Resident Evil 4

Six years after Raccoon City, Leon S. Kennedy is sent to a remote European village to find President Graham’s missing daughter, Ashley. This 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 builds its rescue campaign around resource-limited gunfights, knife combat, inventory choices and the effort to get Ashley out safely.

Resident Evil 4 (2023) is Capcom’s remake of the 2005 game. It follows Leon S. Kennedy six years after the Raccoon City disaster, now working as a U.S. government operative. His mission is to locate Ashley Graham, the President’s missing daughter, in a secluded European village. The villagers are called Ganados: parasite-infected people who retain enough intelligence to use weapons and attack in groups. The rescue changes shape after Leon finds Ashley, because the task then becomes getting her out alive while the hostile cult called Los Iluminados closes in. Luis Sera becomes an uncertain ally during the village section, while Ada Wong reappears with her own connection to the events. The remake keeps the rescue premise but rearranges familiar scenes and level layouts, adding new interactions and changes to how the characters and threats meet.

Combat starts with Leon aiming firearms, placing shots and responding to enemies that may rush, grab or attack with weapons. A shot can stun an enemy and create an opening for a close-range follow-up. When a foe is staggered, Leon can move in for a melee strike, including kicks and other attacks that create space around him. The knife has several jobs: Leon can slash or stab, counter a grapple, perform stealth kills and parry incoming attacks. Using the blade wears it down; if it breaks, the Merchant can repair it. A fight therefore asks you to weigh ammunition against knife condition and decide whether to shoot, slip past a foe, or spend durability to interrupt a dangerous attack. The rhythm shifts between careful aiming, close combat and protecting enough room to react when another Ganado joins the fight.

Ashley changes how Leon moves through dangerous areas once he has found her. He can tell her to stay close or hang back, choosing whether she follows beside him or keeps more distance during a fight. If enemies knock her down, Leon can get her back up; if a Ganado carries her away, the rescue is at immediate risk. She is not simply an extra gun in Leon’s hands, so positioning and watching what enemies are doing around her matter. The routes through the village and later areas make this escort responsibility part of the action: Leon has to protect Ashley while also keeping enough room to aim, reload and react. Radio contact with Ingrid Hunnigan and encounters with people such as Luis connect the rescue to a wider group of characters without moving the focus away from the pair’s escape.

Leon’s attaché case is the inventory, and its grid makes packing a continuing decision. Weapons, ammunition, herbs and other items take up different amounts of space, so rotating and rearranging equipment can make room for a new pickup. The case can be auto-sorted, and later unlockable cases and charms provide perks. When Leon finds gunpowder and resources, he can craft them into ammunition instead of relying on the Merchant for bullets. Carrying another weapon may give him an answer to a new threat, but it also takes room that could hold ammunition or healing supplies. Typewriters provide manual save points, and Leon can reorganise the case between encounters. Planning a loadout therefore means choosing what he should carry now and which useful pickup to leave behind.

The Merchant appears at points along Leon’s route, offering weapons, upgrades and useful goods in exchange for pesetas. He can tune up firearms and repair knives, letting the player invest in a preferred weapon while managing the cost of repairs and supplies. Requests found during the campaign can earn spinels, a separate trading resource used for special wares. Treasure and key items Leon no longer needs can be sold for extra pesetas. These systems give exploration a clear link to combat preparation: checking a side path for treasure or completing a request can help pay for a weapon upgrade, while selling an unneeded item adds cash. Ammunition comes from what Leon finds and crafts, so pesetas can go toward changing the tools he uses to survive.

Exploration connects combat spaces through the village, a castle and other locations as the rescue moves forward. Familiar routes include new environmental interactions, and clues or side paths can draw Leon away from the most direct route. He can crouch and move quietly to approach some enemies from behind, but stealth is only one option; a discovered Ganado may bring others into the fight. Optional requests ask Leon to handle tasks or find particular items, with the Merchant offering rewards for completing them. Searching a room can reveal supplies, treasure or a clue to a nearby mechanism, and the result may change what Leon carries into the next encounter. A quiet approach can preserve ammunition and avoid drawing a group, while a failed attempt turns the same space into a fight. Exploration feeds back into survival through what Leon learns, finds and can trade.

Finishing the story gives Leon a campaign rank, and replays let players aim for a higher rank on a harder difficulty. The Mercenaries is a separate time-attack mode built around fighting enemy waves and raising a score; it sits outside the rescue story. Separate Ways is an additional campaign that follows Ada Wong through events from her perspective, while Leon remains the playable lead of the base campaign. Their distinct formats give the game more to do after or alongside the main rescue, but they do not change what Leon is trying to accomplish on his route with Ashley. The base story moves from the secluded village through later areas, with its reimagined scenes and campaign progression kept separate from Ada’s extra scenario and the arcade-style score challenge.