a lot of rearranging because the game insisted on placing new items in any empty space near the top, but I found the effort worth it.

Managing your inventory is more important now than ever.

Within the inventory, players can easily combine items either through each item’s submenu or by simply picking one up and placing it in the same space as the other. The former method is also good for making sure that weapon attachments, which take up additional space in the case, are properly attached while the latter method makes crafting healing items on the fly much faster. While players thankfully don’t need to worry about Blue Herbs, and by extension the Poison status, there’s a new Yellow Herb that increases Leon’s max health when mixed with either a Green Herb or a mixture of Red and Green Herbs (but not a mixture of two Green Herbs). Although there isn’t an in-game document that explains the Herb system, I did notice that the descriptions for each Herb color explain how they’re used, which I found quite helpful (as do presumably many other players). One other welcome change is that the knife no longer takes up any inventory space and there’s a separate Key Items and Treasures tab that ensures plenty of room in the case for various weapons and healing items. In this second tab, players can combine certain items together to create complete keys or combine certain treasures together to increase their value.

Combat also feels different from prior “classic” titles, but in a good way. The new viewpoint makes aiming at certain body parts, not to mention the enemies themselves, far easier than relying on three angles or the aim assist and hoping for the best, which also has the added benefit of reducing the cheapness of enemy attacks (no Infected Bat summoning an infinite army of Bats as a bullet-wasting meat shield!). In exchange, however, enemies are a bit smarter, as they can flank Leon from multiple sides or even dodge his aim. Of course, some of this is influenced by the game’s hidden adaptive difficulty, a concept popularized here, where the difficulty of encounters is determined by your performance (ex. enemies will start dodging more regularly if you get a lot of headshots). It should be noted, however, that there is no adaptive difficulty on Professional, where the difficulty is always at the highest. You can potentially cheese certain encounters by bottlenecking enemies into a single spot, though even then you can still be overwhelmed if you’re not careful. Either way, enemies can drop useful items, though those drops only last for a short time and are best picked up as soon as possible.

Leon also has more tools at his disposal. If nearby enemies are stunned or on their knees, he can kick or suplex them for additional damage to save ammo and potentially behead them. The knife also behaves differently, as it has its own dedicated button with no need to equip it in the inventory first and can sometimes save a good amount of ammo (for example, it’s a great tool for damaging enemies climbing up ladders). The ultimate ammo saving measure is, of course, running away, which is also a valid strategy in situations where fighting provides no real benefit. While running or exploring, you may need to watch out for traps in the environment, especially bear traps and tripwires, to avoid losing health or, much worse, dying while in a helpless state.

As with previous games, RE4 has a good variety of weapons players can obtain, though there’s now a wider range with multiple variations to suit different playstyles. While certain combinations are more optimal, which variation you choose can easily come down to player preference and it’s good to have a variety of guns to handle different situations and enemy types. For my own playthrough, my personal loadout by the end consisted of the Blacktail, the Broken Butterfly (which I found for free and didn’t upgrade), the Punisher (that I obtained for free from a side quest), the Rifle (Semi-Auto) with its optional Scope and the Striker shotgun with its “Exclusive” upgrade. Since I was worried about space and thought I had a good enough variety of weapon types, I didn’t buy any variation of the TMP and instead sold the ammo for extra pesetas. I also learned from experience that the Punisher has only a very niche use of damaging shielded enemies and didn’t equip it nearly as often as I thought I would, so I would consider selling it if I ever did a second playthrough. The Rocket Launcher is also great for ending certain boss fights much faster and the Striker is also not just a solid gun, but is amazing for enabling the “Ditman Glitch” (more on that later). I also found the Rifle (Semi-Auto) useful for sniping enemies without going through a reloading animation with every shot. No matter what guns you choose, however, it’s worth knowing that Leon has a slightly shaky aim to take into account.

I'd insert footage of this cheesing a boss, but where's the fun in that?

As for the enemies that Leon faces, the game is good at not only having a large variety, but gradually introducing them in a way that’s not too overwhelming for any player to keep track of. There’s also a very consistent logic to the enemies fought, as they are mostly Ganados (“livestock” in English), people under the control of Las Plagas, though there are still nonhuman threats. The variety of the encounters, including enemy placement, necessitates having a good variety of weapons, though certain encounters can still feel overwhelming, especially when you have limited resources.

While Leon will mostly face local variants of the Ganados (Village, Castle and Soldier), the possibility of a Las Plagas emerging from their body when killed helps keep players on their toes and consider their resource management. Usually, any of the three Las Plagas variants (A/B/C) will immediately die when hit with a Flash Grenade, but when you don’t have very many on you and enemies just keep coming, you really have to consider whether or not conserving any is a good idea. The fact that the C variant will leave its host and attack independently instead of dying right away to this method can also really spice up encounters, for better or worse.

A sample of combat (Violence Warning).

 

It may help as well that certain enemies are confined to certain sections of the game, which helps give each a distinct feel. For example, you’ll only fight Chainsaw Ganados (aka Dr. Salvador) in the Village section or J.J. (a Soldier Ganado with a gatling gun) in the Island section. I also found certain nonhuman enemies easy to deal with, like using Incendiary Grenades on groups of dog-like Comillos. I found the insect-like Novistadors more frustrating due to their temporary invisibility and tendency to attack in groups, as well as the Armaduras for how often they’re fought in tight spaces. I also found Garradors hard to deal with at first until I figured out their weakness. Regenerators and their more powerful Iron Maiden counterparts, while usually encountered in tight spaces, did at least help ramp up the tension with their creepy visual and sound design (and the optional Infrared Scope makes defeating them much easier).

The Infrared Scope helps out a lot.

Bosses, on the other hand, felt uneven, though not to the same extent as CVX or RE0. Mini bosses like El Gigante or the Bella Sisters weren’t too bad once I had enough resources while the Del Lago took at least a couple tries due to how that fight operates. Beyond that, it was very easy to get past certain bosses once I learned I could cheese them with the Rocket Launcher and one later mini boss was more frustrating in the first phase than the second. I’ll also mention here that after a couple tries, I got past Krauser without using the Knife and I died far more often to the section directly after Osmund Saddler than within the fight itself. Admittedly, I don’t know how much of the difficulty (or lack thereof) came from the game’s Normal setting or my own familiarity with Resident Evil by the time I got around to playing RE4 all the way through. Either way, the bosses themselves are still very memorable compared to many from the “classic” games and their intended strategies can be creative (like the Verdugo and the use of liquid nitrogen in the environment).

As with the “classic” games, RE4 has its own fair share of puzzles, though most are far less obtuse and easier to figure out. However, I still had to look up a couple solutions, including the exact order of a puzzle outside the church (even though I figured out the correct symbols) and an infamous sliding puzzle in Chapter 3-4. In the case of that one in particular, you shouldn’t feel bad at all about looking up the solution, especially since the only way to reset it is exiting a door at the end of a long hallway and then walking or running all the way back to the puzzle.

One of the biggest, and most memorable, changes to the Resident Evil formula is the presence of the Merchant, a mysterious man who always has a stockpile of guns and ammo and is somehow always ahead of Leon. Interacting with him is where the pesetas you find really come in handy, as you can buy weapons (but not ammo) and Tune Up different aspects of your weapons to increase their power. If you max out any weapons upgrades, you may also gain access to an Exclusive upgrade that boosts one of the gun’s stats beyond its normal capabilities (ex. the Striker’s “Exclusive” is a capacity of 100 bullets). Some weapons also have optional attachments, but as previously stated, these attachments also take up space in the Attaché Case instead of attaching to the weapon directly as in other games in the series. Of course, if you need extra pesetas, you can sell just about anything in your inventory, including individual bullets. I’m aware you can also kill him with one bullet, and the game seems to try and trick you into doing so at least once or twice, but I don’t know why you would do that intentionally, as it’s hard to imagine the game without him.

The Merchant has lots of good things on sale.

After Chapter 2-1, Leon must also protect Ashley and bring her to the rendezvous point, introducing one of gaming’s most infamous escort missions. While it would be easy for me to draw a comparison between Leon escorting Ashley in RE4 and Henry Townshend escorting Eileen Gavin in Silent Hill 4: The Room (SH4), it feels closer to a very stripped-down version of the Partner system from RE0. Although she has no combat capability of her own, as she can’t be equipped with a weapon of her own, Leon can command Ashley to stay in place (“Wait!”) or follow him (“Follow Me!”) with R1. Leaving her in the right place can be beneficial for keeping her safe from harm, though there are times where her getting captured by an enemy is more unavoidable, in which case Leon will be alerted (usually by her calling for help) and he must save her ASAP. If the player fails to help Ashley in time, which is when an enemy carries her through a doorway, it’s an instant game over (I only saw this animation once, during the infamous “Water Room”, which I found annoying and at times frustrating, but never impossible).

Like the Partner system in RE0, Ashley has a separate health bar, presenting another failure state that I only saw a handful of times out of negligence during one specific area. Leon can heal her with items from his inventory, but this time you don’t need to be anywhere near her to do so. Yellow Herb mixtures will also increase her maximum health as well, though I found that a lesser priority compared with increasing Leon’s. Fortunately, certain areas let you safely hide Ashley in a dumpster and you can leave her in a separate room, though you can’t pass certain doors without her following Leon (in contrast to SH4, where Eileen can be left behind in any room as long you stop her the right way). Leon may also need to catch her when she jumps down from a high ledge and, much like RE0, certain areas can only be reached with Ashley’s aid (usually by piggybacking off of Leon). There’s also one Chapter where she’s playable and any items she obtains, such as ammunition, are transferred to Leon afterwards.

