Resident Evil 4 (2023) Preview – Gruesome New Monsters and A Sharp New Krauser Fight

The Resident Evil 4 Remake is now less than a month away and Capcom has shown us a preview packed with new features and updates that will be present in the game. We got a better look at the many monsters that Leon will be fighting, more on escorting Ashley Graham, and a better look at the new fight with the Resident Evil 4 secondary antagonist Jack Krauser. Take a look at the new footage and see for yourself:

While the mechanics are closer to the original than the Resident Evil 2 and 3 Remakes, this latest entry still follows in their footsteps by not only remaking Resident Evil 4 but reimagining it from the ground up. It builds on top of the original with high-quality new visuals and interesting new takes on the characters, not to mention a bunch of cool new ways to dice up those bio-hazards.

The Bio-Hazards

The first thing I really have to mention with the Resident Evil 4 Remake is the impeccable visual design, especially with the monsters. The Ganado villagers feel far more alive, shouting, and moving in a far more animated way. Like in the original, shooting one in the head will cause the Plaga parasite to be exposed. I still get a nasty little jump when it happens to this day, the fleshy details of their tentacle blades are viscerally grotesque. We even see that there are a few new variants of the enemy including the Plaga Mandibula with a large mouth that allows it to hang from the sealings.

We also got our first look at the updated boss fights with the claw-wielding Garrador. This beast of a man can leave deep wounds with his scythes however he’s also completely blind, only being able to track Leon through sound. You can use this to your advantage by sneaking up behind him and cutting the exposed parasite on his back.

A fun aspect of the fights in the Resident Evil 4 Remake is the gameplay options with your hunting knife. The knife can now parry almost everything attack in time if timed correctly from the spiked tentacles of the plages, to the claws of Garrador. It’s hard to pull but when you do it’s immensely satisfying.

Escorting Ashley

Of course, Leon’s main mission in Resident Evil 4 is to rescue The President’s daughter Ashley Graham who’s been kidnapped by the Plaga-infected cult. Much like the original, you’ll find Ashley about halfway through the game and will spend the other half escorting her out of the village.

Ashley was a bit of a divisive character in the original. Many fans didn’t like constantly having to protect her and found her shrill cries for help irritating. In the remake, however, Ashley’s gotten quite the glow-up, with a new model and more mature personality. She’s still scared for obvious reasons but she certainly doesn’t scream quite as much as she used to.

You do still have to keep her safe however, enemies will try to capture her while you’re fighting and if she’s taken too far away, it’s game over. She also doesn’t have her own health bar but rather if she takes too much damage, she’ll collapse and will need to be revived by Leon within a limited amount of time.

You also won’t be dumping her in hiding spots either. Instead, you can set her to “tight” where she’ll stay right behind you, or “loose” where she’ll keep more of a distance. She can help you unlock doors as well, it’s a small thing but it makes her feel less like she’s just her to be a damsel.

While we didn’t see it in the preview, the trailers hint that she, as well as your ally Luis, will play a bigger role in the story this time around. I’m pretty interested in seeing how this will turn out as they were both cool characters that seemed like they had more potential than what we saw in the original game.

Leon’s New Moves

Most of Leon’s moveset remains intact from the original game but he does have a couple of new tricks. We’ve already mentioned his new knife skills and how they can parry most attacks in the game. Another cool thing is that Leon can now shoot weapons right out of enemies’ hands. This includes explosives like dynamite creating a great AoE attack that can take out multiple Ganado.

He also seems to be taking a page from the Onimusha series as when an enemy is down, Leon can now stab them in the throat to finish the job. It’s pretty handy when you want to quickly get rid of a foe. For those that prefer a flashier finish, he can still suplex his enemies like in the original if you get the timing and positioning right (here’s hoping Ashley can also do this like she can in the Gamecube version of the RE4).

We should note that everyone’s favorite Merchant is returning, buying, selling, and upgrading weapons just as he did last time around. He’s still as jovial as ever and it was fun to interact with him. Between his weapons and Leon’s new moves, there’s a lot to play with in the remake.

The Knife Fight With Krauser

They certainly saved the best for last. The Resident Evil 4 Remake preview ended with a sneak peek of the initial fight with Jack Krauser. Unlike the original game where this scene played out as a quick time event, here, you actually do get to fight with Krauser in a one-on-one boss battle. Here Leon and Krauser engage in a knife fight clearly putting all the new mechanics of the weapon to the test.

We weren’t shown the entire battle however the sense of quick-witted intensity not only felt faithful but expanded upon. It gives us a good indication of how this fight will appear in the full remake and it’s looking great.

Resident Evil 4 Resurrected

Considering how well the original game holds up to this day, Capcom really seems to be going above and beyond to make the remake expand on the characters and mechanics seen in its first iteration.

There just seems to be so much more to the game than before, gruesome new monsters, new weapons the blast through, and more of these characters and their messed-up world. I can’t wait to return.

I suppose we’ll see everything that the Resident Evil Remake has in store when it rises from the grave on the 24th of March 2023 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Resident Evil 4 (2023)

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 2023-03-24

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Survival is just the beginning. Six years have passed since the biological disaster in Raccoon City. Leon S. Kennedy, one of the survivors, tracks the president's kidnapped daughter to a secluded European village, where there is something terribly wrong with the locals.

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