Remakes being crowned Game of The Year is always a controversial matter. While titles like Final Fantasy 7 Remake have the word right there in the name, they have proven to be much more ambitious in their creative visions. Square Enix not only reimagines the classic story, but subverts our expectations with new narrative sophistication and greater depth in its characters that weren’t possible decades ago. It is a remake, but also a changing of the guard as beloved gems are introduced to an entirely new generation.

Much like how Final Fantasy 7 ushered in a new dawn for RPGs, Resident Evil pulled off the same trick with action games. Back in 2005, Capcom introduced a gameplay formula around running and gunning, AKA third-person shooting, that is still being imitated to this day. A camera thrown close behind the protagonist’s back as they aim a gun and shoot oncoming threats feels like an old hat in 2023, but it was once a revelation. Taking tank controls and awkward combat mechanics all before turning it into something ferociously approachable. Since then, it has only been iterated upon more and more by games like Gears of War, Dead Space, Alan Wake 2, and of course, the subsequent Resident Evils.

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Resident Evil 4 Didn't Fail Ashley Graham

Capcom could have done better, but it far from dropped the ball.

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This brings us to Resident Evil 4 remake. Ahead of release, the mere prospect of it terrified me. The original remains a seminal masterpiece, so I was worried Capcom would shorten the campaign to try and adapt it into something modern yet alien. It is the sort of game you don’t mess with because it’s so perfect, and even compared to new games in the series and survival horror genre, it still plays relatively well. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Not only does the remake live up to its own legacy, it surpasses it.

Capcom’s secret recipe to success is understanding the importance of reinvention, while appreciating what made its previous classics so special in the first place. For Resident Evil 4, it leaves the overarching blueprint untouched. All the big moments and characters remain, but are just different enough to change the game all over again.

The opening village sequence is the perfect example. Instead of Leon stumbling into what appears to be a weirdly designed bungalow, you descend into a crumbling cellar filled with decaying bones and mounds of gore, shining your torch around corners in the small hope that the girl you are searching for hasn’t already met her demise. It’s scary, which is a giant achievement for a game I already knew so well. Capcom managed to expand in places that suddenly turned this classic into a relative unknown. Gunplay is far punchier, the dialogue is just as cheesy, and there is a deeper level of sophistication to each flourish that firmly establishes this remake as a masterpiece all its own.

Unlike Resident Evils 2 & 3, which unfortunately removed beloved enemies and gameplay sections, Resident Evil 4 seemed happy to reinvent the majority of sections we adore as it with new ones constantly. Some are missing, but given they returned with a greater execution of Ada Wong’s Separate Ways campaign, I can hardly complain. Whenever the time came for me to expect a specific sequence or encounter, the remake would suddenly throw a curveball and reimagine these moments in entirely new ways. I still ended up in a tussle with familiar bosses and swarms of Ganados, yet each one of these were subtly configured to not only honour our well-worn nostalgia, but take advantage of what it means to be a Resident Evil game in the modern era.

Then you’ve got the characters, who still take themselves seriously enough while always leaving enough room for cringe jokes and major character development. Leon Kennedy’s previously masculine persona is reinvented into a tongue-in-cheek himbo who will do everything to save the world and look cool doing it. We also receive far more detail regarding his past working relationship with Krauser and how exactly the events of Racoon City in 1998 changed him.

And somehow, despite playing the original dozens of times and having sped through the remake more than once, it’s still endlessly replayable and satisfying in ways very few games are. The first time is a knuckle-biting rollercoaster ride of action and scares as you see the story through, but after that it’s all about bonus costumes, upgrading weapons, and precisely how quickly you can blast through this masterpiece without so much as a scratch. Shooting in this game never gets old, and there’s an infectious rhythm to learning the routes of each level of behavioural patterns of certain enemies, or upgrading weapons enough that there is no need to strategise anymore, just point and shoot on your way to the legendary ‘S’ rank.

Given we’re currently nearing the end of what is arguably the greatest year for video games in history, it’s a testament to Resident Evil 4’s quality that it still sits confidently atop the pile. Capcom has been remaking classic horror games for the better part of a generation, but this is the first to not only nail the new formula, but finally figure out what made past games so compelling while cutting away at the chaff to create one of its best games ever. A thrilling, unpredictable, and subversively fresh slice of horror that hides a new surprise around every corner. Considering it’s a remake, that is one hell of an accolade.

Next: Survival Horror Needs To Take So Many Lessons From Alan Wake 2