Reviewing Monsters: Resident Evil 4 [Remake, 2023]

Resident Evil 4 Remake [2023]

So it's going to be quite some time before I actually play through the remake of Resident Evil 4. I am pleased to say that apparently the dseign team took the criticisms of Resident Evil 3 severely gimping the original game and cutting things out and promised that "nothing will be removed" from the far more iconic and well-known Resident Evil 4. And... to be frank, I'm excited about this game but I'm also a little bit terrified that it won't live up to my expectations. Resident Evil 4 is my favourite Resident Evil game of all time, and ranks up very, very high as one of my favourite games period, which is why I'm taking time to... well, basically 'prepare' myself for this game. I am happy to hear that the game is as universally beloved as the original that it's remaking, which gives me hope. 

That, and I've like a half-dozen other games to get through, and Steam refuses to put this game on sale. 

But I'm very much willing to see the designs of these monsters, and it's fun to see that all of the old favourites are back, including some new wacky additions to the Plaga family! I've already covered the original Resident Evil 4 way back when, so for the sake of not repeating myself too much I'll try to blaze through some of the enemies that didn't change too much in the HD-fication. 

Plaga

One of the biggest upgrades, I felt, are the actual Plaga parasites. The 2005 game clearly has some models for them, but they were rather simple and a bit lacking of detailing, relying more on supplementary artwork as well as the horror of these things bursting out of people's heads to be scary. But compared to the four-legged designs of the original RE4, the remake version goes all-in on the Alien Facehugger homage, giving the new Plaga parasites eight legs with some webbing on the most proximal end. In addition, the 'tail'-like body of the Plagas' body doesn't just trail behind it, but now curve upwards and point forwards like a scorpion. Several generations of video game graphics improvement have also made the little trailing tentacles and vines look a bit more nasty, especially if you imagine them using those tendrils to infiltrate someone's internal organs. 

I don't know if the remake still uses the original RE4 canon's division of 'eusocial' and 'dominant' Plagas, which I think is one of the biggest appeals of the remake for me -- that we'll get the RE2/RE3-remake or RE7/RE8 level of notes and information scattered in the overworld about the Plagas and the Los Illuminados cult. 

Again, it's always such a fun twist in RE4 for our hero Leon S. Kennedy as he tries to figure out the horror of these brand-new zombie-like creatures. How they are seemingly happy to be subservient to the Los Illuminados cult, and how the local villagers are still going on their day-to-day lives until the parasites decide to take over. It's something rather similar with certain types of parasitoids in real life where the host animal looks and acts fine -- or just a bit off -- like a snail infected with Leucochloridium or ants infected with Ophiocordyceps having some behaviour alteration of them moving into places where it'll benefit the parasite. 

Again, I'll update this review whenever I get to playing the RE4 remake, which could be anywhere between next month or next year. But rest assured, I'm definitely happy to see this massive visual upgrade that makes the lowly Plagas parasite look so much more sinister even though they didn't really change too much from the original. 

Ganado
The Ganado ('cattle') are still the primary enemy of the game, and they're still just Spanish villagers or psychotic castle-dwelling cultists with medieval weapons. Again, I don't have a whole ton to say about these the first time around, and I don't have much to say here other than the fact that they're the common enemies that chant more or less the same couple of phrases. Can't really say much about humanoid enemies, though the cultists look rather sinister. 

Apparently one of the improved parts of the remake is how sinsiter the 'cult' part of the game's setting is expanded, which I'm looking fowrard to talking about more whenever I play the game. 

Desnucado

One thing that I enjoy the most about the update in the RE4 remake is the expansion of the 'mutated' Ganados, where they are just called "Plaga A, Plaga B and Plaga C" in the original game's ancillary material. Here, we've got a bunch more stages and some fun names for them, like Desnucado ("broken neck" in Spanish), an intermediary stage between the regular 'human with parasite' Ganado to the more extreme mutations before. 

The Desnucado are mutations that happen on a Ganado after suffering fatal injuries. But the fact that the pain tolerance of these infected humans have increased, and they're being pupeteered by a powerful parasite, means that they can still shamble with a fatal wound -- and as the name and picture shows, this fatal wound is almost always a neck wound as the Desnucado walks towarsd leon with the head hanging broken and lolling on the side. Little tentacles of the internal Las Plagas parasite can be seen inside, and the end result is a nice, ghoulish addition that help sell another 'zombie' trope. 

Guadaña

Essentially the 'Plaga A' of the original game with some traits of 'Plaga C' is the Guadaña, meaning 'scythe' in Spanish. As per the original, the head burst open and has turned into a giant meat-tentacle of flesh tipped with a scythe... which here is much more obviously made out of bone. As in, the host's bones mutated and transformed into a bludgeon to defend the parasite within. The original game's artwork is a bit more ambiguous on whether that spiky tip are chitin from the Plagas' anatomy, but here there's an extra bit of squickiness when you realize that to make the scythe appendage, the Plagas probably is ripping apart the poor sod and rearranging the bones to make that blade. 

