Recent reviews by ʳ̶ᵖ̶ᵈ̶magic fetus™

Re4 remake but if it was good and not a remake

Absolutely cathartic experience for longtime fans, and a fantastic entry point for newcomers of the series. Resident Evil Requiem is the first entry to have a consistently well written story, bolstered further by its incredible voice acting. Grace's VA absolutely steals the show, selling every dramatic moment with a perfect sense of vulnerability and emotion. In terms of gameplay, it is absolutely stellar. While I was excited about the dual-protagonists the game advertising was heavily emphasising pre-release, I was still skeptical about how they would go about the game's pacing. Capcom does not have the best reputation or track record implimenting new ideas into their games (cough cough RE5/6). However after beating the game THREE times, I can safely say, the gameplay aspect is perfect. Grace's sections are pure heart-pounding, CLASSIC survival horror, and the perfect counterpart to Leon's frantic, INTENSE action segments. On any difficulty above casual, (especially insanity) you will be actively gauging the worth of every resource you expend, every route you choose. It's incredibly well designed. Requiem is also both visually and sonically stunning, resulting in best atmosphere and sound design in the entire series (in my opinion). Tons of unlockables and post-game content for replayability as well. Ultimately I think it's my favorite Resident Evil of them all. 9/10

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I have tried so, so very hard to enjoy, and like the Resident Evil 4 Remake. The original Resident Evil 4 was a revolutionary title, that permanently altered the course of third person shooters, for better or for worse. But it was lightning in a bottle. A practically perfect execution of camp, terror, action, and one of my favorite games ever made. Unfortunately, this progenetic afterbirth of a remake is one of the most un-fun trainwrecks of a "game" I have EVER played in my entire life. I place "game" under quotations because games are supposed to be fun, and this remake does more than enough to ensure you are NOT having fun. This is a content stripped, insipid, bland game built on the foundation of something objectively superior. And here's why:

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This remake is an absolute tragedy of poor design choices. The remake modernizes every mechanical facet of RE4 without any understanding of what made the original work so well. This results in an absolute erosion of the primary gameplay loop. Instead of preserving the identity that made the original iconic, the remake dilutes it with systems that feel tedious rather than engaging (knife durability, straight up mandatory parrying, mmo-style quests and *sighs* crafting). The pacing is inconsistent, veering wildly between drawn-out combat encounters and dull stretches of uninspired traversal. Most of the areas in the remake are 2–3x larger, which means you are going to be spending that much more time running back and forth to grab key items or anything you didn't notice before. What was once a tightly focused thrill ride now feels bloated and unfocused.

Combat, once the crown jewel of the original, has been reworked into something far less satisfying. Gun bloom feels terrible. Some of the guns sound better, but most feel off and weirdly clicky. Yes, the original had similar issues (with less weapons honestly) but everything sounded great for its time, whereas there are dozens upon dozens of other shooting games with better feeling and sounding guns than the remake. The deliberate rhythm of shoot, stagger, and strike has been muddled by erratic enemy aggression and clumsy, spammy parrying that feels intentionally tuned to frustrate rather than challenge. Encounters often devolve into random chaos, emphasizing attrition over strategy. The original felt chaotic but within reason. Boss fights feel lame and non-cathartic (especially Mendez). Rather than rewarding precision and positioning, the remake frequently punishes players with overwhelming numbers and inconsistent feedback.

The difficulty settings exemplify the remake’s fundamental imbalance. Rather than offering a smooth and rewarding progression of challenge, they swing wildly between mind-numbing simplicity and outright unfairness. On Assisted and Standard, the game feels trivial, and barren of any semblance of challenge. Conversely, Hardcore and Professional veer in the opposite direction, abandoning challenge in favor of punishment. Professional difficulty, in particular, crosses the line from incredibly demanding to blatantly unfair, prioritizing memorization and repetition over a general mastery of the game's mechanics.

