Capcom answers 5 big questions about Resident Evil 4 Remake

We've played the Resident Evil 4 Remake, and it's, well, very Resident Evil 4. That's a good thing! At least from this early taste, it sure doesn't seem like Capcom's going to screw this one up: it still looks and feels much like the 2005 action game, with some modern conveniences like being able to reload while you're jogging away from a horde of angry ganados. 

There are some notable changes, though, like stealth: Leon can crouch now. And 18 years of lighting tech evolution has made a dark, flashlight-lit room a whole lot spookier than it used to be. Until now, we've had to speculate on whether Capcom planned to push RE4 more towards horror, or whether it would be shortening the game substantially for the remake. And perhaps most importantly: what the heck are they doing with those QTEs? 

I asked Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi all of the above and broke down his answers in this video, adding in my own impressions from the demo of RE4's opening village segment.

Wes Fenlon
Senior Editor

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).

Read more
Alice from Resident Evil movie holding a big gun and a regular gun
It's been about four years, so yeah, let's go ahead and give Resident Evil yet another movie reboot
Lara stands in the cut training area from the Paris level of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
The worst Tomb Raider game is getting cut weapons, areas and voice lines restored as part of its upcoming remaster
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
'We've been keeping fans waiting for an awfully long time': We finally got to see more of Silent Hill f and boy, does it look great
Screenshots from Half-Life 2 RTX, showing the various new effects delivered by full ray tracing and enhanced assets.
I just played Half-Life 2 RTX, a fully ray-traced overhaul of the original, and its meaty headcrabs have me hankering for more
A woman with short hair stands next to a pot plant, provocatively
GOG's version of Silent Hill 4 has been updated with missing content from the original console game
A chaotic battle in FBC: Firebreak.
Electrified sticky notes and spontaneous combustion: Remedy's new co-op shooter FBC: Firebreak is built for chaos and 'joyful discoveries'
Latest in Resident Evil
Resident Evil Re:Verse
Resident Evil Re:Verse is reversing right off Steam, as Capcom claims it has served its 'original, celebratory purpose' despite mostly negative reviews
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
Terrifyingly good Humble Bundle deal nets you 11 Resident Evil games for less than the price of Resi 4 remake
Chris Redfield fights a zombie in 1996's Resident Evil.
I spent the last week roaming the Spencer Mansion and I'm here to tell you not to sleep on the new GOG release of 1996's Resident Evil
Resident Evil 7
Capcom announces the next mainline Resident Evil is in development, and the great news is it's being helmed by Resident Evil 7's director
Resident Evil 1 zombie
GOG is bringing the original Resident Evil trilogy back from the dead, and to digital PC storefronts for the first time
Box art for the original Resident Evil, showing a man with a weird face holding a shotgun.
A PEGI rating for the OG 1996 Resident Evil has me once again preparing to enter the world of survival horror
Latest in Features
Dancing Green in Final Fantasy 14.
Final Fantasy 14's latest raids have me fully convinced that Square Enix can still cook, even as job design lags behind
Razer Blade 16 (2025) gaming laptop
Nvidia RTX 5090 mobile tested: The needle hasn't moved on performance but this is the first time I'd consider ditching my desktop for a gaming laptop
Phantom Blade Zero
Chinese action game Phantom Blade Zero didn't click for me until I realized its deep commitment to wuxia film authenticity meant I had to relearn how swords work
kingdom come deliverance 2 thunderstone quest
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's masterful quest design can be summed up by one wonderfully weird search for a magic stone
Blue Protocol players dancing minutes before the game closes forever
What will we do at the end of the world? If MMOs are any indication: mostly what we already do, plus a lot of dancing
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed