A Storycraft Analysis of Resident Evil 4 and Its Remake

The original Resident Evil 4 is an inarguable classic, and the 2023 remake is one of the best examples of a remake in general. From a narrative perspective, the differences in storylines reflect twenty years’ worth of fandom loves and hates. This post looks just at the differences in storycraft elements (rather than the changes in gameplay between the original and the remake), and at how most of these changes strengthen the original story, while others weaken it.

(Here’s the obligatory spoiler warning: go play the games first. They’re really good.)

Plotwise, the overall structure remains the same. It has three major areas—village, castle and island—and although the environments have been redone, the skeleton of each remains. So does the exploratory nature of the village and castle, versus the straightforward progression through the island. The island is also notably shorter—due in part to the exclusion of fans’ least-favorite boss, U3. Instead, the castle has been expanded, particularly with the battlements area and the tense fight against the armored El Gigante, as well as the knife fight with Krauser in the mines: two bosses that Capcom understood the fans wanted to have more of, and delivered.

Capcom also knew to lessen Salazar’s role. Leon sums it up best by shutting him up with a couple rounds to the chest and telling him: “You talk too much.” Which doesn’t help with Salazar’s fight being the most difficult in the game, but it’s a nice touch.

Conversely, there are two characters who do talk too much: Krauser and Mendez. It’s the most disappointing with “the big cheese” because what makes him so scary in the original isn’t just his size, but also his silent, lumbering nature… the sense that at any time he could explode into devastating violence. This is conveyed the best in the original through that silence. It’s a less-is-more situation, and reflects in Krauser, as well. Although more talkative than Mendez in the original, when it was time to do commando shit, Krauser focused on commando shit. In the remake, he spends too much time railing against the government that killed his squad and sermonizing about the supreme goal of power… and as with Mendez’s fanatical chanting, the intimidation is lost.

However, they both get additional sections in the game: the chase with Mendez, and the knife fight with Krauser, which gives us more time to love/hate these guys.

An interesting opposite to this is how Saddler’s time has been cut down. In the original, he shows up throughout the game: once in the village, once in the castle, and multiple times on the island. Those first two appearances give him a continuity that the other villains don’t have, and a growing narrative weight as we approach the final boss fight. In the remake, Leon and Ashley have a few brief psychic flashes (via their parasites) of him, before reaching the island and meeting him in person. In this case it gives Saddler an air of mystery, one that isn’t revealed until late in the story, but in a nice touch we also get the epitaphs of his ancestors located across the island to hint at his backstory. Still, his lack of presence in the remake is a sacrifice of character weight for that of mystery, losing the rivalry that originally built between him and Leon. It feels less personal this time, and while most fans are probably happy to have less Salazar, it’s at the cost of a similar rivalry between him and Leon… including the loss of one of the most memorable lines in the original, as Leon makes fun of Salazar sending his “right hand” (Verdugo) to kill him: “Your right hand comes off?”

That lost exchange highlights how the remake is generally a more serious story than the original. Easter eggs abound (such as Ashley proclaiming herself a “master of unlocking”) but in general, the remake isn’t as playful.

Nothing is necessarily lost here, and in fact it mostly works out for the best. It’s hinted that Leon is suffering from trauma due to Racoon City, and that failing to save people like Marvin is what drives him to save Ashley. (Fun fact: Leon’s combat knife is the one Marvin gives in the Resident Evil 2 remake.) Ashley is far more layered and active than her helpless original version this time around, while Ada has been transformed from two-dimensional eye-candy to a skilled tactician with a moral conflict around extracting Las Plagas for her employer. In general, the storyline in the remake takes itself far more seriously, and this is best reflected in the improvement to the character writing.

Further, Luis’s additional section in the mines is fan service done right, giving us more time with a character we’ve always loved… before ripping our hearts out all over again by losing him. Krauser being the one to kill him, this time, fits so well.

One of the greatest improvements to the writing has been Ashley. Originally, she was mostly a helpless girl whose cry of, “Leon! Help!” while you’re surrounded by ganados was more annoying than it was fear-inducing. Now, she not only holds her own (both in general, and in her solo section at the library) but saves Leon a couple of times. She starts off the game helpless and afraid, but by the end she’s decisive and confident. And she’s no longer the sixteen-year-old girl being hit on by Luis.

While the remake’s story improved by its seriousness, this comes at the cost of its camp and cheese. But this gives us a deeper portrayal of most of the characters, including that of the Las Plagas outbreak. Salazar’s right hand stays on this time, but it’s all the scarier for it.

photo credit: cAPCOM