Resident Evil 4 is a 2023 survival horror game created and released by Capcom. It is a new version of the 2005 game Resident Evil 4. The game was available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on March 24, 2023. Later, versions for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS were released on December 20, 2023.

In the game, players control Leon S. Kennedy, a United States agent who must rescue Ashley Graham, the daughter of the U.S. president, from a secret group in rural Spain. The remake includes changes to the story, new artwork, characters, and updated gameplay similar to other Resident Evil remakes, such as Biohazard (2017) and Village (2021). The developers added more details about Ashley’s character and her relationship with Leon. They used Capcom’s RE Engine to create the game. Two extra game content pieces were added: Mercenaries, a mini-game where players fight groups of enemies, and Separate Ways, a side story where players control the character Ada Wong.

Resident Evil 4 received very good reviews from critics. It was nominated for the Golden Joystick Award for Ultimate Game of the Year and The Game Award for Game of the Year. By April 2025, the game had sold over 10 million copies, making it the fastest-selling Resident Evil game until it was overtaken by Resident Evil Requiem in 2026.

Gameplay

Resident Evil 4 is a remake of the 2005 game Resident Evil 4. It uses "over-the-shoulder" third-person shooter gameplay, like the original, and includes design ideas from the remakes of Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 3 (2020). The remake has new visuals to create a more intense atmosphere, along with redesigned characters and backgrounds. It offers six control schemes, one of which matches the original game. Players sometimes solve puzzles to access certain areas. In some parts of the game, Leon must protect Ashley, the president's daughter. Ashley has a simpler health system than the original and can be told to stay close or far from Leon.

As in the original, players organize items in an attaché case. A new crafting system lets players make items and ammunition using collected resources. The Merchant returns, allowing players to buy, upgrade, and trade items. The Merchant also gives new side quests that can be completed during the main story. Combat focuses on shooting enemies and reloading, like the original. However, Leon can now move and use weapons at the same time, letting him avoid attacks while firing and reload while moving. Leon can use melee attacks to hurt enemies and push them away. A new parrying mechanic lets Leon block, counterattack, and kill downed enemies with his knife. Unlike the original, Leon's knife has a durability meter. If it breaks, the player must speak to the Merchant to repair or improve it. Leon can carry multiple knives with different abilities.

The gameplay in the Separate Ways DLC is mostly the same as the main game, but it adds a grappling hook mechanic. This lets Ada reach areas that were previously unreachable and perform melee attacks from a distance. Attaching a specific charm allows Ada to use her grappling hook to remove shields from enemies. Ada also has an Internal Retinal Inquiry System (I.R.I.S), which helps her see hidden clues that are not visible to the naked eye.

Plot

After the destruction of Raccoon City in 1998, Leon S. Kennedy (Nick Apostolides / Toshiyuki Morikawa) joins a special program and trains with Major Jack Krauser (Mike Kovac / Kengo Tsuji) after agreeing to work for the United States government. Six years later, in 2004, Leon is sent by the president to rescue Ashley Graham (Genevieve Buechner / Akari Kito), the president’s kidnapped daughter, from a village in rural Spain with help from Ingrid Hunnigan (Raylene Harewood / Yu Sugimoto). When Leon arrives, his escorts are killed by villagers who are controlled by the parasite Las Plagas and follow the Los Illuminados cult. Leon searches for Ashley and meets Luis Serra (André Peña / Kenjiro Tsuda), a scientist who ran from the cult. Ingrid confirms Luis once worked for the Umbrella Corporation. Leon and Luis are captured by Chief Bitores Méndez (Jon Bryant / Takeshi Oda), who injects Leon with a Plaga parasite. After escaping, the pair separates.

Leon learns Ashley is held in the village’s old church and rescues her. Both are infected with Plaga. They are chased by Méndez and villagers until Leon kills Méndez in an abandoned warehouse. A rescue helicopter is delayed by bad weather, so Leon and Ashley go to a castle for shelter. There, Lord Ramón Salazar (Marcio Moreno / Chō)’s forces capture Ashley. Leon briefly meets Ada Wong (Lily Gao / Junko Minagawa) again after their last encounter in Raccoon City. Leon fights through the castle and reunites with Luis, who gives him suppressants for the Plaga and explains he wants to make up for his past work with Umbrella and Los Illuminados. Using mining tunnels, they reach the surface, but Luis is killed by Krauser, who fights Leon before retreating. Before dying, Luis gives Leon a key to his lab to help cure Ashley. Leon kills Salazar and teams up with Ada to find Krauser, who took Ashley to an island facility.

