What I love about the Regenerator section is that, if you played the original RE4, you know exactly what to expect there, but it just makes everything even more terrifying.
As someone who wanted to play the original but was too young and too broke. Getting my hands on RE4 remake as a birthday gift was awesome. But that section was creepy as shite. It reminded me of RE7 again
Whenever I play the game and get to that section I won't be ready. My strategy in the og game was blasting one of his legs of and then using the knife on him until he dies but since it isn't possible to do that now I will piss my pants.
Oh yes! On my 1st playthroigh of the remake, when I got to the lab, even before reaching the completely dark section with the security clearance card, i recognized the place from the OG Re4. And when I got to the door with the power lock puzzle...with the regenerator close by somewhere...breathing creepily and not showing itself yet (a detail a little different than og) ....probably the scariest section of the game for me, because having played the og and remake, regenerators are still the scariest monsters in both versions of re4 for me.
To me, one word perfectly describes RE4make’s brand of horror: Overwhelming. You’re one man against hordes of brainwashed people, all of them wanting your head on a platter. You’re tasked with facing insurmountable odds and expected to come out alive. The original does all that, but RE4make cranks it up to 11 with how much more scarce supplies are. Every choice is tough when it comes to ammo crafting, when to use a healing item, you have to think very hard about what you need in the present moment, and what you’ll need later. It creates stress in the most fitting way.
In that vein, it's retroactively hilarious that this centuries in the making plot for world domination that actually had a legitimate shot at working was undone in a single day by a single person. Leon really did come through Spain and just wreck shop like Samus does to the Space Pirates in Metroid
I think RE4 Remake holds my absolute single favourite moment I’ve experienced in a horror game. When I was playing the demo, I unlocked the secret Mad Chainsaw Mode and being a naive individual, I thought I could handle it… maybe fail a few times… but could beat it. However, I just remember the sheer amount of panic I had when a million Gonados and Super Salvador chased me down at lightning speed around the entire village. Complete with the terrifying village battle theme the remake had at max volume… I almost straight up passed out and got short of breath. I’m only 20 and I can handle scary games, but RE4 Remake pushed my absolute terror to the maximum that almost couldn’t even breathe. This was literally the most stress I ever had in a video game and I just loved it so much. Nowhere had I ever felt the same terror like that since when I first played Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (laugh at me if you want… but I was only 12 coming fresh off the first game and used to having doors. I was not expecting the game to just strip my only source of defense completely away)
@@Yurio9001Even more so when you look at how many times throughout the game they had Leon at their mercy and just let him go. Hubris. Pure and simple.
Seriously, the lack of resources can be really daunting sometimes. I remember on my first time through there were times I was left with perhaps a couple of red herbs but no green herbs, so I'd be desperate for one to drop so I could mix a full heal, lol. Plus also my shotgun was half-empty half the time, especially by the time I got the Striker later on (Striker feels nerfed from the original too. Riot Gun all the way now.)
I prefer these over the normal zombies from the earlier games. There's something even more creepy to me the way they go about their day until they see you and then a switch flips. Then they rush. I prefer that to the show shifty zombies. That's why 4 is my favorite and has been since 2005
I really enjoyed just how tired of everything is Leon the more you progress in the game. Going from "Something is not right..." To "What the FUCK are you!?"
The words “horror” and “terror” are usually used interchangeably, but they’re quite different, and even a lot of media we consider “horror” tends to be focused on terror. Horror is the sensation of shock or repulsion, whereas terror is characterized by dread and anxiety. I think this is the kind of difference you’re outlining in this video. It’s really interesting to think about how these two approaches to scaring people are so different and yet they compliment each other well. I fall into the camp of people who think the original RE4 is more action-focused, and it’s a good game, but the remake introduced more terror to balance out the horror.
Before watching I agree, but the broader words used to describe what you're saying fall into suspense and tension. And both are very good subliminals to have for building the immediacy to a situation.
The breathing sound of the OG RE4 Regeneradors is still, all these years later, capable of spiking my heart rate, regardless of the context I hear it in
7 is survival horror. 4 is panic horror.. The frights are derived from overwhelming you slowly backing you into a corner that causes your resources to dwindle. It's the same type of horror as the first Dino-Crisis.
