It has been 18 years since Capcom's universally acclaimed Resident Evil 4 launched for the Nintendo GameCube, and the release of its remake for next-gen consoles and PC is finally here. While the remake stays true to the original in the most essential ways, it does bring with it some significant updates to combat, the addition of stealth mechanics, changes to characters, a host of new side-quests and collectibles, updated graphics, and more.

When not focusing on Resident Evil 4's main narrative, players will be offered a multitude of opportunities to complete side missions and gather collectibles. While the game could technically be finished in a weekend, successfully completing everything it has to offer may take even the most experienced players a decent but worthwhile amount of time to accomplish.

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How Long to Beat Resident Evil 4 Remake

Leon Kennedy using a knife to fight an enemy with a chainsaw in Resident Evil 4's remake

Much like the original, the Resident Evil 4 remake's narrative is fairly linear, with very little wiggle room between the game's three main areas (Village, Castle, and Island). Even so, playtime for the game's main story will vary between players, as it ultimately depends on their familiarity with the game's controls, combat mechanics, and exploration. Resident Evil 4 is not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination, so its difficulty may prove to be a time-consuming challenge for inexperienced players.

In an interview with PC Gamer last October, the producer of the Resident Evil 4 remake, Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, said, "the playtime for RE4 is about the same as the original game." Taking that into consideration, HowLongToBeat.com shows an average main story completion time of around 15 hours for the original Resident Evil 4, and an average of about 20 hours with the completion of some of the game's side-quests, so players should expect to finish the main story of the Resident Evil 4 remake within that amount of time. That being said, RE4 veterans will likely move at a much more efficient pace, which could instead result in an average playthrough of the main story taking about 12 to 15 hours for them.

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How Long to Complete Resident Evil 4 Remake

Resident Evil 4 Remake Ingrid on computer

While the Resident Evil 4 remake is indeed a linear experience, there are still plenty of side-quests to complete, collectibles to find, and files to discover. The survival horror game has a total of 293 items to find, including weapons, weapon parts, crafting recipes, treasures, and side missions in the form of merchant requests. This massive amount of extra content in the game will undoubtedly lend itself to much lengthier playtimes upwards of 35 to 40 hours.

Unfortunately, RE4 does not have a Chapter Select option, so players will not have the ability to return to areas once they've departed. However, a New Game Plus mode was added to the remake that will allow players to carry over their collectible progress to a new playthrough (aside from treasures, which must be collected during a single playthrough). There are also new weapons available during a New Game Plus run of the game (including an infinite rocket launcher). Players who take advantage of RE4's New Game Plus Mode could potentially spend around 50 hours completing a second playthrough, especially considering how many trophies and achievements are locked behind a New Game Plus playthrough of the game.

It's safe to say that while the Resident Evil 4 remake is a fairly linear adventure, there is plenty of extra content to keep gamers busy for a significant period of time. Whether with the game's countless treasures and collectibles or its engaging narrative, RE4 offers an immersive and time-consuming experience that is worthy of its $60 price tag.