Resident Evil 4 (2005)
I don't exactly remember what precise event lead up to me playing this game, but I definitely remember a combination of all sorts of different factors at play. I generally knew that this game had great critical success, and I knew the remaster came out this year (2023) to great success as well. I specifically remember seeing a video from a creator whose opinion I hold in pretty high regard about how good the remaster is at recapturing and refining the original game and the amount of love and praise he had for the original made me think y'know sure why not check it out. It also did not help that Leon Kennedy is absolutely scrumptious in both iterations of this game so I was just even more convinced to play. So in the hopes of getting my hands on a copy of either the remaster or the original (I wasn't picky) I check out my local library and a copy for a console I had wasn't available, I search through second-hand sites for our area but no such luck, until a good opportunity comes up and I mention the game to my older cousin and he so happens to have a copy of the original he'll happily lend me!
I plug my childhood ps2 slim into a tv, slap that disc in, turn everything on, and get playing. I meander my way through that first guy's house, make my way to the village, shit my pants, try to escape and then get my head sliced off by the chainsaw guy. I was scared for my life dude. I've heard some people say this isn't really all that scary a game but I am a total wimp so I am losing my mind. But having a lot of fun :) dude it's SO campy I love it. Leon has such lame one-liners, the dialogue between him and everyone else is wild, and honestly unpopular opinion but I honestly don't find Ashley all that annoying ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ like if I were her I would Not have survived this long she's tryin man.
Fav characters
Leon!!!
Of course I love my boy Leon he's so goofy and campy. And so lame. I honestly have very little to say bc he is the Main Guy I give him a pass for his occasional mysogynistic comments bc a) he's not real I can do what I want and b) he's babygirl. I'm having so much fun with this game literally like "your right hand comes off?" marry me, stupid. He's also having insane homoerotic chemistry with every single man he interacts with, go king.
I noticed while looking at the cover art of my copy of the game that Leon literally has his knife holster Taped to his gun holster and I actually love that so much it's so silly and makes sense for his character. Also it every day that goes by it becomes more and more difficult to accept how pretty he is like I am severely unwell over it. Goddamn. So pretty.
The Merchant
GOT A COLLECTION OF GOOD THINGS ON SALE, STRANGAH god I love him every time I see him in an upcoming location I feel such relief dude. Yes I did use a pic of him from the remaster I couldn't really find a good one of him from the original woops ALSO I SEE YOU FUCKERS THINKING HE'S HOT. I SEE YOU. I don't get it like I love him he's so awesome but Really you wanna bang the merchant???? Alright, kinda respect it.
Salazar
Unfortunately I just finished the boss fight where I kill this little guy but he is so silly and also having a giantass automaton of yourself in your castle???? ICONIC I want that in my future but I also need to talk about that boss fight because holy fUCK THAT WAS AWFUL dawg I could not get it I tried multiple times until I was so tired I quit for the evening and started again the next day and still didn't get it so I at last take my phone and I google the original boss fight and I find this 14 year old commment on a forum saying you can do xyz but I recommend taking a rocket launcher to Salazar when the shell unveils his parasitical bitch body (the forum didn't say that I did) so dude. You wanna know what I did? I sold my BROKEN BUTTERFLY TO AFFORD THE ROCKET LAUNCHER. I don't miss it too much I mean I barely ever had any ammo for it anyways but I always feel a little less secure whenever I sell a gun (rip to my original handgun you served me well but I needed the space). Anyways this little guy was so silly.
I know that from an objective standpoint the remastered Salazar's design is better, especially because of how differently he's played and meant to be in the remaster, but I just really love this guy's 2005 vibe. It feels like a twelve year old on fortnite telling me to kill myself. It's so perfect I love it.
Luis
Rip, man, you and Leon definitely had something going on. I liked him, I wish I saw more of him, I know he got way more story and time in the remaster so I would genuinely love to see that and yes I've seen gifs of the chain scene there is No Way the devs did not know what they were doing like even them being tied up in the original and Luis saying "out of one hole and into another" made me scream-laugh. Omg. This is such a fun game.
Bottlecaps
When I discovered the bottlecaps I could win? OHOHOHO I was absolutely overjoyed I fuckin LOVE trinkets. They're so cute, but either I suck at games (which I mean I genuinely kinda do no self pity here it's fun to suck at things) or this thing is ridiculously silly bc I'm bad at strategy And aiming. And I am. So these are the fellas I've been able to accumulate thus far
But here's a little list of others that I think are especially cute/have a special place in my heart and would like to win.
Remaster hon hon
I gotta say a lot of my recent pinterest activity is absolutely pics of remastered Leon. They somehow made him pretty in 4k too. I was gifted the remaster for my birthday because the story and characters are ever so slightly different also the new abilities with the knife look SO good. I'm having a such a blast as I play, and I've completed it a few times over. My plan is to somehow learn how to speedrun it and eventually hopefully aim to get the cat ears, so I'm focusing on getting an S+ rank at every difficulty from easiest to professional mode.
Misc. musings
I've been playing a lot of old "classic" titles and I've really started to appreciate all the effort into the atmosphere put into the original re4, and in general I'm simply head over heels for the old ps2 aesthetics of everything. Of course this has been said time and time again but the ways through which they maximized the graphics with the technology available to them at the time just comes off as so charming now despite it being techincally dated. I loved the colour palette of everything we encounter and even the shitty aspects of old game design just come off as silly goofy fun, nothing too serious. I'd make a comment and say this is nostalgia talking, but it really isn't, the style holds up whether all the technical things about the game do or not and as long as I manage my expectations to a certain degree in regards to the standards of video games then vs now as well as the different trends they abide by Resident Evil 4 is still an extremely enjoyable game to the average player almost 20 years later. Ppl joke about the piss filter in movies/wtv of that time but honestly? I think RE4 earned it, bc they clearly didn't just rely on that look, literally everything else about the setting + gameplay + general vibe only adds onto it, they DELIVERED. Of COURSE it's not beyond critique, it's has many, many, many faults, but from the bottom of my heart this game has brought me so much joy and fun and I am so glad I picked it up.
