What are ya playin’, stranger?
Theremake ofResident Evil 4is nearly here, and if you’re like me, the release of a new entry in a storied franchise always gives you the urge to seek out context. Sure, youcouldjust playResident Evil 4—it’ll probably stand on its own just fine—but why not dig into some earlier series entries to gain a fuller appreciation of whatResident Evil 4represents?
Of course, nobody expects you to burn through everyResident Evilgame over the next couple of days. Frankly, most of them won’t do very much in relation toRE4(it is, oddly, one of the more self-contained adventures in theResident Evilfranchise). But if you want to fully understand whereRE4stands, both in theResident Eviluniverse and in our own, there are a few titles you should at least take a look at.
Keep in mind here that I haven’t played the remake ofResident Evil 4yet. This is not an expert opinion as much as it is an outline of games that you should play to see whereResident Eviland Leon Kennedy have been lately.
The must-plays
There are two games that are decidedly necessary in order to fully “get” any remake ofResident Evil 4. Those games are, of course, the 2019 remake ofResident Evil 2and the originalResident Evil 4, released in 2005 and rereleased seemingly every day for the last eighteen years.
I don’t think I need to explain why you ought to play these games.Resident Evil 2tells the story of Leon Kennedy’s first zombie-bashing adventure, and it also establishes a baseline design language for theREmakeseries. You canprobablyskip the Claire Redfield route for now, since Claire is off toiling inCode Veronicaland around the time ofRE4, but if you’ve never played it, you should get around to that route eventually. For now, you can just take a quick peek around the Raccoon City Police Department in Leon Kennedy’s shoes to see how he went from rookie cop to gloomy action hero and to get asenseof how theREmakeseries currently functions.
As forResident Evil 4…well, it’sResident Evil 4. And the new game is alsoResident Evil 4. I find that a remake is almost always more satisfying when it’s accompanied by an intimate understanding of the original work. I’ll admit to being an occasional hypocrite on this point (I loveResident Evil 2(2019) and have never playedResident Evil 2(1998)), but the originalRE4is readily accessible on modern platforms and itholds up stunningly well. You should give it a shot!
The should-plays
You can pretty safely skip the rest of theResident Evilseries and get a robust enough understanding of where theRE4remake is coming from. But if you’ve already blazed through the first two games listed above and are still hungry for more, why not play the two most recentResident Evilgames?
Resident Evil 3(2020) is a much better game than most people give it credit for, and ifRE4is as action-heavy as it seems to be, thenRE3will also serve as a nice bridging of the gap. Leon’s not in this one, and it probably won’t have a profound impact on theRE4story, but it might be worth playing just to gauge the level of mechanical continuity we’re getting between these games.
I also think there’s some merit to playingResident Evil Villagefor similar reasons. Between its rural European setting, its attache case inventory system, and its mysteriously friendly merchant,Villageshares a lot of DNA with the originalRE4. It feels, in a lot of ways, like Capcom’s first pass at aResident Evil 4remake, and while I’m not sure how large the crossover is between the specific creative teams, I think there’s value in seeing two executions on a similar idea.
If you really want to, I won’t stop you from playing all the otherResident Evilgames, too. Most of them rock.