Originally I was about to bemoan that we lost the two almost comical snail eyeballs on the original game's "Plaga A"... until I realized that the eyeballs are still there. They're just nasty and creepily embedded into the mass of flesh sprouting out of the Guadaña's neck, looking somewhat like William Birkin's monstrous "G" forms. 

Mandíbula

The equivalents to 'Plaga B' in the original game are the Mandíbula (obviously, Spanish for 'mandible'), whose heads are replaced with gigantic masses of Plaga tissue that open up in a giant flower-shaped mouth, similar to the Majini from Resident Evil 5. Just like the Plaga B from the original game, the Mandíbula are have an instant-kill grapple attack where they grab Leon's head and try to force it into the giant mouth. They also gain an acid-spitting attack, though I don't 100% remember if the original Plaga B was able to do this or not. I think they could?

Anyway, I absolutely love the look of the Mandíbula. I honestly really just like the giant splayed-out four-petaled mouth look in general, which was what really endeared me to Resident Evil when I was first exposed to this franchise in the first place. 

Araña

And the final form of the evolution is the Araña (Spanish for 'spider'), which replaces Plaga C -- who normally take the form of an entire Facehugger replacing the head of their victim. Instead, the Plaga bursts out from the back of the poor Ganado's head, with its spidery claws and tentacles whiplashing around menacingly. The end result makes it look a bit more distinct compared to the Mandíbula/Plaga B, and it makes full use of the remake's far more detailed and menacing model for the Plaga parasites. 

I don't know how far they're planning to do the remakes, but these also remind me of the J'avo parasites from Resident Evil 6! The Araña can spit acid, and upon the death of their host, they can scuttle around and attack Leon like funny little Facehuggers... something that the original Plaga C could also do. The Araña is much stronger when controlling its host, and becomes severely weakened when detached from their hosts... again, a nice little nod to how some real-life obligate parasites can survive outside of their host... but not for long. Thus, detached Araña can jump and latch onto the back of lesser Ganado, hijacking them with their tendrils... though being parasitized by two Plagas at the same time often drives these Ganado into a frenzy. 

Brute

Replacing the generic bigger men with hammers in the original game are these far more sinister Brutes. Taking the 'Ganado' epithet rather literally, these Brutes walk around with giant cow heads covering their heads. They could be masks, but it's far more likely for these psychopaths to butcher the local cows and use them as masks. These are obviously just big, stronger people, and there are several variants -- some wielding large hammers and some wielding an auto-repeating crossbow (replacing the 'Gatling Man' miniboss in the original). I do like this little change, it makes the Los Illuminados feel more like a psychotic cult. 

Chainsaw Man, Giant Chainsaw Man, Chainsaw Sisters

Chainsaw Man's back! So are the Chainsaw Sisters! They're joined with a 'giant' variant wielding a double-bladed chainsaw! I assume that they still serve as minibosses that menace you through the game. Love that they have creepier head-wrappings. The eyes of the Chainsaw Man in particular looks a bit more sinister since the holes on his bag-mask are a bit bigger, while Giant Chainsaw Man's got a creepy clown face drawn on his bag. 

Colmillos

Oh yeah, the Colmillos ("Fangs") are so much more grislier in the remake! The base wolf form now looks hideously mutated, with gigantic fangs and teeth that are way too large for the gums and mouth, making them look unnatural even before they blow apart into gigantic tentacles. And when they do, it's not just like five tentacles as in the original game, but a mass of... well, you can see that it's like a bunch of intestines, tentacles and bone-spikes out of their body. It's a bit more over-the-top compared to the original game's Colmillos, but I appreciate the additional grotesqueness. 

Armadura

Armadura ("Armour") also make a return, and the added definition to the Plaga parasite tentacles make these things a lot more grislier as opposed to being comical. Just look at that mass of tentacles just pushing the helmet slightly ajar. The remake canonizes some additional explanation that's only told to us in supplementary material in the original game, noting that Plagas (presumably Arana) that have lost their hosts will inhabit these armoured suits, remaining dormant and stretching out their tentacles to manipulate the suit of armour when needed. That's a nice little detail, and helps to make the Armadura make a bit more sense in the context of this game. 

It also makes sense to explain why some Armadura are able to move around and chase Leon and Ashley, while some fall apart after swinging their weapon once -- those are presumably the ones where the Plagas are already on their last legs. 

