TERROR IN RESIDENCE

Resident Evil 4 producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi talks with Oscar Taylor-Kent about evolving the horror classic for this remake, while retaining what made the original so special

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Few games are as iconic and influential as the original Resident Evil 4. Not only did it shake the dust offthe series’ survival horror formula, it was a shocking technical achievement when it launched in 

2005, going on to set the standard for third-person action games. Which is to say revisiting the game for a ground-up remake is no small task. There’s nothing rotten or decayed about the original release, so where do developers strike the balance between being faithful to the 2005 classic and reinterpreting what ‘cutting-edge horror’ means?

The game’s producer, long-time Resident Evil veteran Yoshiaki Hirabayashi (who also served as producer on the sublime Resident Evil 2 remake) is well aware of the need to get that balance right. “I know that fans have their own memories of the original game, and there are a number of features that I thought should be preserved,” he tells us. “One of the most important of these is the game design of the original, which allowed players to come up with individual strategies and playstyles that suited how they wanted to enjoy the game.”

While survival horror has always challenged players to decide how best to apply limited resources to dangerous situations, the extra fidelity in Resi 4 allowed much more creativity from a moment-to moment mechanical standpoint. Whether you’re deciding how to juggle enemies throughout larger maps or simply choosing to quickly shoot an enemy who’s getting too close in the leg to stagger them, the power is in your hands.