Video Game / Resident Evil 4 (Remake)

"This time, it can be different. It has to."

"Guess you, me... picked the wrong spot to vacation, eh?"

— Luis Serra-Navarro

Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard RE:4 in Japan) is a Survival Horror game by Capcom in the Resident Evil franchise. It was released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on March 24, 2023.

A remake of the original Resident Evil 4, this game, like its predecessor remakes, alters and expands the original game, built from the ground up using Capcom's trademark RE Engine. The game features an expanded storyline, alongside a much darker horror tone than the original.

The game was developed by many of the same team members who worked on Resident Evil 2 (Remake), with 2's directors Yasuhiro Anpo and Kazunori Kadoi returning as director and producer, respectively.

Previews: Announcement, Story trailer, Game Informer coverage trailer, 3rd trailer

A short playable demo known as the "Chainsaw Demo" was released on March 9, 2023, containing gameplay up to and including the first horde battle in the village square.

On September 14, 2023 Capcom announced the return of Ada's scenario from the original game, "Separate Ways", as a DLC campaign released on September 21, 2023; a free update that came along with it also added Ada and Wesker, alongside a new stage, to the Mercenaries mode.

On September 21, 2023, during the Tokyo Game Show, Resident Evil 4 remake was confirmed to be given a direct and unabridged port for Apple devices in the Mac, iPad, and iPhone 15 Pro and onwards, that was released on December 20, 2023.

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The remake provides its own unique examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: The Plagas have this against light, especially bright and/or blue light. This comes to play in both Leon and Ashley's gameplay section, where the former can utilize flashbangs to kill any exposed Plagas, and the latter uses a blue light lantern to immobilize Armaduras.
• Actionized Adaptation: The remake manages to be even more action-oriented than the original 2005 game. Standout examples:
  • Aside from the returning melee moves such as kicks and suplexes, Leon can now parry certain attacks - including the chainsaw strike from Dr. Salvador, which was once an unblockable One-Hit Kill move.
  • Leon can now do a quick backflip, crouch, roll, or sidestep to dodge attacks with a simple button press and can enter sneak mode to get past unsuspecting enemies or stealth kill them with his knife.
  • Luis will fight alongside Leon in more segments than before, such as the battle with the two Gigantes and the minecart ride.
  • There are also sidequests offered by the Merchant, which include eliminating specific enemies.
  • The knife can also be improved in its durability, repaired and reused after breaking, and used once again as a personal defense item.
• Actionized Sequel: Played With. The remake retains the action-heavy gameplay of the original. In the context of the previous two remakes, Capcom has restored the gameplay mechanics that were in the original RE4, therefore making it more action-oriented than the remakes of RE2 and RE3 - which lacked such mechanics to feel more faithful to their original versions.
• Adaptation Deviation: Has its own page.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • In the prologue, Leon is shown conversing with President Graham before his mission, as opposed to the original game, which never showed the President or Leon receiving his orders.
  • The Merchant's quests have been significantly expanded. There was simply the one blue medallion quest in the original while here there is multiple alongside other optional hunts that include taking out strong mid boss level enemies.
  • Luis's motivations and personality is more thoroughly explored by giving him additional time alongside Leon, and in-game documents flesh out his backstory more. His role is further expanded with the release of Separate Ways, where he becomes a more substantial supporting character in Ada's campaign instead of merely appearing in a single cutscene.
  • Krauser was a full-blown Remember the New Guy? who appeared late in the original game with no prior indication of his existence, while Leon's opening flashback in the remake has Krauser make an Early-Bird Cameo as Leon's brutal military instructor, setting him up as a character to be encountered later on.
  • The first Krauser fight has been expanded from a pure QTE sequence to a mechanics-based melee fight.
  • The armored Gigante that appears in the double Gigante lava room gets an additional scene in the Castle, where it tries to attack Leon with boulders.
  • Ashley's brief No-Gear Level playable sequence has been expanded in length and complexity, featuring different puzzles, her own unique mechanic in the form of the blue lantern, and a major focus on Armadura enemies.
  • All three sections of the game have lore documents scattered around the map, which fill in backstory elements for what life was like in the region before Saddler came along. Interesting things learned from these documents include the lifestyle of the villagers, them responding in horror to their mutations while others accept it as a holy gift, and the researchers on the island realizing too late how unhinged Saddler is. Most interesting of all, is we discover what kind of mutation was involved in creating Verdugo, and we learn what his name was prior to the mutation.
  • The original Separate Ways campaign mostly consisted of recycled maps with little explorability or original objectives. The new Separate Ways campaign features many more unique locations, collectibles, and scenarios.
  • Ada and the Merchant's first meeting in Separate Ways sees the two of them conversing, which would be the first time any character in Resident Evil 4 have a back-to-back conversation with the merchant. Similarly, in the last chapter of Separate Ways, she speaks with Ashley for the first time.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
  • The scene where Leon falls into a pit of spikes, but manages to save himself. In the original he shoots a hearing device Salazar uses to hear his victim's deaths revealing that he survived. Salazar sends one of his Verdugo after Leon leading to a boss fight. In the remake, the hearing device isn't there so Salazar shouldn't know that Leon's alive at that moment, but the Verdugo fight still happens leading to the question why it was even there at that moment? Hypothetical explanations could be that Saddler, who likely sensed Leon survive his fall due to his ability to telepathically communicate or locate any Plagas infected individual (Leon experiences a moment where his vision turns blue after climbing a ladder to the underground lab, lending credence to this theory), spoke to either Salazar, the Verdugo, or both to deal with the situation, or the Verdugo, retaining full human intelligence, simply figured Leon's not dead until a body is found and went down to confirm it. But without the game making things clear, it remains an unanswered plothole.
    • The Separate Ways DLC clears this up a bit; the Verdugos can sense a Plaga-infected host, as shown with Ada, now a Plaga-infectee this time around, touching the Amber herself and the Verdugo reacts strongly to her presence until Luis' suppressant slows the infection to which the Verdugo leaves. In addition, the Verdugo can now cause hallucinations to the Plaga hosts, also shown with Ada during her boss encounters with it, and it's likely the moment Leon's vision turns blue is a result of his Verdugo using said ability in the lead up to the latter's boss fight.
  • Leon's reason for doing the mission alone isn't elaborated on compared to the original. In the original game, Ashley's disappearance was thought to be due to a leak or traitor within the American government, and so they call on Leon because he was not involved in the President's security team until right after Ashley disappears, so he was not a suspect. This fact was even exploited by Los Illuminados, with some found files early on stating to expect a slow American response due to them combing for the traitor. In the remake, there is no mention whatsoever of an US government's internal effort to look for a traitor, which can lead many people wondering why Leon has decided to take the extremely large goal of confirming Ashley's whereabouts to rescuing her all alone.
  • Midway through the castle, Leon loses contact with Hunnigan but there is no evidence of jamming or foul play by Los Iluminados; the signal simply cuts out due to unknown interference. Despite this Leon makes no attempt later on to reestablish communications. Which is baffling, since both Luis and Ada are able to communicate with Leon with their respective comms just fine in the story.
