RESIDENT EVIL 4

Can Capcom’s revival find the sweet spot between nostalgia and novelty?

Developer/publisher - Capcom 

Format - PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series

Origin - Japan

Release - March 24

Resident Evil Village, the eighth mainline entry in Capcom’s survival horror series, was named as much for its capacity to smuggle a pun – specifically the roman numerals ‘VIII’ – as for anything to do with its setting. For most players, the village with the keenest association with the series is the poverty-wrecked farming estate at which Leon S Kennedy arrives in the opening moments of 2005’s Resident Evil 4. Partly that’s because this was the game that changed everything. It invented and popularised the over-the-shoulder precision-aiming mechanic subsequently used in everything from Gears Of War to Batman: Arkham Asylum, while shifting the series’ tone, if only for a moment, from clichéd horror jump scares to mob control. It’s no surprise, then, that Capcom has dutifully brought the game to just about every new console released in the two decades since its debut, keeping it fresh in all of our memories.