Resident Evil has always led the way in the horror genre of gaming. From its mansion roots to its later first-person entries, Resident Evil continually sets the bar for gaming. Capcom's long-running series unequivocally did this the best in Resident Evil 4, best known as not only one of the best horror games but one of the best games ever created, period. Its modern fusion of action and horror set the benchmark for every game following and it is still an enjoyable game even to this day, up to and including its recent VR version.
RE4 changed the horror genre and the gaming industry forever. There is little doubt about that. Of course, its influence had both positive and negative developments. For every good thing RE4 did, it also inspired a long list of things wrong about the industry that later entries would have to work hard to fix.
10 BETTER: Perfected Action Horror
Inarguably, RE4 perfected and practically invented action horror as gamers know it today. Before this title, there were very few selections in AAA games for true survival horror action. This game reinvented the gun wheel— instead of limiting bullets, the game gave an ammo supply that would seem insane by previous game standards.
In turn, however, and with the benefit of higher processing loads in new systems, players would have to face an endless onslaught of enemies. Sometimes, like the infamous first big village fight, having to shoot their way through upwards of 10-15 villagers and chainsaw fanatics at a time. It was a bold and thrilling choice that set the standards for all action horror to follow.
9 WORSE: Sent The Series (& Horror Games In General) Down The "Action Horror" Hell Hole
Capcom has a problem with Resident Evil. When one title does a really amazing job at something, like Resident Evil 4 did, they make sure every game in the series copies it until it becomes painful to play. Even other companies, like Electronic Arts, saw RE4's success and created a stream of similar titles, most notably the Dead Space series.
This is what happened with every game following Resident Evil 4 until the seventh entry in the series when they once again changed up the formula to 1st person and went back to the true survival horror routes. What later entries forgot was that it was not RE4's relentless horror that made the game good, but rather, its tight pacing and well-balanced gunplay.
8 BETTER: Over-the-Shoulder Camera
Was there ever a greater invention in third-person gaming? The over-the-shoulder camera was a life changer for gunplay. No longer were players confined to strict angles and limited vision. There was now a fluid camera that would easily and remarkably respond to what players are trying to do.
It wasn't always perfect, but was it a great improvement of the days of haphazardly trying to aim at a deadly target with little relative direction. Now, if players could keep their wits, the bullets will hit their target most of the time. The viewpoint would become the standard for most third-person action games going forward, with the developers of Gears of War for instance specifically stating that RE4 was a huge inspiration for the game's perspective and shooting mechanics.
7 WORSE: Death of the Fixed Camera Angle
Unfortunately, the over-the-shoulder camera marks the death of the retro fixed-angle perspective gamers had learned to love— but also hate. While it was not always the most effective way to navigate a game, it did give designers more control over the horror.
For certain scares, they could lock an angle forcing players to approach exactly as the designers intended. They always had to look directly at the horror. With over-the-shoulder, this sometimes led to players missing some scares out of no fault of their own— they simply were not looking the right way. After the remake of Resident Evil and its follow-up Resident Evil 0, the RE series would abandon fixed camera angles forever.
6 WORSE: Quick Time Events
RE4 is basically a perfect game if players can get past two things. One, Ashley shouting "Leeeeeeon!" again and again because she has no sense of survival abilities. And two, the annoying as hell quick time events.
Unfortunately, many a game studio saw RE4's "exciting" quick-time events and felt the need to copy such a "brilliant" idea. Players can blame RE4 in large part for their thumb arthritis and many a broken controller from button mashing. Eventually, later games in the series got rid of this, but not before Resident Evil 6 took it places so ridiculous that multiple QTE moments from the game have become memes.
5 BETTER: Innovative Inventory Management System
Inventory Management in RE4 is stellar. There is nothing more fun and stressful (in the good way) than basically having to play Tetris to fit what players can into their briefcase of weapons.
Does Leon take the extra health? Or bring the rocket launcher? It adds elements of tension into the gameplay leaving players always wondering if they brought the right items for the next encounters. This tiny tinge of realism of removing the "endless bag" streamlines the experience and becomes an essential gameplay feature for players to play with and work against.
4 WORSE: Inventory Management Has Become Too Realistic In Many Games
RE4 is also the reason we have poor inventory management systems nowadays. Games have continually stripped back players' inventories more and more, especially in horror games, to emphasize the feeling of helplessness in their games to artificially create horror.
Developers take note: we do not want a "realistic" inventory management system. We know we cannot carry a rocket launcher, shotgun, five health packs, and 300 bullets on us at a time. But we have it because there is nothing more annoying than having to return to a chest every five minutes to change out our weapon and do more Tetris. It's a fine line to ride and one many games fail to do correctly.
3 BETTER: Embracing The B-Movie Campiness
Part of RE4's success was its willingness to give in to the campiness inherent within the series. The games have always had a campy B-movie charm to them, but never fully embraced it until this entry. This led ultimately to a stronger story and better moments in the game. When the game wanted to amp up its horror, it could, but also, when it wanted to have a laugh it was able to.
What other game would have a tiny Napoleon-like character as the main antagonist? Or having the main characters casually ride off on a jet ski at the end? What is so iconic about Resident Evil 4 now was once a strange and unusual choice, one gamers are eternally grateful for.
2 WORSE: Why Must Every Horror Game Be Brown?
RE4 was not the most colorful game. However, despite its brownness, it was still well-varied and had its fair share of lush environments. Unfortunately, most horror games took this to mean that their game's colors palettes need to be the red and brown stains of a bloodied and mud-covered football player to be scary.
This, in fairness, follows a long trend of mid-2000s games swapping the bright colors of retro games out for gritty shades of brown. Luckily, this is a trend that has slowly died off over the years for most games. That said, Call of Duty still thinks orange and brown makes a game look cool to this day.
1 BETTER: Varied Set-Pieces
If there was one thing RE4 demonstrated well, it was how varied a game's set pieces can be. In its fifteen or so hours, there is such a wide breadth of areas to explore.
What starts with European villages quickly shifts into castles, towers, underground mines, laboratories, and everything in-between. It was one of the first horror games to truly have this sense of scale and still maintain horror and tension. What was previously confined to but a few streets or a single house, RE4 showed horror can also be large and intimidating.