I’ll start by saying that this is still inherently Resident Evil 4. Obviously, I cannot speak for the rest of the game, but as far as Leon’s first rendezvous with the horde of Los Ganados goes, Capcom has - so far - nailed the remake. When it comes to a Resident Evil Remake, we anticipate improved graphics, evolved combat, and a lot less jank. Fortunately, my taste of REmake 4 combat left me eager for more, and here’s why. First and foremost, the days of standing still to fire your handgun are over. This was the first thing I looked for once I had access to the weapon, and you bet there was a sigh of relief as a result. This was to be expected, however, what I didn’t expect was just how powerful and entertaining using Leon’s knife now is. In the original Resident Evil 4 game, you could use Leon’s knife to slash away at crates of loot, or to even attack and stun an enemy where necessary. That said, I neglected the knife in the original in favour of guns because this is Resident Evil and I like shooting things. In the Resident Evil 4 Remake, however, there’s so much more fun to be had with Leon’s melee weapon. It took me a hot minute to get to grips with, but once I did, it was even more of a gore fest. Now, Leon’s knife is tied to a stamina bar of sorts, so you do have to use it carefully still rather than going Michael Myers on the Los Ganados. On top of this, the weapon is also tied to context-specific finishers whenever you weaken an enemy enough; simply get close, attack, and prepare to possibly wince over the gory finisher or, if you’re me, and you’re generally bad at games, prepare to wince at the equally violent incoming attack whenever you time your finisher a tad too late. Better yet, you can use this knife to counter that terrifying chainsaw man, if you’ve got the guts. And for fans of stealth out there, you’re in for an absolute treat. When crouching - yes, you can now crouch whenever you please - you can approach particular enemies undetected. When close enough, you can tap your melee button, and score a gruesome stealth kill. Admittedly, it felt rather Far Cry 6 at times, but still a ton of fun. Capcom has also accounted for the fact that this makes Leon’s melee weapon rather overpowered, and has also introduced a degradation system for the weapon. After a limited amount of uses, players will have to get the knife repaired, but how will players go about this? Well, even though I didn’t get to meet the illsuive character mysefl, the Resident Evil Showcase gave us a glimpse of the Merchant, and it appears he’ll be behind our knife repairs. What do you think to Leon’s upgraded piece of kit?
