Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 is a remake of one of the most influential action games of all time, and Capcom approached it with a real feel for what made the original so special. Leon S. Kennedy heads to a remote European village to find the kidnapped president's daughter, Ashley Graham, and instead of ordinary villagers encounters the fanatical cult Los Illuminados, whose members are controlled by a parasite. The structure stays faithful to the original — village, castle, island — but the individual locations are larger, more interconnected, and full of side quests, treasures, and hidden shortcuts, so the playthrough feels more like an expedition than a series of arenas.

The combat system underwent the biggest transformation. Leon can now move while aiming, sneak, and silently dispatch enemies with a knife, except the knife has its own durability and is also used for parrying attacks and escaping grabs. This creates a rhythm where you're constantly weighing shooting, blocking, and dodging against your remaining supplies. The Merchant again buys and upgrades gear, adds quests for rewards, and ammo crafting turns every material you find into a decision. Ashley no longer has her own health or inventory, which makes escorting her far less frustrating. On PlayStation 5 the game runs on the RE Engine with optional ray tracing, smooth performance, and dense haptic feedback that makes the shotgun and pistol feel distinctly different.

The atmosphere leans on darkness, rain, and fog; the music only kicks in during tense moments, leaving the rest to the sound of footsteps and the muttering of the Ganados. Reception was enthusiastic, and the game quickly ranked among the best-reviewed remakes of its time. The original's influence on the over-the-shoulder genre is well known, and this new version shows that its language is still very much alive. The Separate Ways add-on with Ada Wong and the free Mercenaries mode extend its lifespan well beyond a single playthrough. A standalone expansion mode for PS VR2 also lets players experience the whole campaign in first-person virtual reality, where weapons are reloaded by hand and the knife is wielded with genuine motion — it's a different experience, yet still the same game.