  • In the original, Saddler blatantly told Leon and Ashley that they were infected, and that it would be advantageous for Ashley to go home so she can infect the President, thus bringing down the Washington establishment. In context, it's James Bond-esque levels of suicidal overconfidence that he would reveal this information. The remake chooses to have Saddler remain completely silent on what he plans to do with Ashley, but this only fixes one part of the problem. In the original Saddler also wrote down his plan in a document, found in his innermost chambers on the Island, but no similar document is found in the remake. It makes sense for Saddler to not tell Ashley, but the non-existence of the world domination strategy is perplexing. Fans who played the original might guess that the original plan is still in effect in this version, but the absence of any explicit reference to it brings Saddler's motivations into question.
  • It's also not clear how Mike even knows that Leon is on the island, far away from the agreed upon extraction location in the village. In the original, there was a moment where Leon attempted to make contact with the outside world using the island's communication facilities. While he did not receive a reply, it was implied that his message was received given Mike's arrival later in the game. In the remake, no such communication attempt occurs, which leaves open the question on how Mike and/or Hunnigan was even aware that Leon was on the island.
  • Separate Ways retcons it so that Wesker is actually in the village around the same time as Leon and Ada, so it's completely unclear why he needs Ada to do anything for him at all. Ada even nearly fails her mission at one point and requires his direct intervention, so it makes very little sense why he couldn't just do the mission himself.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Although still hitting the same story beats, Leon's relationship with several of the supporting cast has undergone noticeable to significant changes in the remake:
  • Ashley was treated as more a little sister on an adventure with her big brother rather than a hostage that needed rescuing. Here, Leon sounds much more concerned with her situation and safety, to the point where he straight up tells her he'll make a Heroic Sacrifice if need be.
  • Luis survives long enough to pair up with Leon again outside of the original's cabin sequence, with the two alternating between Straight Man and Wise Guy and Bash Brothers in the mines. The two also have more of an antagonistic relationship for the first half of the game since Leon finds out early on that Luis is a former Umbrella researcher and has a hard time trusting him as a result.
  • Hunnigan and Leon have already met prior to the beginning of the game, and there is significantly less flirting on Leon's part.
  • Similar to Hunnigan, Leon flirts less with Ada than the original, with their conversations instead having undertones of the bitterness of Ada's betrayal in Raccoon City in the remake of 2. Interestingly, in spite of this, he sounds less hostile to her in their first meeting than he did in the original, even letting her keep her gun this time around.
  • Rather than just a fight between two former squad members, Krauser's fight with Leon has become more of a "teacher versus student" rivalry.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • The circumstances behind Leon becoming a government agent in the original were never made clear other than Leon only agreeing for Sherry's sake. In the remake, as Leon internally reveals during his opening monologue, he also had no choice in the matter due to his involvement with the Raccoon City incident. Leon also states that the training and subsequent missions he went on nearly killed him on a regular basis, with him only putting up with it because it distracted him from his memories of Raccoon City. This is reflected on Leon's in-game character model as he is depicted with darkened eyes and an overall gloomier look to him compared to the original who seemed like he had overcome most of his PTSD over Raccoon City. Even his lines come across as gruffer and moodier; while he still makes jokes, it comes across as more like a coping mechanism.
  • In Krauser's original appearance in Resident Evil 4, he was a big case of Remember the New Guy?, with the only things making him important is that he kidnapped Ashley, and that Leon somehow knows him prior to the events of 4. As an audience member you're left thinking "What crash? Who are you, and why should I care?" Darkside Chronicles does mitigate this somewhat by showing he used to be a loyal soldier in the US Army, who out of patriotism threw himself at every mission he could get his hands on and was subsequently devastated when Operation: Javier crippled his left arm. Off screen, Krauser approached Wesker, and it was Wesker who not only fixed his arm but indoctrinated him to believe that Umbrella could fix the world. Arm issues aside, it does feel odd in light of his patriotism that Krauser would support a criminal like Wesker. The remake gives us context as to why Krauser would defect from the US government: Operation: Javier was a botched mission, and the US government abandoned Krauser and his unit to die. While some details are left intentionally vague, Krauser's patriotism towards his country earned him no favors from his government, and his superiors did not hesitate to throw his life away when it was convenient to them. Even Leon acknowledges that Krauser has good reason to hate the government but notes that his actions with Los Iluminados will kill millions, and that is not what his unit would want him to do if they were still alive.
  • The overall Las Plagas infection is this. In the original, Leon's and Ashley's infection was a known factor, but rarely manifested aside Saddler taking brief control of Ashley and Leon briefly losing control before Ada snaps him out of it. There was also the feeling that there was still some time to spare when Leon and Ashley cure themselves of the parasite with Luis' machine. In the remake, the Las Plagas infection is a very constant and dreading affair, with Tainted Veins showing the gradual, but sure progress of the Las Plagas' growth, and Saddler's influence being felt from farther away. By the time they get to Luis' machine, it was clear that the two were only moments away to being lost forever to the Las Plagas' influence.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Downplayed with Ashley, who now tries to be more proactive instead of just cowering around while still overall being a Damsel in Distress. She's still susceptible to panic and terror at the horrific situation she's trapped in, but puts more effort in overcoming her fears through small but genuine acts of bravery such as helping Leon kill a Regenerador by making it fall off a folding bridge should the player lure it over to that spot, and even saves Leon's life several times over the course of the game. She also expresses an interest in becoming a trained agent like Leon, something she didn't have in the original game.
  • The dog who can assist Leon against the first Gigante gets not only a stronger badass intro by howling in front of the moon with more intensity, but even causes the Gigante to stagger by biting its ankle when it previously just acted as a distraction.
  • Played straight with Leon himself. In the original game, Leon loses control of himself to the plagas and begins to choke Ada late into the game. In the remake, he never succumbs to the infection and manages to hang on until Ashley is able to remove the Plagas from him, with several moments throughout the game showing him actively fighting it.
  • Salazar is less cowardly than his 2005 self. In the original, he panicked and made a hasty retreat after Leon stabbed his hand with a thrown knife, but here he simply rants in anger as he's being shot thrice by Leon, never showing a sign of fear. His boss form is also more impressive: rather than having to fuse with the Queen plaga and the surviving Verdugo he transforms on his own, and his monstrous form is now a nimble wall-crawler that can easily outmaneuver Leon rather than being fixed to the ground.
  • Mike the helicopter pilot is now capable of evading the Ganado's counterfire, even managing to dodge incoming fire from an anti-air gun. His death comes not as a result of getting hit by an RPG while distracted, but Saddler himself unleashing a swarm of Novistadors on him.
  • The Ganados who besiege Leon and Luis are a lot more persistent and numerous this time around. Rather than retreating after suffering too many casualties, they're actually winning the siege when Ashley ends it by finding a way out for Luis and Leon.
  • The Novistadors zig-zag this. Their camouflage has been downgraded to simply looking like the textures around them as they wait for an opportunity to strike, their durability is somewhat lower and they are easier to stagger. At the other end they are no longer more vulnerable while flying, requiring multiple bullets to put down in flight.
  • Krauser's transformation evolved from a single arm blade to both of his limbs becoming mutated, with the other arm becoming a large claw structure that he can use to grapple as well as an impromptu shield. The Separate Ways DLC also reveals that Krauser also benefited from a power-up provided by the "Amber", where it is implied in the notes that Krauser's Las Plagas had the potential to be more powerful than even Saddler's.
  • In the original game, the red-robed "priest" Ganados in the castle were just an aesthetic swap for the regular "zealot" Ganados, with their only unique trait being that they'd never manifest a Plaga when killed. In the remake, they are mini-bosses who can spontaneously cause still-healthy Ganados to manifest their Plagas, and are ridiculously tough, to the point of being able to eat multiple hits from a Broken Butterfly magnum with its Level 3 Firepower upgrade. To put this in perspective, the Garradors only take two Broken Butterfly shots to their weakspot at its base firepower.
• Adaptational Curves:
  • This incarnation of Leon has a Heroic Build, complete with pretty impressive biceps that almost rival Chris'. In the original game, Leon had more of a fit but slender physique. This is justified as this physique is the result of all the harsh and intense training he's gone through in preparation for the grueling life of a government agent.
  • The Gigantes have significantly more girth in their designs here.
  • The Regeneradors have become slightly bulkier, at least from the waist down. They even have jiggle physics on their behinds.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • In the original, Ada betrays Wesker because she's a double agent working for another organization and merely shows her color at the last minute. Here, she's implied to have not planned her betrayal ahead, only doing it once she realizes what Wesker is planning to do with the "Amber".
  • Krauser in the original is a wounded Blood Knight who joins Wesker to have his injuries healed so he can fight once more. His remake counterpart instead goes mad after losing his squad and getting abandoned by the American government during a mission, justifying his turning on his country.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In the original game there was little indication Leon actually knew Spanish, which would make him an utterly nonsensical choice to send on an assignment to rural Spain. The remake fixes his oversight, and Leon tries speaking in fluent Spanish with the first villager he meets before he is attacked.
• Adaptational Modesty:
  • Ashley now wears leggings and a jacket over her skirt and turtleneck, looking more similar to her beta design in the original game by showing much less skin than her old look, as well as looking more weather appropriate for Massachusetts in autumn. This is downplayed, however, as Ashley ends up ditching the jacket later on to resemble her original look much more closely, while the "leggings" are semi-sheer pantyhose. Her skirt has also been switched with a wraparound skort (it is a pair of shorts that superficially resembles a skirt from the front). Her much more revealing "Pop Star" outfit from the original has also been removed entirely, and none of her alternate costumes are anywhere near that revealing.
  • Ada no longer wears the sleeveless qipao dress she had from the original game. Instead, she's now garbed in a short sweater dress with black hosiery and thigh-high leather boots, which shows less skin but still retains the sexiness you'd expect from a Femme Fatale like her. Even if you unlock her original dress outfit as a cosmetic, the design has been altered to have leggings so that it doesn't show as much skin.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • For a given value of "nice", anyway. It was originally implied that Osmund Saddler was nothing more than a cynical arms dealer and aspiring Shadow Dictator who only saw Los Iluminados as a cover for his Plagas research. Here, he's an utterly sincere Knight Templar who wishes to bring about world peace through Plagas infection.
  • Downplayed with Wesker. In the original, he finds out about Leon being involved and orders Ada and Krauser to kill him. In this remake, he only tells Ada to keep Leon under control since he needs the Master Plagas sample, and doesn't order her to kill Leon at any point. He even saves Ada's life in Separate Ways when she collapses from the effects of the parasite, though he only did this because he still needed her to find the Amber.
  • The Merchant was already a pleasant enough chap in the original, but he becomes even more personable and neighborly here, quick to offer up encouragement and compliments and even going so far as to set out wine, cigars and snacks for you in his shooting gallery. He even calls Leon a “friend” should Leon complete every requests in the game.
  • Leon himself actually gets some of this. While he was obviously friendly towards Ashley in the original, some of his jokes at her expense could come off as a little mean, though he obviously didn't mean any true harm, and his somewhat bland "Oh....no...." should Ashley be killed doesn't quite show much concern for the fact that someone under his care, a defenseless young college girl no less, just died. Come the Remake and despite Leon's darker personality, his jokes are less at Ashley's expense and even she starts getting in on some of the snark, showing him rubbing off on her. He also is significantly more supportive of her hardening into a survivor instead of defending her totally and inadvertently sustaining her helplessness, seeing her become more of a partner and even a friend than his charge. Should anything happen to her, Leon will cry out for her, showing he has grown to care very much for her. Remake Leon comes off as more of a mentor and eventual companion to Remake Ashley rather than the bodyguard the original was.
  • By the same token, Ashley herself even is more compassionate. While at first, she's still a terrified young girl focused on trying to survive, the Remake shows her having more concern for Leon, warning him to be careful before heading into dangerous areas, checking on him if he sustains damage after a big fight, and warning him to slow up and take a break if he's critically injured. Also, unlike the original where she's separated from Leon in the Castle during a poorly timed tantrum after coughing up blood, here she's separated from Leon when Saddler takes control of her and has her use Leon's knife against him to first cut him and threaten her own life. Upon regaining control, she runs away in fear and freaks out when Leon finds her again later, worried she'll hurt him again.
• Adaptational Seriousness: Due to Adaptational Angst Upgrade, Leon doesn't quip or joke as often and takes his mission very seriously. Most of his lines reeks of You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! when he pairs up with Luis, and gives bosses a Post-Mortem One-Liner after defeating them. He does loosen up near the end by quoting Luis once the island begins to explode. This contrasts the original game where Leon isn't as affected by the Raccoon City incident, and has enough quips and snark that would give Spider-Man a run for his money.
• Adaptational Skill: In the remake, Leon can clearly understand and speak at least an elementary level of Spanish. In the original game, Leon was left somewhat mystified by the first Ganado he encountered cursing him out in Spanish (though it's possible that that version's Leon might have just been thrown off by how he wasn't expecting said Ganado to be as blatantly hostile and threatening as he was).
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Ada zigzags between this and Adaptational Heroism. In the original game, she had no objection to Leon saving Ashley and even risked her life to help them on one occasion. Here, while she still willingly helps out, Ada at one point now expresses belief that Ashley is a lost cause and advises Leon to just abandon her, making her come across as cold and uncaring, and not helped by the fact that her continued assistance towards Leon is largely motivated by self-gain, seeing him as the perfect "attack dog" to help her secure a sample of Las Plagas while taking down Saddler's group in the process. On the other hand, the remake also adds two crucial scenes that paint a more humanizing look at Ada than her 2005 portrayal, first when she offers Leon a much safer way out of the island by simply hitching a ride in her escape chopper, which he turns down due to his lack of trust in her, and when she ultimately refuses to hand over the Las Plagas sample to Wesker after he admits his genocidal plan with it.
  • Luis, by virtue of being a former Umbrella researcher this time around. Oh, and he's not just any Umbrella researcher, but a member of the team who created the Nemesis.
  • Salazar plays this straighter than everyone else - the sympathetic traits he had in the original are excised, so as opposed to being a well intentioned man who was misled by Los Illuminados, this version has always been a little shit who would hurt others for the flimsiest of reasons.
• Adapted Out:
  • The boss monster, U-3, is one of the only enemies from the original game that was removed entirely from the remake. A document identifies the second, unfought Verdugo as "U-3", and it appears in the Separate Ways DLC hounding Ada. Outside of Isidro's document, however, it is never called U-3, instead being given the name "Pesanta".
  • The Gatling Men (aka J.J.) are omitted for the remake. Instead, they are replaced by boar-headed Brutes armed with an engine-powered, wrist-mounted automatic crossbow which act as a substitute for the former.
  • The incendiary grenades were cut from the remake as well.
  • The purple robed zealots have been excised entirely. In their stead, you get the occasional shirtless zealot.
  • The P.R.L. 412 is unavailable in the remake, with players instead being granted infinite ammo via the cat ears.
  • One of the few original sequences in the original Separate Ways, the battleship room on the Island, has been fully cut.
  • The gondola ride shootout and laser hallway Leon encounters in the original have been removed here. Ada encounters them both in Separate Ways.
• Advancing Boss of Doom: In Chapter 6, Bitores Mendez acts as this chasing Leon and Ashley as they escape from the village. Bitores cannot be killed in this sequence and all Leon can do is run away with Ashley. He has a similar sequence in Separate Ways with Ada, who later encounters another example in the form of Martinico.
• A.K.A.-47: The game still plays this in the same manner as the original, save for that the generically-named guns are now given proper names, half totally fake (the conglomerate "Handgun" is replaced with the purely-USP-based "SG-09 R" and the SL8 "Rifle (semi-auto)" is now the "Stingray") and half closely related to their real names (the Remington 870 "Shotgun" continues the previous remakes name "W-870" and the Springfield 1903 "Rifle" is the "SR M1903"). The game also adds a few more new weapons, most of which are given fake names (e.g. the Deluxe Edition includes a SIG P226 as the "Sentinel Nine" and a Winchester 1887 as the "Skull Shaker"), though with one given a mostly-correct one (the TMP still uses the real world name for the same machine pistol, just without the manufacture's name) Additionally, the Broken Butterfly is now just a Model 3 Schofield instead of the original's mishmash of the Model 3 and the Colt Single Action Army.
• All for Nothing: In Separate Ways, Ada choosing not to deliver the Plaga sample doesn't hinder Wesker's plans, since he retrieved Krauser's body and could get a dominant Plaga sample from that. At the very least, Ada won't have any innocent blood on her hands from Wesker's future plot.
• Amphibian Assault: Del Lago is a giant Plagas-infected salamander that Leon has to fight in Chapter 3 with harpoons.
• An Arm and a Leg: If you parry an unarmed Ganado throwing a punch (an uncommon attack that they use), Leon will cleanly slice their hand off with a slash from his knife. This leaves them unable to use their more common Grapple Move, making them slightly less dangerous in combat. The same can be done to Regeneradores, making it easier to take them on with your knives, although obviously they'll soon grow the hand back.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes:
  • Completing the game allows the player to play with Leon or Ashley with or without their respective jackets, similar to how the costumes in the 2 remake worked. Their respective second special costumes from the original (Leon's mobster tuxedo and Ashley's armor) can also be unlocked as well.
  • A good number of accessories for both Leon and Ashley can also be unlocked by completing the game, ranging from simple cosmetics to ones with actual perks.
  • Completing the Separate Ways DLC unlocks Luis and Wesker's original outfits, while Ada gets her cocktail dress from the 2 remake and a reimagining of the qipao she wore in the original Separate Ways mini campaign.
• Androcles' Lion: Double Subversion. In Chapter One, you can find a dead dog in a bear trap where there was a live one in the original... except it turns out not to actually be "that dog", who instead appears in Chapter 3 this time and helps you against El Gigante like normal.
• Announcer Chatter: The Merchant now provides running commentary while at the shooting range. If Ashley or Luis are with Leon, they'll chime in with support too.
• Another Side, Another Story: Just like in the original game's upgraded versions that included it, Separate Ways lets you see what Ada was doing behind-the-scenes while Leon was busy with his rescue mission and helps explain a few things that were left unexplained in Leon's story.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Enemies that try to capture Ashley can be taken out with a button press knife stab, meaning that accidentally killing her with a missed shot or slash is more avoidable. The knife can now also be used to counter enemy attacks from the front, which is displayed by a button prompt just before a strike connects, allowing Leon to avoid getting damaged if the player is good enough. Ashley now also crouches and runs during fights so she can stay out of the firing line and follow without interrupting Leon.
  • If Leon finishes a battle (in lower difficulties) or a chapter with next to no health remaining, the game will regenerate a small amount of health to give the player a fighting chance.
  • Despite one of the points of contention in the new mechanics was to have Ashley follow Leon at all times, there are still certain particularly brutal fights where the game provides lockers for her to hide in, such as the Bella Sisters fight.
  • The Merchant will now advise the player to clear up any requests prior to a Point of No Return lest they be failed (though there is at least one instance in the Castle where the Merchant says it after the Point of No Return is crossed).
  • Quick time events have been almost entirely scrapped, making the risk of cheap deaths from an untimely button press, which the original RE4 was notorious for, a moot issue. They do show up in some boss fights and once in the area where the original's first boulder chase happened, but failing them merely damages you.
  • In the original game, any time you smashed up a crate or barrel for loot, there was a small number of specific objects with a snake hiding inside it and would then attack you a fraction of a second later, more or less demanding players to Double Tap every box by hitting it twice with the knife: once to break it, and again just in case a snake was hiding inside (the reward was a random color egg left behind). This time around, the windup to their attack is far slower and the more nimble controls give the player a far bigger window to avoid their attack. Furthermore, the game incentivizes killing snakes by making their bodies a healing item, and an early blue medallion quest requiring collecting three of their bodies to sell.
  • Breaking boxes and barrels required using the knife (or a gun) in the original game. In the remake, Leon only needs to kick or smash them with the butt of his gun. This is to save up the precious and limited durability of your knife for actual enemies.
  • The game significantly increases the amount of bear traps that, when sprung, will temporarily immobilize Leon and leave him open to attack. As a concession, they no longer damage Leon like they did in the original game.
  • In the original game, the player's inventory was the only storage available, limiting one's ability to test and change out weaponry — if one wanted to retrieve a weapon or expand their loadout, they would have to sell an upgraded weapon to make room and if they wanted it back later, rebuy it from the Merchant and then upgrade all its stats all over again. The remake, however, marks the return of the classic Storage Box next to the Typewriters, allowing players to retain their acquisitions and switch them out as necessary. However, this storage still only extends to weapons, weapon attachments and healing sprays, so the player can't hoard other healing items, grenades, ammo or crafting materials by shoving them into storage. The attaché case also comes with a magnificent upgrade that ends the tyranny of the "inventory slot puzzle": an auto-sort button.
  • Just like in Resident Evil Village, the player can sell multiple items all at once, as opposed to the original game where you could only fence off one item at a time.
  • Your Speed Run goals are a bit more lenient than usual. Getting an S or S+ ranking on higher difficulties is enough of a challenge as it is, so your time limit to finish the game is extended from 4:00 on Assisted mode to 5:00 on Standard, and 5:30 on Hardcore and Professional. The in-game timer doesn't run down during cutscenes or when using the typewriter, so even hardcore speedruns can opt to take a break and relax a bit if they so choose, given most speedrun categories use the in-game timer rather than real time.
    • The game is a lot more speedrun-friendly in general, with plenty of areas and set pieces that can be skipped via Sequence Breaking that's actually due to Developer's Foresight and not being dependent on finding glitches. This is especially pronounced when compared to Resident Evil 2 (Remake), which doesn't really allow the player to shortcut past any portions of the game without exploiting bugs, and simply forces them to rush the whole way through a perfect run with practically no margin for error.
  • If you die too often, Dynamic Difficulty will kick in similar to the original game which will make enemies much easier to kill and do less damage, ammo and healing items will drop more frequently and timed sections such as the first village sequence and cabin fight will be reduced substantially. Professional difficulty almost entirely does away with it, however.
  • In The Mercenaries minigame, dying mid-round in the original would result in a failed round, with your hard-earned score being lost no matter how close to the end of the timer you were. Now, dying simply causes the round to end early, and the score is retained. This also means that if you're going to try to unlock the Handcannon, you don't have to win that particular round to get an S rank. Your final score is ranked at the end of the round regardless if you won that round or gaining the rank.
  • In the original game, the Handcannon only uses its own rare specially made rounds. In this game, it can use regular magnum rounds, making it much easier so you don't have to worry about looking for Handcannon ammo before you purchase its exclusive infinite ammo upgrade.
  • The castellan wind-up dolls only have to be shot once, no matter how many playthroughs you've had. Additionally, every chapter is marked with an icon indicating if you found and destroyed it.
  • If you equip Ashley with her armor, she retains her mobility and can keep up with you whereas in the original, she becomes very slow, requiring the player to wait on her while she catches up.
  • Professional mode makes all weapon modifications unlockable from the start as opposed to having to progress through the playthrough for them to become available, taking some of the stress off an otherwise challenging difficulty.
  • Professional retains one autosave: When you arrive at the hunter's lodge at the very beginning of the game. As no meaningful gameplay happens until you enter the lodge, this autosave lets players who die before their first manual save get back into the action without having to make the initial run through the woods.
  • The first Krauser fight has a free boot knife stuck in the wall right next to you, so even if your knife is broken, you can still fight him.
  • Since starting up a New Game Plus doesn't take you to the Merchant shop before starting, the Merchant will spawn outside the hunting lodge after you escape it, so you don't have to go through the entire first chapter without being able to visit him. In Separate Ways, he shows up right outside the cells in the beginning.
• Apocalyptic Log: What set the original RE4 apart from the prior games was a noticeable lack of these. In the remake they are back, with all sorts of documents left behind by villagers before their infection, devoted followers of Saddler's religion, and researchers who worked on the bioweapons on the island but met a terrible fate. It helps create a more unsettling atmosphere for how badly Saddler ruined the lives of these people.
• Arc Words: Knights & Princesses. A motif played straight and affectionately parodied with equal measure. The medieval castle setting, filled with swords, heraldry, armors and shields helps to accentuate this.
  • Leon is of course the "knight in shining armor" archetype rescuing the princess embodied by Ashley. Ramon Salazar even sarcastically lampshades his quest as "So the play begins; The Gallant Knight, Saves His Princess Fair" as he sends a second wave of fanatics to capture the duo.
  • As our heroes pass through a display hall of armor, Ashley dreamily states the former wearing one would look appropriately "dashing" for a knightly gentleman like Leon, before awkwardly justifying how it would be bullet-proof.
    • The above wistful girlhood fantasy is turned on its head and Played for Horror mixed with Black Comedy, when not even ten minutes after said wish, Ashley is forced to run through a gauntlet of animated armadura trying to cleave her in twain with giant two-handed-swords, alone in a maze of bookshelves with nothing but a lamp of blue flame to protect herself with.
  • Luis frequently refers to Leon and himself as "gallant knights" rescuing and protecting the princess Ashley, and even (half) jokingly referred to his shotgun as his lance. Leon even eulogizes him as a "Fine Knight" like the equally goofy but well-meaning and kind Don Quioxote, as he dies with his One Last Smoke.
  • Of course, Ashley's infamously hilarious Lethal Joke Item costume, the Knight's armor returns, making her a "Princess In Shining Armor."
• Arrows on Fire: Like the original, the Ganados fire crossbow bolts that are on fire.
• Artificial Brilliance:
  • To accommodate for Leon's increased mobility and ability to reload while running, the Ganados have received a marked bump up in intelligence. They are capable of pump-faking their axe throws, sneaking up on Leon by not making noise while behind him, and in general are much more persistent and easily able to gang up on the player if they aren't careful.
  • In an easy to miss example because the AI's design is to stay out of the player's way: When in the "loose formation" mode, Ashley will seek cover on her own and try to stay away from enemies and Leon's line of fire. This can even include exiting a room or entering a building or hiding spot entirely on her own, only emerging once the area is clear or Leon calls her over. This isn't designed to be perfect autonomy though, as some areas lack anywhere for her to flee or she can simply get too close to an enemy, so she does still require some conscious guarding from the player.
• Artificial Stupidity: While Mike's arrival in Chapter 15 may be a glimmer of hope to the player, some playthrough can find his firing response to Ganados in the open to be somewhat unreliable and/or not prompt enough.
• Artistic License – Law Enforcement: The badge of one of the cops who accompany Leon reveals that they are part of the National Police Corps. The National Police Corps does not operate in rural areas like the one the game is set in, with said areas falling under the jurisdiction of either the Civil Guard or a regional force in the case of the various autonomous communities.
• Ascended Glitch: The Striker attaché case charm grants an increase of 8% to your running speed, a clear nod to the well-known Ditman glitch from the 2005 game, in which a specific use of the Striker made the player run faster.
• Ascended Meme:
  • Leon, especially his RE4 incarnation, is famous for being a pretty boy in a video game genre where male protagonists tend to be gruff and grizzled masculine men, with many meme posts describing him as a "babygirl" and "meow meow" before the game's release. Turning characters into Cat Boys is stereotyped as one of the most common ways for fans to add [invoked] Self-Fanservice points to already-attractive characters, so naturally, Capcom made it possible to unlock cat ears as an accessory for Leon as a reward for achieving an S+ on Professional Mode.
  • The Resident Evil Fandom has meme'd on and made fun of Albert Wesker's line in Resident Evil 5 of infecting the world with Uroboros as "complete global saturation". In the Separate Ways DLC, Wesker refers to the village's infestation of Las Plagas as "complete local saturation".
• Attack Its Weak Point: The sub-bosses and bosses in this remake exhibit similar weak points to their original.
  • El Gigante will sprout its large Las Plagas parasite on the back after being sufficiently damaged, allowing Leon to shoot and knife it for extra damage.
  • The fight against the mutated Bitores Mendez in the slaughterhouse has a prominent eye sprouting at his back, which can be targeted by Leon at the second floor, with some prompts to knife the eye if Bitores is staggered.
  • The Garradors have the parasite implanted in their back, so if Leon can stealthily move behind them, attacking the parasite with a knife or gun will temporarily stagger the Garrador, cause the parasite to emerge, and allow Leon to follow-up with more attacks or a flash grenade.
  • While Verdugo's body is covered in a tough exoskeleton, the head is not, which Leon can target both normally and when he freezes the Verdugo in liquid nitrogen.
  • Salazar's body within his Plaga's monstrous form remains a prominent weak spot to attack to stagger the boss. If prompted, Leon will knife an eye sprouting on Salazar's left head.
  • The Regeneradors return with their nigh-invulnerability due to their rapid regeneration. The only way to kill them is to find the Plagas parasites embedded within them and shoot out each of them with a sufficiently penetrating weapon.
  • Saddler's boss fight in the first stage is covered in eyes on the limbs and head. Attacking the eyes on the limbs will stagger Saddler, which would immobilize the main head enough for Leon to get a good shot or stab on the main eye.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Downplayed with the Handcannon. The remake has made it considerably more unwieldy thanks to the loss of laser aiming for all weapons except for certain handguns. While it remains extremely powerful, this power comes at the cost of very poor accuracy beyond arm's length. The chances of hitting a target drop dramatically the farther out it is, and the weapon has an extremely sensitive reticule. Even with the reticule tightened the slightest movement will bloom it out to full size. In addition, its slow fire rate until upgraded makes it difficult to use against multiple enemies, necessitating a backup weapon to be carried for situations such as engaging Novistadors, Regeneradors or enemies farther away. Despite these shortcomings, players who upgrade the gun to its full potential are still treated to a one-hit killer with infinite bullets that can take out most enemies and bosses at close to mid-range with ease (barring the fast-moving ones).
  • The CQBR Assault Rifle can be obtained in the castle. It is immensely powerful, being the absolutely most powerful automatic weapon you can obtain (in terms of numbers) and can even be outfitted with various scopes and has Iron Sight aiming. The problem with the weapon is that, unlike the TMP, LE 5, and Chicago Sweeper, this weapon doesn't use the Jackal ammo for submachine guns. The CQBR uses the same Dragonfly rifle ammo used for the Stingray and the SR M1903. Its damage output at maximum upgrade is far stronger than that of the submachine guns, but it is outclassed by the damage of the SR M1903 and Stingray by a considerable amount. It fires far faster than either, but the rarity of rifle ammo and the fact that crafting it requires Large Resources (meaning you cannot craft Flash Grenades and Heavy Grenades), means that using it as a fully automatic is a good way to waste ammo. If you fire it as a fully automatic; you'll blow through your ammo far too quickly. If you use it sparingly, then you're better off using the other rifles or a magnum. For all its power, the ammo type kills its usefulness by being too much of an ammo hog.
• Back Stab: For the first time since Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Leon can stealth kill enemies by stabbing them in the neck from behind.
• The Bait: At the end of the game, Ada attempts to fight Saddler to get his attention away from Leon while the latter rescues Ashley. This goes poorly for her. Saddler, instead of just killing her, ties her up from some scaffolding to lure Leon out into a fight. Leon recognizes this as a trap but proceeds with the rescue anyways. Sure enough, just after he gets Ada down, Saddler attacks Leon.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • At the very beginning of the game, Leon finds a dead dog caught in a bear trap where in the original it was a live one, leaving veterans to assume that they're not getting any backup for the fight against el Gigante. Eagle-eyed players will note however that this dog has a different coat color than the one that assists you in the original; indeed, you find said white dog slightly later.
  • The boat you used to fight Del Lago sinks immediately after you dock at the boat house, suggesting you won't be able to backtrack and search around the lake for items this time out. Just a few minutes later, you'll come across a second boat that you use to explore the lake and its shoreline.
  • You have to shoot open one incubator tube to release the Regenerador inside so you can get the wrench it swallowed and open up the card rewriting machine in the next room. After the last time you rewrote the card, you fully expect the remaining three Regeneradores to burst from their incubation tubes and attack, but nope; instead, you get ambushed by a squad of Soldier Ganados. Granted, if you're clumsy or foolish enough, you certainly can break open the other three tubes and have to deal with them anyway, but they mercifully do not pop out on their own.
• Bear Trap: Bear traps are common hazards that temporarily immobilizes Leon if he is caught by them. He can shoot them to set them off harmlessly. In one notable change from the original game, Ganados can be lured into their own bear traps. Meleeing them while they are struggling to remove it will often tear their leg off for an instant kill.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Ashley averts this now. In contrast to the original only changing her eye color in the final stages of infection, here her eyes gradually become bloodshot and her skin covered in Tainted Veins as her condition worsens.
• Bilingual Bonus: Like the original, all Ganados speak exclusively in Spanish, and knowing some can even help you in a few situations. Villagers behind you will often say "¡detrás de tí, imbécil!" or "behind you, idiot!" While most of what Luis says in Spanish from time to time is pretty self explanatory, he does offer this tidbit whenever Leon is killed while partnering up with him:
  Luis: "¡No me jodas!" ("You've got to be fucking kidding me!")
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Just as in the original, Leon and Ashley get rid of the parasites inside their bodies, Leon is able to kill Saddler, and he and Ashley are on the way home. But thanks to Saddler's scheming, an entire village full of innocent people was doomed long before Leon ever showed up, Luis is dead, and Ada now has a sample of Las Plagas and is taking it to her employer... Albert Wesker. However, once she finds out just what Wesker plans to do with it, she decides to get the sample as far away from him as possible.
  • Separate Ways expands on the ending by revealing Ada's rebellion against Wesker, from sabotaging the destruction of the island to getting the Amber away from him, means nothing; not only is her helicopter in range of Wesker's forces, he only lets her off the hook because he retrieved Krauser's corpse, meaning he has a sample of Las Plagas' dominant strain anyway, explaining how the parasite reappeared in Resident Evil 5 despite Ada's actions.
• Blood from the Mouth: As in the original, this appears as one of the first symptoms of Plaga infection.
• Bloodier and Gorier:
  • If Leon gets hit by an enemy attack, it will spill blood on his clothes. Leon himself can deal hard damage to enemies with not just his weapons, but stationary artillery such as a cannon that can be fired manually at mobs of Ganados, resulting in Ludicrous Gibs.
  • Leon's deaths are graphically shown if his health hits zero. Unlike the previous two remakes, which will blink the screen when the player's health is at danger, the player will suffer gruesome deaths, such as a Ganado's frontal grab, where they're liable to gouge out Leon's eyes with their thumbs, getting chainsawed by Dr. Salvador, though it doesn't cut off his head but rather cuts him in half vertically, or a plagas impaling him in the face. Garradors are also now capable of cleaving Leon in half at the waist.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Ganados sincerely believe that Plagas infection and assimilation into the Holy Body is a wonderful thing, and Saddler is outright flummoxed that Leon is horrified by the idea.
• Body Horror: Ganados can now be blown to pieces by shotgun blasts and explosions, and the writhing tentacles emerging from the stumps reveal just how infected these guys are. Later, an X-Ray scan of a Regenerador reveals how the creature's once-human skull has been reduced to bone fragments to necessitate the Volumetric Mouth.
• Book Ends: In a purely tragic sense. The first words Luis says to Leon in the original game after they meet is asking for a smoke. Their last interaction in the remake is Leon giving him one.
• Boring, but Practical: As in the original game, there is something to be said for hanging on to the basic weapons instead of trading them in for better guns at the earliest chance.
  • The SG-09R that Leon starts his adventure with is initially underwhelming, but its Exclusive upgrade increases the critical hit chance by 5x, effectively ensuring that one out of four shots deals triple damage. A headshot crit is usually enough to instantly kill a Ganado-type enemy (the most common in the game). The SG-09R is also one of three handguns (the other two being the Punisher and the DLC-exclusive Sentinel Nine) that can fit the Laser Sight addon, making aiming considerably easier (and effectively increasing crit chance by a further 10% at all times).
  • The W-870 shotgun is obviously the weakest of the shotguns, but you can get it for free in the village and its Exclusive upgrade doubles its damage - to 20.2 when maxed out, making it the strongest shotgun and as powerful as a stock unupgraded Killer7.
  • The Blacktail was already a close competitor for best handgun in the game before in spite of its simple, no-frills appearance, but now that accuracy is a factor in choosing guns, it becomes a ridiculously useful workhorse because it has incredible precision (its "bloomed" crosshair is already quite tiny, but holding your aim steady reduces it down to a pinpoint, allowing it to pinch-hit as a sniping weapon if you're low on rifle ammo) and it only takes up a 2x2 grid in your inventory case. The only disadvantages it has are a slightly lesser punch compared to the Red9 when maxed out (though its maximum of 3.6 firepower is nothing to sneeze at) and a relatively small magazine capacity of 13+1.
• Boss-Altering Consequence:
  • You can rescue the dog like you did in the original game, and it will help you fight the El Gigante if you do.
  • Golden Eggs are rare items that are normally used for healing the player. However, if you throw one at Salazar during his boss fight, it will take off 70% of his health due to his egg allergy. This is foreshadowed in a Merchant Request that had you egg Salazar's portrait.
  • During the fight with the two El Gigantes, you can dump one of them into the lava like in the original game, but, additionally, Luis will leave to go fetch some dynamite to help break the armor of the second El Gigante. However, if you already killed the second El Gigante with something powerful like a rocket launcher, then Luis will be left perplexed and disappointed that you didn't leave anything for him to use the dynamite on.
• Bottomless Magazines: The Chicago Sweeper's and Handcannon's exclusive upgrades give them infinite bullets that eliminate the need to reload altogether.
  • The Cat Ears give the second type of infinite where the player has infinite ammo, but must reload. Even if you have ammo for the gun you are wielding in your attaché case, you'll still reload your gun from this magical bottomless pool of ammo.
• Bragging Rights Reward:
  • Some of the most beneficial accessories in the game, which grant things like increased damage, defense or universal infinite ammo, can only be unlocked by achieving "S+" ranks on the hardest difficulties, meaning they have to be completed without New Game Plus. Suffice to say, if you are good enough to clear the hardest content without any assistance, any sort awarded afterwards is redundant, save to bully the game for fun.
  • The Mercenaries update averts this by providing a significantly easier method of unlocking the Handcannon, simply by obtaining an S ranking (200,000+ points) or above once on all three stages — not a cakewalk by any means, but much less arduous compared to beating the main game on the hardest difficulty with no New Game Plus bonuses. The bonus item with the "Are you kidding me?" level requirement of getting an S+ with every character on every stage is now Leon's RPD uniform.
• Breakable Weapons: The knife is back, though now it has a durability meter just like in the RE2 remake. It can even parry a chainsaw, though at the cost of a good chunk of its durability. Fortunately, it's also repairable even after being broken. This can be averted with the Primal Knife, which can only be obtained in a New Game Plus after destroying all 16 Clockwork Castellans, but its exclusive upgrade gives it infinite durability.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory:
  • The Expanded Treasure Map and Weapon Exclusive Upgrade Ticket DLCs both make the game potentially easier, the first by providing more treasures and thus pesatas for weapon and attaché case upgrades, the latter by letting you grant any given weapon its exclusive upgrade - generally a weapon defining feature that dramatically improves its functionality - right away for free. This is particularly relevant for S+ Professional runs, where if you've unlocked the Handcannon or Chicago Sweeper you'll have access to a powerful unlimited ammo weapon throughout what would otherwise be an Early Game Hell even on a fresh save. Even if you don't plan to use them, each ticket sells for 80,000 pesetas, meaning that if you buy all twenty-three tickets and use only one to give the Sweeper or Handcannon its exclusive upgrade, you can then sell the remainder for over 1.5 mil pesetas, allowing you to max its stats and still have some left over to put into your knife, buying heals, repairs, etc. This makes S+ Professional runs even more easy as you never have to bother with collecting treasures and can bolt right past any side quests or treasure locations, saving a lot of time.
  • Zigzagged in Separate Ways. While you can use purchased upgrade tickets, you can't use DLC weapons or the preorder charms and cases, the Expanded Treasure Map does nothing, and the infinite launcher doesn't show up until New Game Plus (so selling your tickets doesn't give you a game destroyer right off the bat).
• But Thou Must!: Unlike in the original, it is obligatory to use the Special Rocket Launcher to finish off Saddler. Failure at doing so will result in Leon being crushed by his tentacles. That means you won't be able to keep the Launcher and sell it to the Merchant on New Game Plus.
• Call-Forward:
  • In Chapter 14, Ashley makes a comment about becoming an agent like Leon to go around saving the US and the world from danger. While Leon politely puts her off, he would discover in the future that a girl he previously protected and escorted would become a government agent and go on saving the US and the world from danger.
  • In the ending, Wesker tells Ada that billions will die for his ambitions. This references the plot of Resident Evil 5, in which Wesker planned to infect the planet with the Uroboros virus that would kill most carriers.
  • In Separate Ways, while talking about the Village's infection, Wesker specifically calls it out as "complete local saturation", bringing to mind his infamously hammy "complete global saturation" line from Resident Evil 5.
  • To Resident Evil Village, wherein Leon taunts Saddler during his final transformation by telling him it makes him "a monster inside and out", just like how Ethan Winters 16 years later would similarly sneer at how the ugliness of Lady Demitriscu's One-Winged Angel dragon-form lets her outside finally match her inside.
• Canon Foreigner: Introduced in Separate Ways is Martinico, a Los Illuminados test subject that was exposed to the effect of the "Amber". The result is a hulking monster that is impervious to any conventional attacks, resulting in a boss battle that involves running away from the creature. Martinico ultimately serves two roles in the story, first to show the real capability of the "Amber" that Los Illuminados and Wesker want so much, and second is to establish the laser rooms as a security measure not just for unauthorized personnel, but also as a means to kill Martinico in case he breaks out.
• Casting Gag: In the Japanese version, this is not the first time, nor the last that Akari Kitou (Ashley) had voiced girls being being pursued by the supernatural.
• The Cavalry: In Chapter 15, Mike shows up with a helicopter gunship to help Leon mow down the mass of Ganados to get to Ashley. Even when he runs out of ammo, he offers to help carry Leon to the summit in order to reach Ashley, but this effort is cut short by Saddler siccing a swarm of Novistadors after his helicopter, causing it to crash and killing him.
• Chameleon Camouflage: The Novistadors' invisibility ability is changed to them gaining the ability to blend into whatever floor or objects are near them. Their bug-shaped outline can give them away, however, unless they are submerged in water, which makes them near-invisible once again and it's only their eyes being visible just before they attack Leon.
