After ages of speculation, Capcom has finally revealed its Resident Evil 4 Remake during Sony’s State of Play showcase. That doesn’t mean it’ll be a PlayStation exclusive, though. The game is set to launch on Xbox and Steam on the same day.
Speaking of which, Capcom also offered us a release date – 24 March 2023. And Capcom hasn’t just left us with an announcement and release date. The company dropped a cinematic trailer to tide us over until we get more news in the coming months.
The trailer was captured on a PS5, and it shows. The game looks absolutely stunning on the newer gaming platform. No word was mentioned of a PS4 version for the RE4 Remake during the presentation. It’s possible that this remake will be reserved for those still-elusive next-gen consoles.
The RE4 Remake wasn’t the only news. Content for the remake is being made for the PSVR2, although no more info was given on that front. We can guess it will be similar to that of the Resident Evil PSVR release in 2017. It worked well for Capcom then, so why not keep it going?
Not a carbon copy
According to this PlayStation Blog post, shared shortly after the trailer’s debut, RE4 Remake will be a “reimagining” rather than a straight up copy. The developer’s aim is to “achieve state-of-the-art quality for a survival horror suitable for 2023, while preserving the essence of the original game.” Capcom has already managed this on more than one occasion, once with the Resident Evil 2 Remake (a spectacular effort) and the Resident Evil 3 Remake (which was… okay).
This means that the storyline will be slightly different. But this isn’t a bad thing. The Remake will keep in touch with how the original game’s story panned out. According to PlayStation’s Blog, the remake will be “…reimagining the storyline of the game while keeping the essence of its direction, modernizing the graphics and updating the controls to a modern standard.”
Going this route seems to make the most sense for Capcom. A reimagining of the story will not only attract newer fans, but also help not bore fans of the original game. It’s a hard line to toe, but Capcom is no stranger to remaking older titles.
Rumours of an RE4 Remake have been around for quite some time now. Back in 2020, a leak from Capcom suggested that a remake was in the works. Since then, Capcom have been awfully quiet about the potential remake, which made the surprise reveal all the better.