Ashley's mechanics are more of a stripped down RE0.

Personally, I never found Ashley too much of a nuisance. While hearing her call for Leon’s help all the time can get annoying, she’s very good at following Leon’s instructions or offering advice and every death she suffered was from my own negligence. She’s also not that bad at avoiding danger, especially when you figure out where to park or hide her, and will even duck if Leon aims in her direction. Plus, I also liked some of her unique animations, including how she follows Leon’s sight while he’s aiming a weapon. In other words, much like Eileen Gavin in SH4, managing Ashley is not that difficult if you actually make an effort to protect her.

One other notable feature of RE4 is the implementation of Quick Time Events (QTEs), which it also popularized. At times, these add an interesting flavor, like mashing a button so Leon can outrun a boulder or swim back to his boat whenever the Del Lago throws him overboard. They also allow for certain sequences that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, like Leon dodging lasers in a hallway closer to the end of the game. At other times, however, they can get annoying, like pressing one of two button combinations to dodge attacks during cutscenes or avoiding attacks from certain bosses or traps. The most egregious example, however, is the first encounter with Krauser, which consists of a lengthy cutscene with a lengthy chain of QTEs where failure means redoing the entire cutscene over from the start. Seeing the QTEs in action in this game actually made me glad that they fell out of style and stopped appearing in the series starting with RE7.

 

One of the more famous QTE sequences.

One more unintentional feature is what fans have called the “Ditman Glitch”, discovered in 2007 by GameFAQs user Ditman333. Simply put, if you start aiming with the Striker shotgun specifically and equip a different weapon before the sights come up, Leon’s movement and animation speeds increase by 50%. While this is very useful for speedrunning, and can even break the game if done in the right places on the right platforms, it’s also a great tool for more easily getting past certain areas or fighting certain bosses. During my playthrough, I personally confirmed that it still worked on the PS4, which let me go to town.

 

An example of the Ditman Glitch.

 

I’ll also mention here that by the time I got this entry, I got very used to the patterns of Resident Evil game design, including how you’ll get attacked on the way back from doing or collect something important, though I still got surprised at times. RE4 in particular also had this odd pattern of having a Typewriter right before the end of the Chapter, followed by another save opportunity at the Chapter’s end, followed another Typewriter shortly after the start of the next Chapter. This didn’t hold consistently throughout the game, but I only briefly thought the amount of game save opportunities bordered on excessive.

Starting from Chapter 3-1, players can also occasionally access a Shooting Range next to the Merchant that leads to the Target Practice minigame. As the name suggests, Leon can shoot wooden targets for points. Each time the player goes above 3000 points, they receive one of 24 bottle caps (six newly introduced at each of the first four Shooting Ranges) and a boost of pesetas. Special bottle caps are available for completing certain challenges like shooting all targets except Ashley or scoring above 4000 points. Bottle caps go onto a special collector’s base (accessible in the Key Items and Treasures menu) and each time you fill one of its four rows, you’ll earn bonus points. Each Shooting Range has a different backdrop with its own special effects and you can access previous challenges at each subsequent range. The only other wrinkle is that Leon can’t use the weapons he has on him and must instead choose one of two loadouts from the Merchant, one emphasizing rapid fire and another emphasizing sniping.

The Shooting Gallery is quite a challenge.

To put it simply, this minigame is certainly challenging. It’s difficult to get 3000 points the first time you try a new challenge and even when you get used to it, getting a high score consistently presents another challenge. Persistence can pay off, especially with the extra pesetas on offer, but if you don’t have the time or patience (or you have an injury like Gamer’s Thumb as I did), you can still skip it.

Nearly 20 years after its original release, RE4 holds up pretty well visually. Its art style is a good blend of realism and stylization, the over-the-shoulder view improves the Resident Evil experience and the gothic atmosphere is well-executed. I also personally liked that RE4 does away with the door and stair transitions from the “classic” games, as it keeps the momentum going and forces more creativity with creating dread. Cutscenes also noticeably have more action, which fits the action-oriented direction of the game without sacrificing too much of the horror aspect. As an added bonus, the map is much easier to read and has a very neat and clean Legend.

Having said that, however, the graphics do show their age. As polished as the game looks in HD, it can’t hide the effects of the technical limitations of the time, like angular circles and the pretty well-lit darkness. Leon’s radio conversations are also depicted closer to the style of the Metal Gear games with animated portraits, which feels a little limiting in the context of more modern Resident Evil titles. I don’t know if other graphical issues are a result of the porting process or not, but I did notice framerate dips while reloading the Rifle (and no other weapon type), Ashley’s model blacking out during the speedy door transitions and a church chandelier hilariously vibrating during one cutscene. One far more minor disappointment is that the Caution status had no effect on the controller light, likely a result of dealing with two health indicators at once.

