The Fourth Resident Evil (again)

Sony released their latest “State of Play” video yesterday, which, if you’re not familiar, is basically the Playstation version of a Nintendo Direct. I’m not going to provide my thoughts on every game shown in the presentation, but there is one thing I’d like to highlight:

Lately, I’ve been grappling with the idea that Resident Evil 4 may have actually surpassed Super Mario 64 as my favourite video game of all time. Well, the VR version of RE4, anyway. It’s not a stretch to say that RE4VR is the most fun I’ve ever had with a single-player video game. I keep going back to it, over and over, even if just for a chapter here and there. And now Capcom is telling me that a full-on remake is less than a year away? And it’s also going to be VR compatible? Sign me up, baby!

That said, I am a little bit wary of how this remake is going to turn out. Capcom’s remakes of the first two RE games were absolute masterpieces, so I should be comforted by the good track record. But! Online opinions of the Resident Evil 3 remake are very divided. On one hand, it’s a very good video game! I really like it! I thought it was a lot of fun! On the other hand, it’s an incredibly unfaithful remake and admittedly, a bit of a rush job. I never much cared for the original RE3, so that didn’t bother me, but I am obviously a huge fan of RE4. I can’t imagine that Capcom would rush something as massive as the Resident Evil 4 remake, but Capcom does some weird things sometimes.

Now, I’m not saying that I’ll be upset if this doesn’t end up being a shot-for-shot remake. In fact, I fully support remakes diverging from the source material, because I think there should be fun, new surprises for veteran players. The original work isn’t going to disappear or anything, so why not get creative with your remakes? But the amount of game that was completely cut out of Resident Evil 3’s remake? I can absolutely understand why long-time fans were upset by that. And if, for example, the whole castle section were to be omitted from RE4 remake? Yeah, I’d be a wee bit miffed about that.

If the section where you have to protect Ashley while she’s driving the truck went away, though? I’d probably send Capcom a hand-written thank-you card.

Speaking of Ashley, can we take a moment to appreciate that she looks like an actual human being now?

On a related note, the, uh, “DLC” for Resident Evil Village was also revealed in this State of Play. Capcom will be adding VR support at some point in the future. It’s going to be a painful hit to the ol’ bank account, but between that and RE4, I guess I’m getting a Playstation VR2? I won’t lie, I was hoping that there would be some actual new content for Village, but I’ll take VR support. Considering how much I adore both Village and RE4VR, it seems like a pretty easy win.

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