Late last night, the folks over at Capcom unleashed their pre-release Resident Evil 4 Remake demo, and we did what all wise folk would - downloaded it straight away and played it in the wee hours of the morning.
Thankfully (for our sleep schedule anyway), this demo slice of Resi 4 is short, with our playtime clocking in at just 15 minutes for our first run. To be honest we'd have probably played it for hours though, as this chunk of Resident Evil 4 feels great to play and has left us wanting much, much more.
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As the demo's name suggests, you get access to a couple of early sections of RE4 here, right up to the point where chainsaw boi starts chasing you around the opening village area liked a crazed lunatic. The reworked gunplay is on show pretty much straight away, which feels like an evolved version of what Capcom cooked up with Resident Evil 2 remake.
Combat feels weighty and satisfying, with even the introductory pistol feeling nice and punchy right from the off. You won't be doing much puzzle solving or anything like that here - this demo quickly demonstrates RE4's more action oriented nature.
We'll add the caveat here that this writer has never properly played the original Resident Evil 4 - the game's intro village area is about as far as I personally ever got with the old version. Even so, if this remake keeps going in the same direction as the demo, it'll stand on its own as a fantastic third-person survival horror title, even without any sort of fondness for the original game.
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A quick note on performance, at least for this opening section - the game looks and runs amazingly well on Xbox Series X based on our (VRR enabled) experience. We opted for 'prioritise frame rate' with ray tracing switched on, and didn't notice any obvious dips from 60FPS. We've heard varying reports on other systems, but Resi 4 remake seems well optimised for Series X so far.
And well, that's about it really! As we say, this is a very short demo but it's well worth a download if you're at all interested in the new version of Resident Evil 4. Newcomers and fans of the original alike, we should be in for a real treat when the full game launches on March 24th.
Are you playing the RE4 demo? Let us know your thoughts if you've already beaten it!
Comments 20
Plays great and looks good. Modern controls are a blessing. 🙂
@Sebatrox Nope!
It's absolutely fantastic. Enough has been changed that it feels fresh, but Capcom has retained a lot of what made the original so great. I can't wait to play more.
Loving the demo so far, just got chain sawed in the village. I've loved this game from Gamecube and everything else to series x. I still have the RE4 gamecube chainsaw controller.
I admit i always struggle with the controls initially when i replay the original now (except the Wii version with the motion aiming. Wish they had included that in the Switch version. ) But this remaster feels good so far. Just wish the knife didn't wear down.
Roll on March 24th
I got my Butt kicked for some reason during the demo. I might give it another shot this weekend.
I have xbox series s and it works well, tried prefer resolution over frame rate the first time and yes was sluggish but bearable
I then tried frame rate over resolution and was much smoother. Reminded me of how much they have really changed this from re4 on xbox one
Sailed through the demo this morning. It was challenging enough to keep me on my toes a bit but not so much that it prevented me from finishing the demo on my first try without dying. I didn't notice any issues with performance or any glitches. I love the darker appearance and the fact that there's more vegetation. The original was great back in the day but graphically, this early area of the game at least, was very brown and bland. I love the new look.
Played the demo. Was a bit disappointed. I found Leon's movement to be kinda strange. Auto Aim doesn't work at all. Whether the option is on or off, I see no difference either way. I found it to be a bit more difficult than I remember. Are there difficulty levels still with the remake? If so, was the demo on Normal or Easy? The village scenario with the chainsaw guy seemed way more overwhelming than I remember. Felt less stressed playing Elden Ring.
There's a 'mad chainsaw' difficulty mode for the demo
@Clankylad pc mods will fix Ashley's ballistics no doubt about that lol
@Sebatrox No play as you wish.
@jonnybuck84 Yes there is. The price!
Not a huge RE fan, but did love the game on GameCube. GameCube was so much fun, i owned more games on that machine from Nintendo than i do on Switch. But yes that Demo got me considering paying full price for it. It was really good, first time i have touched a RE game in probably over a decade. I got a PS5 and Series X and Switch, not sure if i should get it on Xbox or PS5 for the Dual Sense features. Really hope Xbox does a mid Gen update to the controller for the features the DS has, cause while i like those features of the Dual Sense, i am not in love with the size and layout of the controller. Overall A- to a B+ on this demo for me, going to play it one more time to decide.
@NorthwestEagle you usually get a combat knife that doesn't break then if you choose not to have it in your storage you can still occasionally find limited use knifes
I originally played this on NGC (a far better looker than on PS2 and I played that too) and like the majority, I loved it.
After trying this demo, the remake will be far better.
Pre-ordered a long while ago but not long now...
@Sebatrox it is not
You can get a tmp in the demo if you discard everything in your inventory as soon as you can & then run to the village without picking anything up , there'll be a well that you climb down past the barn / cow
@NorthwestEagle Absolutely. I'm hoping I'll just get used to it as the game goes on.
I did realize something. If I simply run around and dodge enemies/chainsaw guy for between 4-5 minutes, the church bell goes off. In other words, I don't have to shoot one enemy. Just avoid them. Shooting them just wastes ammo.
10, yes ten. That's how many bullets Leon starts with. Seriously, no addional mags in a belt pouch? Anyways that weak 9mm is really just a stun gun. "Ouch, I have taken a bullet to me knee", said one infected before he buried his hatchet into my left shoulder.
I tried, but failed to lead one infected to step into a bear trap. Then after he threw his hatchet at me he crabbed another from a rear pocket.
The knife may wear and break, but I found it very affective and satisfying to use.
I like the controls and the amount of settings options. Too dark for me if using recommended settings. Good graphics and smooth frame rates on my PR0 and 1080p tv playing on performance mode. However half the time this demo made my PRO sound like jet taking off. I now plan to wait until I upgrade to a 5 or an X to play the full game.
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