Entry 3: Resident Evil 4 (Switch)

Picked by Zeph

5/18/26

Back in 2004, I had just recently started a job at my local Electronics Boutique (before it got assimilated by GameStop). It was your typical retail job, but I loved it because I loved video games so much. I didn't mind the constant, repetitive work, because I was working with the stuff that really made me happy (I had a second job at the local bookstore as well). Life was busy, but I was making decent money. Then, during the hectic holiday season, I got a really nice surprise. Capcom was set to release Resident Evil 4 as a GameCube exclusive in January 2005, but people who had pre-ordered the game got a demo in December of 2004. I had an entire month to play the demo over and over, learning the controls and figuring out the ideal strategies for the first couple of screens of the game. I was hooked. I'd played the previous Resident Evil games (though 3 was the only one I'd replayed over and over), but I was excited for this new entry, particularly because of the camera changes and the fact that it was going to be a GameCube exclusive.

The game came out on time and it didn't disappoint me. I replayed it constantly. I bought the basic game from my store, of course, but I also committed the cardinal sin of going to Electronic Boutique's direct competitor, GameStop, to buy their exclusive collector's edition of the game. (I still have it, factory sealed, to this day.) I even bought a special controller that the game accessory company Hori released, fashioned in the design of a chainsaw. It was wildly impractical for playing the game, but it was a cool accessory, so I was happy to have it. Throughout the years, I revisited Resident Evil 4 several times. Once when it was re-released on Playstation 2. Once when it was re-released on Xbox 360. And then, most recently, when it was released on the Nintendo Switch. I actually replayed it a couple of years ago, but recently I decided that I wanted to play it again, so I started a new game as Pengat watched and cheered me on.

21 years later... this game still holds up SO WELL. The beginning of the game is ominous and creepy. Three prior Resident Evil games got players accustomed to zombies being the enemies - lumbering, slow, mindless creatures that could overwhelm you in sheer numbers. The enemies in the beginning of Resident Evil 4 are different. I'll never forget the first time I was defending myself against one of the enemies, and I took several extra seconds to line up a perfect headshot. Just before I squeezed the trigger, the enemy ducked down and bobbed from side to side slightly, causing my shot to miss badly. I was so startled by this that I panicked and wasted multiple more bullets trying to hit the enemy anywhere I could. These enemies weren't completely unthinking - they could mix up their movements, dodge your shots, raise their arms to protect themselves... and still overwhelm you with sheer numbers. What's more, on the second screen of the game, you're introduced to a particularly fearsome foe - a hulking villager with a burlap sack on its head, wielding a chainsaw. The first time I fought against this enemy, I was surrounded by enemies and desperately trying to reload my shotgun. I had full health, so I thought to myself "Fine, I can take a hit and then get away." The next thing I knew, Leon's head was toppling to the ground and the Game Over screen was mocking me and my shattered expectations of relative safety.

A common complaint about Resident Evil 4 is that there's too much action compared to horror portions. I contend that to be true only for people who have played the game at least once previously (though the same argument about a reduced horror level could be made of ANY replayed game). There are SO MANY sections of the game that are either just creepy, or outright scary. Some examples:

• Del Lago, the aquatic creature you fight at the end of Chapter 1, which will happily drag you into the water and eat you alive
• The emergence of parasites that can erupt from most enemies' head after you've done fatal damge to them, which require MORE expenditure of ammo before they kill you
• Running through a hedge maze with mutated dogs chasing you, ready to lash you into oblivion with their tentacles
• Regenerators, creatures with larvae burrowed into their bodies, making them invisible to the naked eye - if you don't kill the larvae, the Regenerator will never die
• The creepy-ass chanting that the cult members repeat CONSTANTLY, so that you always hear them before you see them, forcing you to take every blind corner carefully
• ... and tons more.

Resident Evil 4 is a game that doesn't focus itself primarily on jump scares. It still has moments of them from time to time - I'm looking at you, Oven Man - but overall, it focuses more on creating an environment of unease and creepiness than relying solely on jump scares. The dread comes when you get a cutscene showing a horde of enemies running at you while you're still trying to deal with other enemies, all while protecting the mostly-useless girl you've been sent to retrieve. We haven't even mentioned enemies called Novistadors, flying insects that can turn themselves invisible, spit acid, and swarm you like a plague of locusts. There are plenty of creepy moments throughout the game - the main difference is that, if you play the game well, you can be fairly well prepared to handle them.

I say "fairly" well prepared because, unbeknownst to me until a couple of nights ago, Resident Evil 4 has a hidden system that adjusts the difficulty of the game based on how well you're playing. This affects a wide variety of effects to your game, including the aggressiveness of enemies, how much damage you take, and even the drop rate of items. The game is constantly evaluating how you're playing and updating this adjustment based on a variety of things. Pengat was originally the one who noticed that something was weird, because I was getting almost no ammunition drops from enemies - only money. It turns out that my go-to strategy for the game - headshotting an enemy, running up to kick it to the ground while it was staggered, and then killing it with my knife to save ammunition - was making the game a lot harder than normal. Because of this, I had to approach every encounter with care, and even a couple of stray hits was enough to start depleting Leon's health into dangerous territory. It was frustrating - but it was also fun, because it was actively making the game harder for me to make sure I had a constant challenge.

You know what wasn't a challenge? I took the time to play through the two bonus scenarios, featuring Resident Evil mainstay Ada - Assignment Ada and Separate Ways, and in doing so unlocked the ability to get the Chicago Typewriter in my game. This is a fairly powerful machine gun that has an impressive rate of fire, but most notably, it has infinite ammo. You don't ever need to reload it, even - you can just aim and fire away. It shreds enemies and bosses alike in no time flat. Yesterday, for fun, I started a new game with both the Chicago Typewriter and a rocket launcher with infinite ammo in my inventory, with the sole purpose of clearing the game as quickly as I could. I skipped past cutscenes, ran past enemies, and... ... I'd like to say that I ignored item drops and treasures, but I absolutely didn't. But even so! My "normal" playthrough took me just under 12 hours to complete the game - this overpowered run took about 3. It was like living a power fantasy in a game that does such a great job of terrorizing you. Even better? I selected Leon's second alternate costume for the playthrough, so for the entirety of the run, he was dressed up in an amazing Michael Jackson Moonwalker cosplay, complete with a stylish reload animation. Even better? Ashley, that useless girl who is constantly being carried away or menaced by enemies, dons a full suit of armor, rendering her nigh invincible. I first noticed it when an enemy tried to pick her up and run away with her, and it collapsed under the weight. Curious, I led her into a pack of enemies and waited - even the ones who tried to attack her found their strikes repelled with no harm to Ashley. Finally, as the ultimate test (and much against the wishes of Pengat), I shot her with my rocket launcher. She shrieked and was thrown to the ground... and then got up and stood back in place, awaiting Leon's orders. It was awesome.

Replaying the game was so much fun. I really enjoyed it - so much so that I wanted to replay it again as soon as I was done (and I did!). Later Resident Evil games tried to recapture the feel of 4, especially with the camera and action-oriented gameplay, but in my opinion they fell short of the mark. Resident Evil 4 is one of those games that everyone should play, but especially people who played the first three games. It truly is a revolutionary turning point in the series.