Whether through omission or alteration, the remake lacks the sense of completeness that made the original so timeless. Some content has been jury-rigged into the now, PAID "Separate Ways" DLC, which was FREE to play in the original. Other pay-to-win microtransactions and premium items have also been shoehorned into the game, which leaves a bad aftertaste. Instead of feeling like the definitive way to experience Resident Evil 4, the remake often feels like a fragmented, corporate product, one that removes more substance than it actually adds.

The original balanced over the top horror with a self-aware sense of camp, resulting in a tone that was both uniquely terrifying and occasionally hilarious. Here, any sense of fun or personality has been lobotomized, resulting in characters and tone that read as self-serious and sterile. Characters talk incessantly but ultimately have nothing of substance to say, and lines are delivered with no sincerity or conviction. You never get to sit with, or feel immersed with the atmosphere (what little there is of it anyways) because of this. And the music is utterly generic and boring (more on that later). Multiple iconic villains have lost their mystique. Even Leon's corny action hero one liners feel off. The result is an overtly homogenized experience that lacks the charm that made the original unique.

A Beautiful Shell

Performance-wise, The game runs incredibly well at a stable 60fps on max graphics and at 144fps on high. To its credit, the game is visually impressive. The environments are richly detailed, the lighting is atmospheric, and the in-game models and textures look great. Yet all of this technical polish cannot mask the hollow core beneath. The developers opted to use a massive amount of asset flips, compared to the original's extensive texture referencing and photogrammetry. At points they use the EXACT SAME MODELS AND TEXTURES as found in Resident Evil Village. Many design elements, from typewriter animations, to the save screens, even the notes you pick up no longer have accompanying diegetic art. All of that is just blank, and soulless. A game can be generically visually impressive, but without compelling intent behind its design & aesthetic, it remains little more than an interactive facade.

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Final Verdict

The original Resident Evil 4 was a masterpiece. It was an unforgettable title that redefined a whole genre. This remake, however, is overtly forgettable. It fundamentally misunderstands what made RE4 special. It supersedes the original's elegance and charm with excess and sterility. It is a cash grab that I regret purchasing. The worst aspect of this remake, is that it has insipidly cast aside the original's title, claiming it's place as the "definitive" version of the game. This overtly monetary-guided decision, will innately dissuade people from ever trying the original. "Why play the old one when I have the new? Surely this one is better because it's new, right?"

It is far from better.
It is not a reimagining.
It is not an evolution nor the definitive version of the game.
It is a HOLLOW mockery of an EXCELLENT game.

A Strong

4/10.

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Pros

+Stunning 3d graphics and environmental detail
+Smooth performance and modern controls
+Mostly faithful to the original's story

Cons

-Bland, sensible, and vapid voice acting
-Poorly balanced difficulty settings
-Toothless, unsatisfying combat
-Bloated pacing and unnecessary mechanics
-Missing or altered content
-Paid DLC replacing previously included material
-Weak aesthetic and tonal identity

incredibly good. every step of the way a fantastic rpg, through and through. And I damn well hope I live long enough to see how it ends.

very tight primary gameplay loop, solid atmosphere, earnestly designed, aesthetically great. Worth the price!

Unfortunately, the current developers of this game are money hungry swine, hell-bent on breaking the game and SQUEEZING every ounce of profit they can out of it. They've added in new cosmetics which as of the date of this review, have broken ALL of my outfits which I have spent countless HOURS customising, with no fix even after reaching out to support. EVEN WORSE, is that the cause of this seems to be that I "don't own the dlc" i legitimately own and have paid for. do NOT support this game in it's current state. The gameplay is buggier than ever (ai spawning directly in front of you, hud markers and ui disappearing, constant and perpetual cosmetic bugs) and has been going on a steady decline since these new incompetent, money hungry, pathetic new developers took over. What a great game this used to be, slowly melted into dirt. Just play the original Insurgency at this point.

For Managed Democracy.

broken garbage. don't buy

visions of dog

Ice cold! It's COol