It's Re4 but kinda not?
I understand the love for the remake. I really do. Upping the combat to make it feel more "modern", revamping environments to add some survival horror backtracking and level design, changing the overall tone of the storytelling, and flushing out characters and story beats all culminate in a distinct vision for this remade classic. However, I personally don't get the hype, unfortunately. Everything I liked about the remake is what made me fall in love with RE4 in the first person, so is it fair to just rate the game based on that? If that's the case, it's by default a 10/10, since it's RE4 at its core. However, the game is not a 1-1 remake of Re4, cutting environments, and changing things to legitimize itself as an "alternative" to Re4. So, I'm conflicted. The things that were added ranged from great to not-so-great and the one thing I freaking adored about RE4 (the campy tone and writing) and what set it apart from every game in the series has been modified to fit the style of the new RE remakes. In a lot of ways, this game feels like a modded version of the Re2 remake done with RE4's environments in mind, and I don't if I truly like the idea. Once I arrived at the last third of the game, I was getting exhausted and said to myself, "I just don't think this is for me", and that's okay. The backtracking with no looping level design, the "side missions", the odd clashing of the B-movie tone and 1-liners with the very dark and dramatic RE2R presentation; the overpowered parry, the knife durability, etc. etc., etc. I think this remake is absolutely respectful to the source material and made with a lot of love, but RE4 proves that it stands the test of time, so this remake feels redundant. Absolutely solid, and a fun time overall, but it just made me want to play RE4 all over again.
8.5/10 Still Re4 at the end of the day, so there's a lot to love
I understand the love for the remake. I really do. Upping the combat to make it feel more "modern", revamping environments to add some survival horror backtracking and level design, changing the overall tone of the storytelling, and flushing out characters and story beats all culminate in a distinct vision for this remade classic. However, I personally don't get the hype, unfortunately. Everything I liked about the remake is what made me fall in love with RE4 in the first person, so is it fair to just rate the game based on that? If that's the case, it's by default a 10/10, since it's RE4 at its core. However, the game is not a 1-1 remake of Re4, cutting environments, and changing things to legitimize itself as an "alternative" to Re4. So, I'm conflicted. The things that were added ranged from great to not-so-great and the one thing I freaking adored about RE4 (the campy tone and writing) and what set it apart from every game in the series has been modified to fit the style of the new RE remakes. In a lot of ways, this game feels like a modded version of the Re2 remake done with RE4's environments in mind, and I don't if I truly like the idea. Once I arrived at the last third of the game, I was getting exhausted and said to myself, "I just don't think this is for me", and that's okay. The backtracking with no looping level design, the "side missions", the odd clashing of the B-movie tone and 1-liners with the very dark and dramatic RE2R presentation; the overpowered parry, the knife durability, etc. etc., etc. I think this remake is absolutely respectful to the source material and made with a lot of love, but RE4 proves that it stands the test of time, so this remake feels redundant. Absolutely solid, and a fun time overall, but it just made me want to play RE4 all over again.
8.5/10 Still Re4 at the end of the day, so there's a lot to love