Game news Resident Evil 4: Before the Remake, here is the episode that changed the horror video game forever!
Published on 03/19/2023 at 18:05
Share :
Before Resident 4 Remake, expected on March 24 on PC and consoles, there was of course Resident Evil 4 “very short”. In this article, we explain why the base game was a real revolution.
Video games like to reinvent themselves! Over the years, the developers have proven that a platform title is – for example – as comfortable in 2D as it is in 3D (Mario with the shutter on Nintendo 64). “Survival horror”, a genre where great thrills go hand in hand with limited ammunition, has more or less followed the same path, first preferring fixed cameras (Alone in the Dark | Silent Hill) before adopting a view at 3rd person. These changes are often the result of technological advances.
In 1996, when the first Resident Evil was released on PS1 and created the survival horror genre, it was the pre-calculated sets and angles that were the order of the day. Capcom’s new series, directed by the brilliant Shinji Mikami, has the effect of a bomb! The success was both critical and commercial (5 million copies sold according to TrueAchievements) and its sequel, Resident Evil 2, which arrived two years later, was just as popular. We are then in 1999 and we must prepare well for the future.
Three drafts for a masterpiece
We’re not going to redo the whole story (our JV Legends is here for that) but basically, at the time, the next-gen machines were about to arrive and Capcom had to be on top of it . A new Resident Evil – still headed by Shinji Mikami – is being worked on for the Gamecube and the PS2, but the road is proving to be very long. In the end, three big “drafts” are needed to create this next-gen horror software – the drafts of which will give life to the Devil May Cry series or even the title Haunting Ground! Despite everything, in 2003, Capcom finds a happy medium.
A new perspective that changes everything
This is how Resident Evil 4 was finally released in 2005, first on Gamecube – under an agreement with Nintendo – then on PS2 at the end of the year… Spoiler: it’s a hit, but it it is mainly abouta big turning point for Shinji Mikami’s license and the survival horror genre. With this fourth episode, the Capcom teams are betting on the action, with a shoulder camera that allows you to shoot with precision. A super close view of the hero, Leon, which favors blind spots, replacing the style effects of off-screen. Controller in hand, it works with the fire of God.
It may not seem like much said like that, but Resident Evil 4 is akin to a revolution. The gameplay changes everything, our relationship to the environment, to the adversaries… In short, the formula is so effective that it will serve as the basis for the fifth and sixth installments, in an ever more outrageous action approach! Resident Evil 6 (2012) will mark a breaking point, before Resident Evil 7 and its first-person view once again shake up the habits of a cult series.
About Resident Evil 4