I really like how they used Ashley in the remake. You actually see how Saddler plans to topple the US, how Ashley is essentially operating on borrowed time until Saddler completely erases her consciousness. He doesn't really even need the parasite to keep his cult together, his charisma and personality could do it just fine. I also liked how Ashley and Leon's interactions are reshaped. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Ashley supposed to be a teenager in the original? Leon is in his twenties. In the remake, he kind of comes across as a paternal figure rather than the hero with a love interest following him around. He'll crack these jokes that have massive dad energy, and it's kind of awesome. Rest in peace, Mike. You will be missed
I got more of older brother vibe then a dad. Night Wing to Batgirl sorta thing. There was definitely still some sexual tension though. I mean Leon has it with everybody.
What absolutely terrified me about the dissection room in the stage 3 laboratory, was when we entered the area, the first instance of regenerator music immediately started and the regenerator sounds cranked themselves to 11. The reason this scared the crap outa me so much was because in the original, the music only played and the sounds they made only got aggressive when a regenerator spotted you. Because of this, I was 100% convinced that a regenerator was already after me. Before I even opened the puzzle door. I genuinely had to pause and put down the controller while I worked up the nerve to continue ahead😂 Feel like capcom made that change deliberately to give returning players a fright lol
Another good moment of horror by dread in Re4R is right before the first Garrador encounter. It's less than a minute long but hearing it's roars as you're going through this extremely tight extremely dark room was terrifying the first time I played through it.
not to mention the two corpses, torture instruments and also, when you fall to Garrador's cell and try to escape, you see a LOT of chains that you KNOW will make noise if you touch them. Just brilliant.
Would you be interested in doing a "Deconstructing a Hero" video with Leon? His progression in RE2R, RE4R, RE6, and RE Vendetta is really interesting. Put together, they become a singular and coherent story for Leon and I find it really interesting. It's very clear that with Resident Evil Death Island, the RE6 version of Leon is the endgame version of the character Capcom chose for Leon. It's why they switched Leon in RE4R to be more in line with RE6 Leon; tired, cynical, a bit grumpy, but ultimately a good hearted person with a sense of humor to lift up the mood. The line at the beginning of RE4R is also really interesting. He wishes he could forget Raccoon City, forget all the pain that happened that night. But when a literal solution of becoming one with the Plagas hive mind came at him, he rejects it and fight tooth and nail against it. A similar thing happens in RE Vendetta, where we first see Leon drinking his sorrows away. But when push comes to shove, he ultimately picks up his gun and got to work. He's tired of all the bullshit the world throws at him, yet interestingly, if the world is in danger, he'd be among the first to defend it.
Yeah, the Regeneradors aren't just scary because of their appearance and inherent resilience, their movements are weird as all hell, too. To the point of being genuinely off-putting. That thing they do, where they'll deliberately dive on the ground, and slide around on the bellies, is especially creepy.
I admittedly never saw Horror in this way until now. Now I have an even better appreciation for RE4 Remake than I already did, which was a lot (better Ashley, Luis, and Krauser being some reasons why).
Whoever is directing and the team in charge of these new games (except RE3) have a amazing grasp of answering what fans want in the game; something that feels relatively rare these days in gaming and cinema.
RE engine rarely gets credit from the wonderful horror aesthetics. Along with its lighting and sound design. Crowbcat has the balls to call this game soulless when in fact it has hundreds of details that make it alive.
Fraudbcat had to rely on editing out chunks of cutscenes/gameplay context of r4make to make it seem the way he set out to. His audio/hdr setup is also off. I'm replaying right now with a headset and the sound design is amazing.
In few words: Dread is the fear at which you face anxiety of not knowing what's coming. Instinct is to hide or freeze. Desperation is the fear at which you face the immediate dangers present. Instinct is to fight at any cost. There's a tradeoff between the two and RE4make blends it so well. Re7 you mentioned excels at dread with few immediate dangers. Fewer enemies, fewer encounters. Re4 excels at desperation with tons of immediate dangers. More enemies, more encounters. Desperation = action Dread = horror Edit: your conclusion: Horror by desperation tests the skills of a player. And that is the very reason why re4make is so well designed and played. There is no secrets to actual gameplay. RNG plays a roll, as does skill. It's a balancing act until everything hits just right.
I think a third type of horror is horror by helplessness, where you're presented with a dangerous situation, but you have no clue how to deal with it. This fear is present in games like Alien Isolation and Rain World. The enemies don't really overwhelm you in numbers and you can see the monster(s) right there, but you're so uncertain on how the enemy behaves that you're afraid to even interact with it. It's only until you study the monster's behavior that you start to get a grasp on how to avoid or even fight back against it. This horror is difficult to pull off in a video game because it requires an AI that feels alive and intelligent. It's one thing to run from a monster that's chasing you, and another thing entirely to run from a monster that has a plan of its own to catch you. It forces you to be patient and observe what makes the monster behave the way that it does so that you can outsmart it.