On the island, Leon reunites with Ashley but is separated again when Osmund Saddler (Christopher Jane / Hōchū Ōtsuka), leader of Los Illuminados, uses Plaga to control Ashley and attack Leon. Leon discovers Krauser kidnapped Ashley out of anger over "Operation Javier," a mission that killed Krauser’s unit two years earlier. Krauser mutates himself with Plaga and fights Leon, who kills him. Leon reunites with Ashley, but Saddler attacks again until Ada helps Leon rescue Ashley and take her to Luis’s lab to remove their parasites. While escaping, Leon saves Ada from Saddler and teams up with her to kill Saddler, who drops a vial of Plaga amber. Ada takes the vial and leaves in a helicopter as Leon and Ashley escape on a jet ski.

Before Leon arrived, Ada freed Luis from Salazar’s dungeon to get a hidden vial of Plaga amber. She got infected by Salazar’s enforcer, Pesanta. While trying to meet Luis and avoid Pesanta, Ada secretly helps Leon fight Los Illuminados. Her boss, Albert Wesker (Craig Burnatowski / Jouji Nakata), checks on her as her infection worsens. Ada reunites with Luis, who helps her find ingredients to slow their infections. Later, Ada kills Pesanta, which causes her to vomit her parasite. She learns Krauser killed Luis for the amber.

Ada helps Leon reach the island facility, places a tracker on him, and searches for Krauser. She sees Krauser give the amber to Saddler before Wesker gives her a device to bypass security. Ada sabotages bombs using Luis’s files and finds Saddler with Leon’s tracker. She rescues Leon and Ashley, defeats Saddler, but is captured by him. Leon saves Ada, and they kill Saddler together, retrieving the amber. Ada contacts Wesker, who promises a "new dawn" at the cost of many lives. Disgusted, Ada orders her pilot to change course.

Wesker learns Ada betrayed him and that the island is still intact because the bombs failed. With Krauser’s body, Wesker declares the "age of man" will end soon.

Development

Capcom moved the development of the game to its own team in early 2021, led by the Division 1 group. Many staff members who worked on the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 returned to help create Resident Evil 4. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi said remaking Resident Evil 4 was challenging because the original game was very popular. Kazunori Kadoi and Yasuhiro Anpo, who worked on the Resident Evil 2 remake, were chosen as directors. Kadoi oversaw how gameplay worked, especially how Leon’s knife functioned and how long it lasted after fighting enemies. Capcom used fewer quick time events than the original game. The development team was divided into three groups, each working on different areas: the village, the castle, and the island.

The team aimed to improve Ashley’s character and her relationship with Leon, making the story more focused on horror. Visuals were created to strengthen the horror theme. The game was made using the RE Engine. Japanese voice actors for Leon and Ada from the Resident Evil 2 remake returned to reprise their roles. Nick Apostolides, who voiced Leon in the Resident Evil 2 remake, also voiced Leon in English. Lily Gao, who played Ada in the 2021 film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, replaced Jolene Andersen as Ada’s English voice. Gao removed her Instagram posts after being harassed online and later said, “My Ada is a survivor. She is unpredictable, resilient, and absolutely not a stereotype.” D.C. Douglas, who voiced Wesker for many years, was not involved in this remake. Craig Burnatowski took over his role. As with previous remakes, other actors provided likeness, 3D modeling, and performance capture. Ella Freya, a Dutch model, provided the face model for Ashley, while Genevieve Buechner voiced her.

The team updated gameplay to match Resident Evil Village (2021) and the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. The original game used a laser sight on weapons to help aim, but this was replaced with a targeting circle. Capcom included the laser sight as an attachment for players who preferred it. Like in Resident Evil 2, Leon’s knife has limited durability and wears down with use, but it can be modified. A new weapon, the bolt thrower (a crossbow), was added to stealthily kill enemies. The Ganados were redesigned to be more dangerous, requiring players to use the environment, such as lighting flammable objects or blocking doors and windows. Changes to the environment are saved, so returning to areas shows moved or destroyed objects. If grabbed by an enemy, players can press buttons or use the knife to escape. The Ganados’ Plaga parasites now cause them to collapse and convulse instead of erupting immediately, forcing players to prioritize killing them over nearby enemies.

The team improved Ashley’s role by making her stay close to Leon at all times, though players can tell her to stay near or keep distance. Yasuhiro Anpo, co-director of the remake, explained, “We wanted Ashley to be by your side so she left an impression. Having her disappear for a while felt like a waste, so we changed that.” Ashley’s health bar was removed, and she can no longer use yellow herbs to boost her health. If she takes severe damage, she falls and must be revived to avoid losing the game, similar to Resident Evil 6. She can also be carried by enemies, and if taken too far from Leon without being saved, the game ends. Her outfit and design were changed to look more like a true partner than a damsel in distress. Like the original game, Ashley can be sent out to complete tasks, such as leading her through holes to unlock doors. Unlike the original, she can now climb ladders on her own.

