For any of the youngsters or new fans that have only just recently been welcomed into the Resident Evil fold, it might be hard to believe that it wasn't even all that long ago that the entire Resident Evil brand was seen as a shambling and rotting husk of its former self. The original Resident Evil 4 pulled off a miracle by using the franchise to completely revolutionize third-person action/horror games again, after the original Resident Evil essentially invented the modern survival-horror genre, but it was all downhill from there for over a decade. RE5 was fine, though I'd argue it has aged poorly since debuting in 2009. The bloated and often incoherent Resident Evil 6 was perceived to be such a disaster that it nearly killed the series entirely. We'd only get portable spin-offs and terrible multi-player tie-ins for years. It wasn't until the franchise came roaring back to life with 2017's Resident Evil 7: Biohazard that CAPCOM apparently remembered that it had been sitting on one of the industry's greatest legacies and began treating it as such.

Since then, we've been absolutely spoiled on CAPCOM's ghoulish delights, with not only the incredible Resident Evil Village from last year, but two blockbuster remakes of Resident Evil 2, and 3 that both somehow manage to live up to the impossible standards of their forebears (yes, you read that right: The 2020 Resident Evil 3 rules, and I won't be taking any questions about that inarguable fact). Now, after nearly twenty years, CAPCOM is revisiting the only game in the franchise that can be said to be just as groundbreaking as the first, and folks, the results are extraordinary.

Here's what purists who haven't already dived headfirst into the glorious sludge that is Resident Evil 4 need to know: This is, for all intents and purposes, the same story and overall experience as the original RE4 from 2005. While the visuals and sounds have all been updated to (near) perfection by CAPCOM's ridiculously well-optimized RE Engine, and each of the game's three “acts” all have some fun new surprises to be discovered, the bones of the game that lie underneath of that shiny, bloody meat remain more-or-less untouched. This is not a bad thing, though. As those of you who haven't replayed the original RE4 at least a dozen times over the last 18 years are about to find out, Resident Evil 4 was hailed as one of the greatest games ever made for a damned good reason. This remake takes pretty much everything that worked about that original game and makes all of it even better.

Indeed, the devil is in the details with everything that Resident Evil 4 does to up the stakes in 2023, though all of the big and small things that CAPCOM has done to spruce up Leon Kennedy's European Vacation are founded on the same underlying principle of understanding everything that made that original game feel so fresh and fun in 2005, and never losing sight of the fundamentals. Leon's gunplay is just as visceral as ever, though his added mobility and the addition of some enhanced melee combat mechanics make each fight feel that much more immediate and intense. The various locales Leon and Ashley explore have been made even more involved and compelling to navigate, thanks to the excellent art direction and stellar graphics. The game has even tossed in a large collection of “Requests” (aka side quests) for the player to pursue as they hunt for more pesetas to collect and use in the game's infamous shop. Even the collectibles themselves have been given just the right amount of added depth, with a small gem-slotting mini-game giving players a chance to pick and choose how they combine their treasures in just the same way that managing ammo and resources has always been an integral part of the RE gameplay loop.

As impressed as I was with the improvements to Resident Evil 4's gameplay, I was even more taken with how much has been done to improve RE4's story and atmosphere. As thumb-blisteringly fun as the original was, the increased emphasis on action-adventure spectacle and cheesy one-liners from Leon meant that the game was never particularly scary. Tense? Absolutely. Thrilling? One hundred percent. Considering the series' pedigree, many longtime fans still lament RE4 as the moment when gaming's premiere survival-horror flagship stopped trying to be horrific.

While I won't try to claim that the new Resident Evil 4 hits the same pants-darkeningly spooky highs as either RE7 or the recent remake of RE2, I do think that the game manages to do justice to scares-above-all ethos of its predecessors than the original ever did. The village is positively dripping with foreboding menace, especially when the sun goes down and bathes the entire countryside in suffocating night. The twisted body horrors of the Las Plagas monsters are even more obvious thanks to the RE Engine's particular strengths in rendering all gooey grotesqueries. There's one sequence where you take control of Ashley while Leon is busy taking care of monster-slaying business that had me jumping out of my seat—you'll know what I mean when you get there.

What's more, the scares work better in this iteration of Resident Evil 4 because you care so much more about the human characters now. Not only does the excellent performance capture eliminate any of the uncanny-valley effects that is anathema to any horror game, but the updated script rears in some of the original's cringe-inducing trappings while still playing up the campy vibes when the timing is appropriate. It's difficult to say that a round-house kicking repository of cheesy quips and perfect headshots like Leon S. Kennedy feels more like a “real” person, but you definitely believe in him more. The same goes for Ashley, who feels much more like a true partner you're trying to survive with rather than an annoying mission objective you're simply trying to tolerate.

So, after heaping all of this praise onto Resident Evil 4,, are there any complaints I need to get off my chest? To be honest, not really. The back third of the game is still where the story threatens to wear out its welcome, but I can't say it's too bad of a pacing problem when I'm already considering replaying the game again. I also dealt with some odd visual issues playing on my PlayStation 5, specifically regarding the game's HDR mode, which looked washed out and simply off no matter how much I fiddled with the settings (this could easily be an issue with my display, though, rather than the game). Other than that, I had no noticeable issues while playing with the game's Framerate Focused visual settings for the vast majority of my 20-ish hour playthrough.

Truly, the only major gripe I have is that the game is missing features that have been included with the base game for years: The survival-focused Mercenaries Mode and the Separate Ways campaign that explains what Ada Wong was up to during Leon's adventure. CAPCOM has already confirmed that the Mercenaries add-on is coming as a free patch in just a handful of weeks, though, and there's at least one line of dialogue in the main game that all but confirms that the Ada campaign is going to be arriving in some form or another. It's just a shame that, like with so many other AAA releases these days, the fans who show up to support a game on Day 1 end up with the least complete version.

Then again, it gives you a good idea of just how impeccable the core game of the Resident Evil 4 remake is when nearly all of my complaints have to do with how much more I want to play it, and all of the challenges and unlockables I still have yet to clear up will already be keeping me plenty busy until the DLC arrives. I'm floored with how consistently CAPCOM has been knocking it out of the park with all of these Resident Evil games lately, with each original entry and remake inevitably ending up somewhere on “Best of…” rankings, year after bloody year. Resident Evil 4 is no different. It takes one of the most beloved third-person action shooters of all time and perfects it for a modern audience of new and old fans alike. If you have any love for Resident Evil, or any love for games like this period, you owe it to yourself to pick it up and follow Leon into the dark corners of the night, where the monsters dwell. It's an experience you won't soon forget.