The remake for 4 has resource scarity down to a science at Professional/Hardcore. Every single encounter on a new game professional run basically left me at red hp and maybe 10 bullets leftover if I was lucky. There was a point during my S+ no merchant run where I was entirely out of ammo and recovery items during the regenerator section and had to almost exclusively rely on my life and getting perfect parries.
You could boil this down to: Other horror games: "BOO!!! YOU GOT JUMPSCARED BY A MONSTER! We scared you, now the monster is gonna chase you" Resident evil 4 remake: "There is no jumpscare, THE MONSTER IS THERE, HOW YOU GONNA DEAL WITH IT? THERE ARE MORE MONSTERS AND YORUE RUNNING OUT OF SUPPLIES, THINK FAST BUT YOU ALSO NEED TO THINK SLOW!! YOURE SCREWED AND YOU NEED TO SURVIVE!"
RE4 finds the balance between tension and stress (what goes hand in hand with your mentioned desperation). The perfect example is when you compare the Garrador fight with the cabin fight for example. You are forced to act while having access to very limited resources (ammo, healing, time and so on) this creates stress when fighting in the cabin or water hall. The Garrador fight gives you more resources (you can use your knife only, take your time) but you have to focus on every step to stay quite and when to strike. This also works good in sniper sections where you focus on the perfect shot. RE4 is a truly brilliant game and unfortunately many people fail to see how uniquely it approaches and interprets horror.
I love the fear of desperation because I usually don't get too affected by it until it's too late, I died once to the village but after that first time I recollection myself and went on to play more strategically, but that led me to get comfortable with my preparedness, so those moments of the fear by dread hit far more, when I had control of Ashley I was trying to use photo mode to look ahead of what was happening and had to pause the game for 15 minutes after I was done cranking a door open because I turned around to a suit of armor right behind me. Then came the regenerator, I knew about them by some small moments of seeing them online and all I knew was they regenerated and almost impossible to kill, it got to the point that when I was very close to encountering it I got my brother to play until I got the biosensor scope then I was just fine
Sometime it is good but sometimes (especially on the harder difficulties) it can sometimes be more annoying than horror. But in the chainsaw demo it was so scary but fun
I think 7 is scarier because at the beginning you are just a normal guy who goes to find his gf in a " hunted house " vs in 4 you are a badass that can break necks just from a spin kick.. (Ethan is badass too, he and leon are my favorite RE characters..) + 7 is fps with a darker aesthetic
Resident Evil 4 - even back with the original - was referred to as 'action horror' rather than survival horror, because while the odds stacked against you are much higher, you generally have more supplies and more powerful weapons to deal with said odds, and it was an inevitable shift for the series. But the remake definetly feels more slanted towards the classic survival horror, what with the resources feeling more scarce and the fact that crafting materials now fill up your inventory rather than having their own mini inventory, like RE: Village did. And since Leon's movement and new tricks - like being able to quick swap your weapons now - make the action less clunky, the Ganados had to be scaled up appropriately for that. They feel far more aggressive and relentless, especially on the higher difficulties, and the way they can seal off certain paths in the opening village can keep you on your toes. The new soundtrack helps this too: the opening village brawl has an appropriately sinister BGM, but the second Doctor Salvador gets involved it kicks up to 11, making it clear the scales just tipped against you considerably, as now on top of all the regular Ganados you have a chainsaw-wielding lunatic who can just walk through shotgun blasts like nothing and just keep going. Plus the cabin siege later has a much more dramatic soundtrack too, elevated by the chanting of the Ganados swarming outside as time passes. You can even look out the windows at time and see them all streaming up the bridge to the cabin too, making it clear that the stakes are grim (again). Plus while Leon does sound pissed off half the time, he still gets freaked out occasionally, especially the first time a dying Regenerador evolves into an Iron Maiden instead right in front of him.