During development, the team noticed the Blue Medallion mini-quest in the village, which was not found elsewhere in the original game. New mini-quests were added to the village, rewarding Leon for finding items or hunting enemies for the Merchant.

Release and marketing

The first teaser trailer was shown during the PlayStation State of Play presentation on June 3, 2022. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on March 24, 2023, with support for PS VR2 planned later. A version for macOS and iOS on certain iPad, Mac, and iPhone models was released on December 20, 2023.

A second trailer and gameplay footage were shown during a showcase in October 2022. Preorders included Leon's briefcase and Leon's handgun ammo as collectible items. A third trailer was shown during a PlayStation State of Play on February 23, 2023. After some players criticized the rain effects in preview footage, Capcom announced a patch would be released on the game's launch day to adjust them.

A playable demo was announced during a Capcom Spotlight livestream on March 9, 2023, and released immediately for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. On March 20, 2023, Capcom released three television commercials in Japan that parodied the anime series World Masterpiece Theater, created with Nippon Animation, the studio that produced the series' animation. A collector's edition was available for console versions, including a Leon figurine, a hardcover artbook, a village map poster, and a digital soundtrack. Lily Gao, who voiced Ada Wong, received messages from players who were not happy with her performance.

On April 7, 2023, The Mercenaries, a minigame from the original game where players must kill enemies in a time limit, was released as free downloadable content. On the same day, Capcom added microtransactions to let players pay extra to upgrade weapons faster.

On September 14, 2023, during a PlayStation State of Play presentation, Separate Ways, a side story from the original game featuring Ada Wong, Luis, and Albert Wesker, was announced as paid DLC, along with a title update for The Mercenaries. Both were released on September 21, 2023. Capcom showed Separate Ways during Tokyo Game Show 2023.

On December 8, 2023, Capcom released a VR mode as free downloadable content.

Reception

Resident Evil 4 received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to Metacritic, a website that collects and summarizes reviews. The site says the game updated the graphics, controls, and story while keeping many elements that made the original a classic survival horror game. On OpenCritic, 98% of 193 critic reviews recommend the game. Shinji Mikami, the director of the original Resident Evil 4, said on Twitter that he enjoyed the remake. He praised the team for improving the story, which he originally wrote quickly, and developing it more thoroughly.

Several critics gave the game perfect scores, highlighting how Capcom improved the original. VG247 said the game’s controls and weapons were better, especially during missions where the player must protect Ashley. The Guardian also gave a perfect score, noting improvements like the camera and the ability to customize Leon’s weapons through a merchant. Shacknews praised Capcom’s changes to the boss Krauser, replacing quick-time events with a fully player-controlled knife fight that adds to the story. The Daily Telegraph said the redesigned Regenerators were scarier while keeping the original’s balance of action and puzzles. PCMag said Capcom improved combat and added more horror elements. GamesRadar+ noted some combat issues and said most bosses were easy to defeat.

For presentation, GamesRadar+ said the visuals were impressive because of the RE Engine. VG247 said the remake’s story was more mature, with less action and more classic horror scenes. IGN praised updates to the story and gameplay, saying there were many improvements. GameSpot said Leon, Ashley, and the Merchant were more realistic. GameRevolution said Ashley’s character was stronger, and the story better showed her relationship with Leon. Game Informer said the story stayed the same, but characters were more likable, especially Ashley. Push Square said the Ganados enemies looked scarier. Giant Bomb said Leon still made jokes and used powerful moves. Destructoid said the remake did not improve some weak parts of the original and that the best part was the village scene, which was not repeated.

The Separate Ways DLC received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic. On OpenCritic, 96% of 57 critic reviews recommend the expansion.

Resident Evil 4 sold over 3 million copies in its first two days and 4 million copies in the first two weeks, making it one of the fastest-selling Resident Evil games. By July 2023, it sold over 5 million copies. By December, it sold 6.48 million copies, becoming the fastest-selling Resident Evil game until surpassed by Resident Evil Requiem in 2026. By March 2024, it sold 7 million copies. By October, it sold over 8 million copies. By December, it sold over 9 million copies. In Japan, it was the best-selling retail game in its first week, selling 89,662 copies on PlayStation 5 and 85,371 on PlayStation 4. By April 2025, it sold 10 million copies. It was the 13th best-selling video game in the US in 2023. By January 2026, it sold 12.255 million copies.