Not that this game even needed a remake, but they knocked it out of the park. It's a good sign when I can't decide if I like the original or the remake better. Outside of a kinda weird stitched-on extra phase for the final boss and Ada's frankly god awful new voice actress, I think nearly every change was for the better here, even if again those changes were mostly unnecessary (removing the quicktime events was probably the biggest change that actually felt fully warranted and unquestionably beneficial). I do think the original has a bit more charm, but this was unbelievably solid and fun. You can't go wrong with either one, RE4 is just a must-play.

The first couple hours of this game are absolutely brutal. This was my third attempt at playing this game and it finally clicked, but yeah, getting used to the new combat mechanics and unlearning your Dark Souls muscle memory is a steep hill to climb.

Once it clicks though, the game is a blast. Bosses are super satisfying to take down, sneaking around and killing weaker enemies is really fun, and the areas are enjoyable to explore without being so big that you don't know where to go. Learning new skills, powering up your health/posture/attack, finding new prosthetic tools, slowly getting better at the game's combat in general, it's all great.

Then you get about 75% through the game and it stops being interesting at all. You start fighting reused miniboss after reused miniboss, sometimes almost right next to each other. Sometimes you fight a reused MAIN boss. And every time there is either no change, or an extremely obnoxious change. Fight this guy again but now he calls dogs to fight with him the entire time. Fight this guy again but now he's in a poison swamp with 7 other enemies you have to stealth kill first. Fight this guy again but now he's underwater. It turns what was a super satisfying and exciting adventure into a tedious chore really fast. The second memory world is by far the worst offender, and I'll fully admit I didn't even bother finishing that. I doubt the second fight against Owl and his 2 new moves are cool enough to be worth fighting a drunkard miniboss for like the 5th time.

Thankfully the final two areas really pull things back (for the most part, Ashina Castle v.3 is still flooded with reused minibosses but Demon of Hatred and of course the final boss are fantastic) and remind me why I was enjoying the game so much before. If it wasn't for this already shorter than usual game reusing sooo much of its content, it'd be one of FromSoft's best. As it stands, it's pretty good.

I have to say it's not quite as bad as people make it out to be. Nor is it as "misunderstood," though. No, the bosses are not all just big guys in armor. No, the map design is not awful. But the game is just straight up not fun at points. The handful of good areas in the game (I really like areas like Drangleic Castle, Shaded Woods, and Dragon Aerie/Shrine) pale in comparison to the sheer amount of fucking obnoxious areas (The Gutter, Black Gulch, Iron Keep, Shrine of Amana, No-Man's Wharf, the list goes on). Most areas in this game are too fucking long and flooded with boring ass enemies, making runs back to bosses a major pain (until your 15th time of course! weird mechanic btw).

The bosses are also a real mixed bag. Some are really cool (Flexile Sentry, Smelter Demon, Looking Glass Knight), some are interesting ideas with mixed execution (Executioner's Chariot, Old Iron King, Lost Sinner), some are blatant DS1 rehashes (Belfry Gargoyles, Old Dragonslayer, Royal Rat Authority), and some are just complete fucking ass (Ruin Sentinels, Twin Dragonriders, Skeleton Lords and Royal Rat Vanguard). At the very least, every boss in the game is piss easy, but you'll still have to run back after dying to the horrible hitboxes and i-frames (and yes I did level up adaptability a bunch and they are still bad) and the game just feeling like complete shit most of the time. I just finished playing Demon's Souls before this and this game somehow feels WORSE, like it's in slow motion or something.

It's got its highlights for sure, and some genuinely interesting mechanics and ideas, but most of this game is just a complete chore to play. It's way more bloated than the other games, it's too fucking long for its own good and several areas and bosses could've been removed. It's probably the only game in the franchise that I have no urge to replay.

This game has some really cool and interesting ideas that unfortunately don't always make for a super fun game. Most bosses have some sort of ridiculous gimmick that is usually at least neat, but also makes most of them pitifully easy. The fights feel more like small events that make you go "Huh, that was kind of a cool idea, I guess" instead of actually being satisfying to complete. Even the few "real" boss fights in the game (Flamelurker, Maneater, Penetrator, Old King Allant) are held back from being truly great by their limited movesets and lack of aggression. I don't consider myself to be amazing at Souls games or anything, but I think Flamelurker was the only boss that took me more than 1 or 2 tries to kill.

But honestly thank god for that because the runs back to the bosses are horrible. The lack of any checkpoints between bosses is mostly just fucking obnoxious rather than a fun challenge. Sure, it makes finding shortcuts more rewarding, but sometimes the shortcuts don't even help that much. Some of the levels are just flat out not fun.

World Tendency is an interesting mechanic, but without a guide and precise planning, it's impossible to see the full potential of it. There are other things in this game that are also mostly just annoying rather than challenging or fun, like the inventory weight limit.

When the game is good, it definitely scratches the itch for a FromSoft game. But that's coming from someone who loves the rest of the series and seeing where things in later (and better) games originated from was interesting to me. If you've already played other Souls games, you'll have fun with it. If you've never played a Souls game, stay far away from this one for now.

This game is a blast to play and master. The movement abilities feel great and finding new shortcuts through levels is a ton of fun. I still have not gotten all the presents though. The later levels become so big and sprawling that finding the presents is a real needle in the haystack type of situation, let alone figuring out how to GET to the present after you find it. Also this is one of the only games where I skipped all the cutscenes and didn't feel bad about it, my score would be lower if I actually read the dialogue so consider this a gameplay specific score.

EDIT: I've now gotten all the presents and am lowering the score by half a star because the post-game content is terrible. Hope you like 4 variations of "play the entire game in one sitting!"