I have the perfect example of your theory that RE7 runs on dread. There’s a scene in the final area where the lights cut out and the villain laughs in the shadows. Then the lights reactivate and nothing happens. You just wander around primed for a jump scare that never jumped, feeling more and more anxious as you wonder when it will actually happen. I hope you haven’t had a drink beforehand when it does🙃
I've never been scared on resident evil games. Like at all across the whole franchise. But hearing people decribe to sucn detail how good the games portray horror, dread and tension is quite fascinating even if my perspective when playing is almosy an 180 of what's bekng said 😅
The goddamn regen monsters! Just watching the footage you had in the video & I jumped when I saw it next to Leon! They are freaking scary! They manage the dread horror really well there. Ps : Now that you mention it, I did feel a lot of tension through feelings of being overwhelmed during the whole playthrough. That's why I enjoy RE so much! Also, because I like the lore. I find it fascinating. Doesn't make 100% sense, but it doesn't have to. The characters are engaging & idk, I just enjoy it.
I just finished playing the original Resident Evil 4 on the Oculus Quest, and I cannot begin to say how worried and desperate I was as it progressed. That game is a masterclass for how you can not only make an engaging game, but how VR can make things all the more terrifying. The moment you start to run out of ammo and explosives, things become completely different. You become agitated, terrified that you will die or be stuck. This happened to me at least 7 times, and each time it did happen, I needed a breather. If I ever upgrade to a console or a stronger PC, I’m playing the remake. This video gives me a good reason to put myself in those scenarios more to test my limits and see how I react to things, whether they are smart or not, and the lengths I will go to just to stay alive.
This game is amazing. I’m still actively thinking about after beating it. The lore, the characters, the gameplay, the setting, the villains…everything. I’m honestly thinking of playing again.
I personally think you can't just play this game once. So much to unlock, so many challenges, upgrades, and that addictive gameplay. Started NG+ shortly after finishing this masterpiece.
My first ever playthrough of the 4 remake was on Hardcore and I actually ran out of ammo once, that was the most panic I ever felt in a video game because all I had was a few nearly broken knives. That experience was way different and honestly amazing, no other game has ever made me feel like that before.
Anither aspect of the opening that creates lingering fear is how you are saved by outside means, not through your actions you havnt lost but you havnt beat them either
I dunno if this is highly requested or not, but I would if you did a character analysis of Ashley Graham, the changes she went through between RE 4 and REm4ke, and what makes the new iteration so good. She honestly came out as one of my favorite characters in this game.
So I saw someone who killed the Bella sisters with 5 mined bolts planted just before they interacted with the key. I tried it, they lived but it made it SOOOOOO much easier lol
And then all comes crashing down when the game decides you died too many times so it severely nerfs not only the AI aggressiveness but also damage output to the point that a formerly almost impossibly hard section became laughably easy....
The "desperation" part not only pertains to Leon being alone to face the entire hordes of horror. It's the fact that he NEEDS to survive. If he dies, Ashley's done for.
RE4 was my favorite Resident Evil, by far. So knowing a lot of Capcom's recent decisions I didn't have much hype for the remake. But I LOVE it. They made me love Ashley, who originally just annoyed me.
"And you're trapped in this barn. (...) There isn't anywhere you can run where the enemies can't reach you." That is actually false. You can just walk out of the house and go back the way you came from and at some point the enemies just go back to the area where you are supposed to fight them. Defending the house with Luis, that was tough. I died 3 times in a row and said "that's it for today, I'll try again next time." Then when I played it again, I remembered to parry more and didn't immediately go upstairs to pick up supplies, instead I stayed in the first floor so that the stream of enemies is more steady instead of a lot of them coming in because I'm upstairs and not defending downstairs. I think the Garradors where too easy in the remake (at least of default difficulty). I killed the first one by sneaking around him and stabbing him in the back repeatedly. I thought at first that I had to avoid the chains hanging in the room and that the Garrador would hear me when I touch them, but no, they were just for show. The room with 2 Garadors was challenging, but fun. I didn't die once here (died plenty in other parts of the game though). What is fun in this room is that you want to sneak because of the Garadors, but you are forced into combat because of the cultist. What I did is shot at the cultist and run a little then crouch down and sneak away, the Garrador then comes running to my last location and swings his claws wildly around, damaging and maybe even kiling some of the cultist. I did this a couple of times and was left with only the 2 Garradors, then finished them both like I did with the first one.
I feel like I should note that in the chainsaw section, there IS an area that you can get to where the villagers won't follow you, and since Ashley doesn't get out of the locker, you can pick the villagers off pretty easily.
I appreciate your exploration of Ethan's story. I'm just never going to play those first person games, they should never have been numbered to begin with.
