Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 is a 2005 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube. Players control the special agent Leon S. Kennedy on a mission to rescue the president of the United States's daughter, Ashley Graham, who has been abducted by a religious cult in rural Spain. Leon fights hordes of enemies infected by a mind-controlling parasite and reunites with the female spy and mercenary Ada Wong. In a departure from the fixed camera angles and slower gameplay of previous Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 4 features a dynamic camera system and action-oriented gameplay.
Development on Resident Evil 4 began for the PlayStation 2 in 1999. Four proposed versions were discarded; the first was directed by Hideki Kamiya, but series creator Shinji Mikami felt it was too great a departure from the previous games, so it was spun off as Devil May Cry. Other versions were scrapped until Mikami took directorial duties for what became the final version. The game was announced as part of the Capcom Five, a collaboration between Capcom and Nintendo to create five exclusives for the GameCube.
Resident Evil 4 garnered acclaim for its story, gameplay, graphics, voice acting, and characters, and is cited as one of the best video games of all time, winning multiple Game of the Year awards in 2005. It was ported to numerous formats, and became a multi-platform hit, selling 15.2 million copies by March 2025. It influenced the evolution of the survival horror and third-person genres, popularizing the "over-the-shoulder" third-person view used in games such as Gears of War, Dead Space, and The Last of Us. Resident Evil 5 was released in 2009 and a remake of Resident Evil 4 was released in 2023.
Gameplay
The player controls the protagonist, Leon S. Kennedy, from a third-person perspective. Departing significantly from the series' previous games, the gameplay focuses on action and shootouts with fewer survival horror elements. The camera is placed behind Leon and zooms in for an over-the-shoulder view when aiming a weapon, or a first-person view when aiming with a sniper rifle. There is no crosshair for firearms; instead, every firearm has a laser sight. Unlike previous games where players can only shoot straight, up, or down, players have more options. For example, shots to the feet can cause enemies to stumble, and shots to the arms can make them drop their weapons. Players can also shoot down projectiles like thrown axes or scythes.Resident Evil 4 adds context-sensitive controls. Based on the situation, players can interact with the environment: kicking down a ladder, jumping out of a window, dodging an attack or executing a "finishing move" on weakened enemies. There are also quick time events, in which the player must press buttons indicated on-screen to execute actions such as dodging a falling boulder or wrestling an enemy to stay alive. These are often incorporated into the game's occassional boss fights, in which the player must avoid instant-kill attacks.
The main enemies are violent villagers referred to as Los Ganados. They can dodge, wield melee and projectile weapons, and are capable of working collectively and communicating with each other. Once simple farmers until becoming the product of an infestation of Las Plagas, Los Ganados can gain the ability to cause mutated parasites to sprout from their heads.
The inventory system features a grid system, represented by an attaché case, that has each item take up a certain number of spaces. The case can be upgraded several times, allowing for more space. Weapons, ammunition, and healing items are kept in the case, while key items and treasures are kept in a separate menu. Items may be bought from and sold to a merchant that appears in various locations. He sells first aid sprays, weapons, allows for weapons to be upgraded and buys various treasures that Leon finds. The various weapons each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Capcom added content for the PlayStation 2 version, which was later incorporated into the PC and Wii releases. The largest addition is "Separate Ways", a side story which focuses on Ada Wong's involvement in Resident Evil 4 and her connection to the series' villain Albert Wesker. "Ada's Report", a five-part documentary, analyzes Ada's relationship with Wesker and his role in the plot. Other unlockable content in all versions includes the minigame "The Mercenaries" and short scenario "Assignment Ada", new costumes for Leon and Ashley, new weapons, and a cutscene browser.
Plot
In 2004, U.S. government agent Leon S. Kennedy is on a mission to rescue Ashley Graham, the U.S. President's daughter, who has been abducted by a mysterious cult. He travels to an unnamed rural village in Spain, where he encounters a group of hostile villagers who pledge their lives to Los Iluminados, the cult that kidnapped Ashley. The villagers were once simple farmers until becoming infected by a mind-controlling parasite known as Las Plagas.While in the village, Leon is captured by its chief, Bitores Mendez, and injected with Las Plagas. He finds himself held captive with Luis Sera, a former police officer in Madrid, and former Los Iluminados researcher. The two work together to escape, but soon go their separate ways. Leon finds out Ashley is being held in a church and rescues her. They both escape from the church after Osmund Saddler, leader of the cult, reveals his plan to use the parasite they injected into Ashley to manipulate her into injecting the President of the United States with a "sample" once she returns home, allowing Saddler to begin his conquest of the world.
After fighting and killing many of the villagers, including Mendez in a vicious fight, Leon and Ashley try to take refuge in a castle but are attacked by more Iluminados under the command of Ramon Salazar, another of Saddler's henchmen who owns the castle, and the two become separated by Salazar's traps. Meanwhile, Luis searches for pills that will slow Leon and Ashley's infection, as well as a sample of Las Plagas. He brings the two items to Leon but is killed by Saddler, who takes the sample, while the pills to suppress the infection remain in Leon's hands. While in the castle, Leon briefly encounters Ada Wong, a woman from his past who supports him during his mission while also operating to finish her own agenda to recover a Las Plagas sample, for her current mysterious employer, who is evidently one of the unnamed rivals of the now defunct Umbrella corporation. He battles his way through the castle before killing Salazar.
Afterward, Leon travels to a nearby island research facility, where he continues the search for Ashley. He discovers that one of his former training comrades, Jack Krauser, who was believed to have been killed in a helicopter crash two years prior, is responsible for her kidnapping in an attempt to get close enough to Saddler to steal his new Plagas sample. Ada and Krauser are working with Albert Wesker, for whom both intend to secure a Plagas sample, though Krauser is suspicious of Ada. Suspicious of the mercenary's intentions, Saddler orders Krauser to kill Leon, believing that no matter which one dies, he will benefit. After Krauser's defeat, Leon rescues Ashley, and they remove the Plagas from their bodies using a specialized radiotherapeutic device. Leon confronts Saddler, and with Ada's help, manages to kill him. However, Ada takes the sample from Leon at gunpoint before escaping in a helicopter sent by her employer, leaving Leon and Ashley to escape via her Jet Ski as the island explodes.
Development
In 1999, producer Shinji Mikami said a Resident Evil sequel was in development for PlayStation 2. Resident Evil 4 underwent a lengthy development, during which at least four versions of the game were discarded. The first version was directed by Hideki Kamiya. Around the turn of the millennium, Resident Evil 2 writer Noboru Sugimura created a story for the game, based on Kamiya's idea to make a "cool" and "stylish" action game. The story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the body of the protagonist, Tony, an invincible man with skills and an intellect exceeding that of normal people, with his superhuman abilities explained with biotechnology. As Kamiya felt the playable character did not look brave and heroic enough in battles from a fixed angle, he decided to drop the prerendered backgrounds from previous installments and use a dynamic camera system. The team spent 11 days in the United Kingdom and Spain, photographing objects such as Gothic statues, bricks, and stone pavements for use in textures.Though the developers tried to make the "coolness" theme fit into the world of Resident Evil, Mikami felt it strayed too far from the series' survival horror roots and gradually convinced the staff to make an independent game. This became a new Capcom franchise, Devil May Cry, released for the PlayStation 2 in August 2001.