The last time I played Resident Evil 4 was when it released on the GameCube in 2005. It completely changed my perspective on the series and was my top action horror game of all time. Does this remake do me right?

And here's the written version which lags the cute Ashley stuff in shiny 4K: https://zyro-eg.com/2023/04/05/resident-evil-4-2023-review/

Original is much better

I have played about half the remake so far and consider it better in all but one aspect compared to the original version, i like the music and some sound effects from the original more. I have played the original on GC, PS2, Wii, PS3 and Switch. My favorite version before the remake is the Wii one, but if nothing major negative happens in the second half of the game the Resident Evil 4 Remake on PS5 will take the crown for me.

What makes the original better in your opinion?

Charm, humor, campiness, I even like the old graffix better.

I'll play it when the VR patch hits. No point playing it now. I never played it on GameCube so no risk of nostalgia contaminating my impressions, and might as well avoid spoilers for a bit longer :)

At first when I heard the rumors about the remake I thought the game didn't need it at all, but the end result was spectacular. It's so much better now.

That's kind of three different ways to say campiness. Which I don't disagree with, but that's largely a matter of taste.

I still like the original better, but there are some definite improvements here. The bossfights are generally improved (particularly Salazar who was a complete cakewalk in the original), the controls are better, and there are some nice QOL additions. Really like the ability to store weapons. In the previous game I never used the TMP because I just didn't think it was worth the space, but this time I felt more free to play around with guns I didn't ordinarily use. Of course there were other changes I was less fond of. I think the parry system changes the gameplay for the worse, especially considering how easy it is to pull off. It may have worked better if it were more like Metroid Dread where the timing is really tight (which it is a bit in pro mode). The crossbow also throws things off a bit. In the original you had to be a little cautious even with single enemy encounters to conserve ammo. Not so much anymore. And no IT. Boo.

But that's mostly besides the point. What I liked about the game was that it was just different enough. RE4 is one of my most replayed games ever, so by now I know pretty much everything that's going to happen. It was really cool to get to play RE4 again without knowing where every Ganado was going to leap out from, without knowing the strategy I'd use for every boss, or knowing which guns I was going to use. But, unlike other remakes like FF7 (which I enjoyed for different reasons) it was still unmistakably RE4 and had mostly the same things that made me love the game so much in the first place.

In a way, it felt kind of like a "Master Quest" version of RE4. It was like getting to play one of my favorite games for the first time again, and that's pretty fucking cool. Well worth the price of admission for me personally. If I want to play RE4 again I'd more likely go with the Wii version, but I still had a lot of fun with this.

I already loved Ashley since the original.

Just finished the remake now.
I like the first half better in the remake but the second half is better in the original imo.
I think they cut to much content from both the island and the castle. Sure they added a few new things and twisted others.

I am very conflicted to what version I prefer. I think the game plays better in the remake, I like the crafting and the change to the knife.
Both Ashley and Luis better in the remake, but the later Villians is more fun in the original.

The music and a lot of the sound effects I prefer the original. On the island the enemies with the electric thing sounded more scary in the original.

The target test is also an upgrade.

I think if they had not cut so much content the remake would be a clear winner. Now I mostly feel like I have not finished the whole game.