Ashley blacks out during transitions.

While effective, the radio conversations feel limiting.

I don't know how to explain this.

 

One aspect that has aged better is the audio. The score by Misao Senbongi and Shusaku Uchiyama is one of the best in the series, with more industrial influences that help underscore the horror (much like Akira Yamaoka’s work on the Silent Hill series). Strong sound design also helps the gameplay feel more immersive, with some sounds reminiscent of Devil May Cry (at least to my ears) and others showing the effective power of ambient noise in creating an ominous atmosphere. While not the best voice acting in the world, RE4 features performances that are much stronger than earlier games in the series, with special mention to Paul Mercier’s take on Leon S. Kennedy. Carolyn Lawrence also does a good job as Ashley Graham, though I couldn’t help hearing the voice of her best-known role, Sandy Cheeks, slip through at times. Really, the only major issue is that for some inexplicable reason, only the radio conversations have English subtitles.

Completing the game once unlocks an Extras Menu that grants access to a Movie Browser, as well as three extra game modes: Separate Ways, Assignment Ada and The Mercenaries. For the sake of completeness, I’ll be discussing each of them individually.

Simply put, Separate Ways depicts the events of RE4 from Ada Wong’s perspective, with its short length of five Chapters nearly doubling as a highly condensed version of the main story. This mode contributes several important story details, including an explanation of how exactly Ada factored in and the role that the previously unseen Albert Wesker has in her presence, as well as minor bits like what exactly happened to Leon’s jacket early on. At the end of each Chapter, players are treated to an entry of Ada’s Report, providing her personal insight into the story and revealing more about her mission. The fifth Report, which must be viewed separately within its own menu option, also recontextualizes the entire Separate Ways campaign and brings her true loyalties into question.

Ada’s gameplay is nearly identical to Leon’s, but she has exclusive access to a Bowgun that fires explosive arrows perfect for large crowds or dealing with certain enemies. Treasure placement is different than in the main game and she has her own Maps and upgrades that she can purchase from the Merchant, but her weapons have fixed upgrades and can’t get a Tune Up. Additionally, she can reach certain places with her Hook Shot, which doesn’t take up inventory space, that Leon can’t. Separate Ways also creates its own red save files, making them easy to tell apart form other saves at a glance.

Of all three of the unlockable modes, Separate Ways is the most worth it. Not only does it do a good job at filling in story gaps, it also provides a good challenge from how more limited Ada’s funds are compared to Leon, forcing more strategic resource management without feeling too overwhelming. As an added bonus, beating it once unlocks the Chicago Typewriter for the main game, potentially giving Leon another option. The only real downside is that although the gameplay has the same polished HD quality as the rest of the game, the cutscenes in Separate Ways are almost potato quality. From my understanding, this is because this mode was first introduced in the PS2 version, which couldn’t render the cutscenes in real time and instead presented them as pre-rendered video. Knowing this doesn’t make the shift any less jarring or unintentionally hilarious, however.

Assignment Ada is a non-canon minigame where Ada must retrieve five Plagas samples for Wesker and exfiltrate at the rendezvous point. Ada starts with a fixed inventory and extra resources, including ammo and healing items, are scarcer than in the main game or Separate Ways. As an added wrinkle, Plagas samples take up a 2x1 portion of the inventory and can’t be removed. The Merchant is also completely absent, meaning there are no upgrades available.

From my experience playing the Resident Evil series, trying this mode felt like a more difficult version of RE0’s Leech Hunter minigame. Considering the limited loadout, getting through it without dying, which restarts your progress, may take more than one attempt to beat and it can be an interesting mode for speedrunning. However, the only reward for completion is unlocking the Chicago Typewriter for use in Separate Ways, which makes this mode feel the most optional of the three.

The Mercenaries is a longtime fan favorite Arcade Mode where you play as one of five characters (Leon Scott Kennedy, Ada Wong, Jack Krauser, HUNK and Albert Wesker) and kill as many enemies as you can in one of four stages before the evac chopper arrives. Each character has a separate loadout and, starting with the default Leon, getting a 4-star ranking unlocks a new character. Additionally, there are treasure chests containing a Bonus Time item that makes all kills in a combo worth 1000 points instead of their normal amount for 30 seconds. This mode provides RE4 a boost in replay value, as getting a 5-star ranking on every stage with every character unlocks the powerful Handcannon in the main game. For those like me who aren’t looking to 100% the game, however, this mode is purely optional.

No matter which of the twelve versions of Resident Evil 4 you end up playing, it’s well worth seeking out such a revolutionary game not just for its historical value, but also its merit as a fun and (mostly) well-polished game. Even if you’ve never played a Resident Evil game before, you’re in for a good time.