One of the things I like about RE4 Remake is that the game reshaped Leon's character to be much more in line with his characterization later in the timeline. RE4Remake Leon is much closer to how Leon is portrayed in RE6 and RE Vendetta (and probably Death Island). Leon is still a smooth talker with his one-liners in RE6, but he exudes an aura that he's done with all this shit. There's an air of cynicism in RE6 Leon that wasn't there in OG RE4 Leon, but is seen in RE4Remake's Leon. In hindsight, OG RE4 Leon stands out like a sore thumb because when compared to all of Leon's portrayal in the entries he's been in, he feels the most out of place. Despite being the most iconic version of Leon, he feels the least like Leon, honestly. He feels more like Dante from Devil May Cry.
this video was really quiet, consider boosting the volume next time please. I had to double the volume to hear anything. Other than that this was a very good video 👌
I think there is a way too trick the chainsaw sisters. I saw a video where Leon slashed the light bulb before they came in, they come in the CGI cutscene, the bulb explodes killing them instantly I'll have to find it
I would love to hear a video about how they can make RE5 more like a RE game. I'm very fascinated by the direction they'll go if they decide to remake it.
It's from Majora's Mask so you're very close! This track has a few variations that play throughout Termina as you explore a world destined to a terrible fate. I think this one plays around Ikana Canyon but it's been a while.
Also, the Regenerator part is too damn short. Also, the Regen walk through the hall is such a cop-out... You can't chase it. it phases out of existence. (Even though you can thermal scope it.)
The next character you need to do is Ashley Graham, Brett. Graham has had a...MASSIVE improvement since the original. I mean for real real, I couldn't STAND her in the original...now she's MUCH better.
I honestly didn’t find 4 to be all that scary, maybe it’s just having played the original so many times, but I just found the remake and the original to be generally just fun. It might be because playing as Leon gives me an unearned sense of confidence, or the fact that I felt like I had plenty of ammo the entire time, but the spooks just didn’t get to me. I wasn’t ever afraid of what I’d run into, or the large numbers of enemies, it was just a fun action game. Though, the Ashley section genuinely had me taking chunks out of my seat, that was terrifying. I adore this and the original though, definitely on my top five favorite games of all time.
RE4make is so good at desperation. I went thru my first playthrough in Hardcore because it recommended it to players of the OG, ammo was scarce so often but what stands out most to me is that fight with Verdugo. I knew damn well my ammo was low but I wanted to kill him. It felt unsatisfying to simply walk into the elevator and leave him behind and it doesn't feel like something Leon would do. I battled that fucker until every nitrogen shower was gone and then on my last pistol mag and my last bullet he fell and it was so incredibly tense but incredibly satisfying to see the slide lock back as he fell into his death animation after I dumped every bit of ammunition I had. The same thing ended up happening to me with Krauser, I was down to one mag with red health when I finally killed him and it made the moment so satisfying. Another thing that adds to the desperation in both games is the sheer gauntlet running that you have to push through. Tense area after tense area and sometimes it feels like you never get a break, this was especially prevalent in the OG where I'd open a door after some these encounters and just hear more bullshit on the way. Both games are truly masterpieces in design.
Horror in action games can be difficult to balance. If the character ever gets too powerful then the player won't feel threatened, but if the character is too weak the player won't feel like ever trying to fight back. RE4R and Bloodborne I think strike the right balance perfectly. You're besieged by monsters at all times and even though you steadily get more powerful so do the enemies and the encounters get more unfair to match that. By the end, the horror sort of peters out but that's earned by how much you've gone through by the final sections. I'd say RE8 misses out on that balance a bit, though it's world and atmosphere are delightful Ethan usually either feels too weak when he starts out or he's mowing through enemies with a Doom style Super Shotgun if you collect enough treasure and food.
Frankly the horror element is great in the first play through but after the second or third one where you are armed to the teeth, the only level that's still scary is the Ashley section in the library because you have no weapons, but once you unlock the Ashley armor even that's not scary anymore.
If I haf to describe my desperation in RE4, it boils down to multiple zealots at once with the head devouring plagas at once. That's what I love of RE 4, 7 and Village: you feel the desperation and dread until you finally find a way to fight back and survive. You even become as Leon and find yourself annoyed at the stupid monsters.
I experienced zero fear playing through the game 😢games just don’t scare me anymore. But I knew the original like the back of my hand which may be a factor