Garrador

Oh yeah. Y'know I really don't have too much to say about a lot of these enemies, since for the most part the RE4 remake is extremely faithful to the original. Garrador ("Clawer") is a bit more heavier-set than his original RE4 counterpart, and he's got a lot more chains hanging off of his neck and arms to symbolize the whole 'beast locked up until he's let loose', but so many of the Garrador's important aspects are retained here. The over-the-top gigantic Wolverine claws, the torture gimp mask, the exposed Plaga on his back... I guess the fact that the Garrador's eyes are sown shut is a bit more obvious in this incarnation with the higher detailing!

Regenerator

Apparently called 'Regenerator' instead of Regenerador this time around, I always consider these guys to be one of the creepiest enemies in the original RE4. The others were more 'cool' or 'icky', but the Regenerator is always one that struck me as 'oh fuck this is unsettling. And with visible, beady creepy eyes and a model that really makes this thing look like a walking bodysuit instead of just a white humanoid makes the Regenerator somehow so much creepier. Look at that slightly slouched gait, and the rubbery skin, and the lumps on his feet. It's meant to represent how the constant high-speed regeneration has given them some rather cancerous-looking lumps. 

It's a couple small changes, but it does help fix my complaint about the original Regenerador -- it relies more on ambience, setting, its heavy breathing and the sheer indestructability for them to be scary. And kudos to the original game for doing that. I'm also happy that the RE4 remake understands this and didn't make the new Regenerator as over-the-top as something like the Rasklapanje, but changes just enough to make the Regenerator look terrifying on sight. Just like the original game, you need to hunt down the 'cores' wiggling within the Regenerator and shoot them to stop the corpse from constantly regenerating. 

Iron Maiden
The spikes for Iron Maiden are far longer than their original version, and I love just how tortured their face looks with the added definition and pixels. Taking a cue from the lesser Plagas minions, however, the designers decided to actually do the smart thing and straight-up make the Iron Maiden as 'evolved' Regenerators the way that the Guanadas and Aranas are 'mature versions' of the Ganados. It folds two 'repaint' enemies into a single species. Not too much to say here, they sure do look painful!

Novistadores

Novistadores are back! The actual design of the Novistadores ("Unseener") didn't really change all that much, surprisingly. Sure, we've got more joints and more grimy detailing on their bodies, and some extra spiky antennae, but the Novistadores look remarkably similar to the PS2 models from almost 20 years ago. Which really does speak to how well that game's design is, really! They still go invisible and still swarm and fly around and attack you as giant monstrous bug-men, but the remake actually offers some explanation as to why there's a nest of monstrous cockroach-people in the castle. 

The Novistadores are now given the codename "U-II", marking the Novistadores as the previous incarnation of the U-3 boss! That's a nice sense of continuity! And it's now specifically noted that the Novistadores are former humans, being an "experimental application" of Plagas/human fusion with insectoid genes. I've always enjoyed the Novistadores, and considering how much of RE3 they butchered, I was worried they'd cut out the bug-men that frankly don't have much to do with the Plagas plot. But I'm happy that they kept the cockroach-men around, but also even integrated them into the storyline. 

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Del Lago

Bosses, now! I really do think that these are going to be pretty short, since I'm going off of their visual appearances only. Del Lago ("From the Lake") gets a much nastier-looking upgrade than I expected, with its salamander maw turning from being rather stretched-out into a monstrous, multi-fanged lamprey. It's also got more defined rear legs, and the Plaga tentacles now don't just sprout from Del Lago's mouth but also trail behind it.

I've always loved Del Lago for being such an impressive set-piece and being such a visually intimidating and impressive giant boss, and we still even get to fight Del Lago on top of a boat! 

El Gigante

El Gigante ("The Giant") gets to be a fair bit more mutated, being a bit more exaggerated in being a giant LOTR troll. The artwork here also makes the giant parasite sprouting of Gigante's back a bit more obvious. But... I really othrewise don't have much to say about him. 

Father Bitores Mendez

Oh! Father Mendez! I think I like the almost zombie-like, exaggerated look of the original Mendez better, but it's really just nitpicking about the art style difference more than anything. Of course, just like the original game, Mendez would eventually be transformed by the Plagas and I love the update here. I don't know how many times I can repeat this, but we keep all of the important parts of the design -- the fact that his legs still look human, that his spine has turned into a fucking centipede, and that the upper body is a combination of his human torso and head, as well as a bunch of giant bug-parts. Just like the upgraded Plagas, Mendez's claws look a lot more like the jointed legs of an arthropod mixed with sinew, and I think the points of connection of the 'centipede spine' with Mendez's upper body looks so much grislier in this incarnation. 

Verdugo

I really don't think they changed a lot of the Verdugo's design, other than the obvious addition of extra details and more pixels. The upper body looks a bit bulkier and the tail segments have some extra grooves, but that's about it. The Verdugo ("Executioner") being bizarre Sith-looking armoured bug-men have always been pretty cool to me. Interestingly, the Verdugo are also given the codename "U-III" in the remake, which means that the original "U-3" (which still shows up) is a mutated, imperfect strain of this one? 

Ramon Salazar

Probably the biggest change is that Ramon Salazar now gets changed from being a literal man-child into a short, stunted old man that wouldn't look out of place among the cast of Resident Evil VIII: Village. He looks like a lunatic, but it's also rather interesting that his lack of growth seems to be because of the Plagas? The remake adds a lot more to the Salazar family and whatnot which we won't really cover here, even after I play the game... but it's also very nice to see that all the named characters get a fair bit of expansion. 

As with the original game, Salazar merges with the Queen Plagas into his gigantic boss form, and unlike most remake bosses, I can actually tell what's going on with Queen Plagas a lot better than the original. Most of the details are still preserved, but it's a bit more clear that it's a giant flower with Salazar sticking out of it. The original Salazar has always been one of the more underwhelming designs in the game (though the boss fight is fun), and while my mileage may vary when I play through the game myself, from a visual standpoint I do like this one a fair bit more. 

U-III "Pesanta"

The original game's U-3 enemy is now given the alternate name "Pesanta", or Spanish for peasant. The design is still the same with the original one and is as disturbing as the original, although the monstrous scorpion-tail-bug-mouth part gets way more parts and detailing to make it clear that it's a nightmarish amalgamation of random zombie parts. I love the fact that the giant monster mouth is actually made up of a bunch of skulls. The Pesanta's new arms also make it resemble a Verdugo a lot more, and since the remake also calls the Verdugo as a 'U-III', I guess 'Pesanta' here is a particularly evolved Verdugo... and the Verdugo's giant clawed arms does look far more threatening than the otherwise human hands that the original U-3 has. The Pesanta also has inherited the original Verdugos' face-mask thing, which makes the tongue a bit less gross... but the tongue is still there. 

U-III Pesanta in this game appears in Ada Wong's campaign in this version -- basically, while every detail from the original game is maintained, some pathways are now only explored by Ada Wong. And as such, U-III gets a backstory... he's actually Salazar's housekeeper, who was experimented upon and transformed into this hideous monster. U-III actually spends most of the game as one of the two Verdugo, and only mutates into this Pesanta form after a typical Resident Evil 'last-ditch mutation after nearly being killed'. 

Martinico

Martinico ("ghost") is the only real new enemy here, also only fought in the Ada Wong campaign. He's a particularly deformed test subject for the Los Illuminados, but is extremely powerful so the cult keeps him in one place. There are some nice detailing here like the hideously large maw, but he's otherwise just a big brute with chains... not the most exciting addition to the Los Illuminados family, I'm afraid. 

Major Jack Krauser

Jack Krauser! I... kinda forgot you're a boss fight, actually. But he sure gets a revamped backstory with Leon, and it's kind of interesting that he gets probably one of the most drastic reimagining. The original game's Krauser's monster form just has him replace one arm with an admittedly cool Plagas blade, but it really did feel kind of underwhelming, especially for a boss fight that happens so late in the game. While I appreciate Krauser not transforming into an over-the-top blob monster like U-III, Salazar or Saddler, I kind of expected more. 

The remake gives us something a bit nicer, where Krauser keeps 90% of his body, but both his arms have transformed into blades or crab claws, and those are really large claws. I like that his arms are a bit mottled from the Plagas mutation, but otherwise he still feels like he's intelligent and human underneath all that. 

Osmund Saddler

And we come to the final boss, Osmund Saddler, the lord of the Los Illuminados cult. Saddler's Plagas staff has gotten a massive upgrade to look more ragged and nasty, with multiple tentacles thrashing and squirming on it. I'll have to play through the game to experience how much they've upgraded his story component, but his boss form most certainly is improved a lot compared to the original. I've always liked the idea that Saddler's body is still hanging on the bottom of this monstrous form, but the original design had the limbs be a bit too spindly and the end spider-crab creature feels a bit ... underwhelming? 

The remake improves on this in almost all aspects, while still keeping the spiny 'hands' and the eyeballs on the legs, and even makes Saddler's detached head visible on the center of the monster form. The legs are far more armoured, and there seems to be a larger mass of tentacles and bones in the core of the figure, making it look less fragile. It ends up looking like a monster crab without actually having the silhouette of one. I like it. 

...and that's it! This is kind of a short little writeup for me to tie in to Halloween. And... I'm kind of pumped to play the remake, honestly, if nothing else just to see how much they improved the storytelling aspects of RE4.