• Chained Heat: Chapter 2 begins with Leon and Luis chained together. After pulling the pulley off the ceiling, they use their chains to kill a Ganado who was about to attack them.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Implied to be the case for Leon after years of government training, as his kicks are consistently powerful enough to break necks and kill Ganados, and reflexes fast enough to use his knife as a parry weapon.
• Code Name: The remake establishes codenames for Leon, Hunnigan, and Ashley for the rescue mission. Leon is "Condor One"; Hunnigan, or at least Mission Control, is "Roost"; Ashley is "Baby Eagle". However, the codenames don't seem to be intended to hide identities as both Hunnigan and Leon lay out who the codename is referring to in their first conversation in the game.
  Leon: Roost, this is Condor One.
  Hunnigan: Hunnigan here. What's your sitrep?
  Leon: The president's daughter - Baby Eagle. It's likely she's in this village.
• Competitive Balance: In The Mercenaries, each of the playable characters is balanced around having specific strengths and weaknesses.
  • Leon is a Jack of All Trades. He excels in no particular area, but does well in every one instead. He has a great arsenal of weapons, a solid melee toolset, and his Mayhem Mode buffs his damage greatly. None of these elements are particularly gimmicky, making him a solid starting character and a decent competitor with the others.
  • Ada is a Fragile Speedster with a bigger focus on faster close quarters follow-ups, as neither her sawn-off shotgun or crossbow have the accuracy or velocity of Leon's offerings, while her Mayhem Mode increases both her damage and rate of fire.
  • Luis is a Mighty Glacier. He's very slow, with poor reload speed, poor movement speed, sluggish melee animations and two slow-firing guns. In exchange, he hits like a truck, as both of his guns have incredible firepower. His melee animations have lots of invulnerability frames and hit in a huge arc around him, while also dealing exceptional damage. Lastly, his Mayhem Mode allows him to put down dynamite that explodes in a huge area of effect, giving him great area control and turning him into a boss killer par excellence. Additionally, Luis has invincibility frames while planting the dynamite and is immune to the dynamite blast.
  • Krauser is a Lightning Bruiser. While his TMP does low damage and reloads slowly, he more than makes up for it with fast movement speed, great melee attacks, and his explosive bow for long-distance attacks. Krauser is also notable for his advanced knife stance, wherein he gains new attacks and a unique dodge ability to blitz his foes to death. Combined with his Mayhem Mode causing him to mutate into his boss form, and Krauser can absolutely devastate anyone who gets close to him.
  • Hunk is Difficult, but Awesome. He has a single weapon, the LE-5, but it has incredible damage for a machine gun and has a huge clip. His melee attacks are decent, bar the iconic Neckbreaker, which can decimate any humanoid enemy who gets close to him. Even better, this works on some of the elite enemies like Dr. Salvador, giving him great elite-killing potential, further compounded by his high drop rate for flash grenades that will instantly set up elite enemies for a Neckbreaker. His Mayhem Mode gives him improved damage and infinite ammo for a time, which turns him into a room-clearing machine of death. Overall, Hunk is probably the most complex character to play due to his minimalist kit, but more than makes up for it with sheer killing potential.
  • Wesker is a Lightning Bruiser similar to Krauser, but faster and deadlier. His entire loadout consists of a pistol (for which he has a grand total of two magazines in reserve) and a Hand Cannon (which he has no reserve ammo for), and a good number of grenades of both frag and flash varieties. He starts without healing items and has no way to directly use melee outside of Mayhem Mode, but he is very durable, only needs his hands to parry (which never run out of use and can parry anything, even Super Salvador's double-bladed chainsaw), can perform devastating melee attacks on stunned enemies even from a distance via Flash Step, and his Mayhem Mode lets him unleash powerful, lightning-quick martial arts combos upon his enemies that can make quick work of bosses and crowds alike. As long as one can time their counterattacks properly and take advantage of his extended melee range while building up their meter, Wesker can dominate the field with cold, unrelenting power.
  • Between Ada and Leon, there are different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses they have for their campaigns. They play very similarly to one another, but still have noticeable differences that make their campaigns' respective gameplays feel unique and distinct.
  • Leon has a greater variety of weapons to choose from and can dish out a lot of physical damage with his melee attacks. His weapons overall have a greater focus on damage, and he can use the natively laser-sighted Killer 7 which can deal out the greatest individual damage in the game.
  • Ada has her hookshot pistol that gives her immense mobility and the unique ability to activate her melee attacks from a distance. With a charm, she can even rip enemy's shields away. Her Elite Knife (her version of Leon's Primal Knife) is infinitely durable by default instead of it needing to be upgraded as such. Her natively laser-sighted weapon is her blast crossbow that is less powerful but is much better at dealing with large crowds of enemies.
• Composite Character:
  • Dr. Salvador now has the exact same frenzy attack as the Super Salvador, his enhanced counterpart in the original Mercenaries mode.
  • The first Verdugo created by Salazar's servant Isidro Uriarte Talavera is an In Name Only version. It's referred to as "U-3" in one of his research notes, which is the name of a completely different monster from the original game that is otherwise absent in the remake. In the Separate Ways DLC, however, Ada is forced to fight this Verdugo - now named Pesanta - throughout most of her campaign and it eventually mutates into a form closely resembling U-3 from the original game.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The description for Leon's knife is "A weapon suited for close encounters. It has been Leon's go-to since receiving it during his time at the R.P.D." Marvin had given him the knife on his first - and last - day with the R.P.D.
  • When Leon and Krauser meet again, Operation Javier gets mentioned between them.
  • Luis is revealed to be a member of Umbrella Lab no. 6, which was mentioned back in the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis to be the team responsible for the Nemesis project.
  • A picture of Excella is seen on Wesker's computer in the epilogue.
• Crouch and Prone: Leon gains the ability to crouch in the remake, compared to only situational usage in the original. While helpful for concealment and sneaking, crouching is also helpful for dodging certain attacks, such as the Ganado's attempt to grab Leon and the swing of their shovel.
• Crown-Shaped Head: Saddler's redesign now has his hood down, exposing grotesque mutations on his head. The effect makes it look like his head has a pointed and twisted mockery of a crown.
• Curse Cut Short: Thanks to some well-timed dialog at the start of the second Gigante fight, this will happen if you fail to find cover quick.
  Leon: Another one? You guys are starting to become a giant pain in my- *WHAM*
• Cut the Fuse: Leon is able to do this to any dynamite thrown at him should he perform a perfect parry on it, preventing it from exploding on him.
• Cutscene Boss: Inverted. Krauser and Mendez's human forms are now confronted in gameplay prior to their One-Winged Angel transformations, instead of only facing them in cutscenes or quick time events as in the original. The fight with Krauser is an agile knife duel heavily featuring the game's parry mechanic, while Mendez behaves extremely similarly to the Resident Evil 2 remake's Mr. X (even sharing his stagger animations if enough ammo is pumped into his head), and must be fled from with Ashley in tow.
• Cutting Off the Branches: The appearance of Marvin Branagh in Leon's flashbacks to the Raccoon City Incident confirms that Leon is the canonical 1st Run protagonist in the remake timeline, in contrast to the original timeline where Claire A, Leon B was generally canon with a few exceptions. Leon holding his knife in such high regard also makes more sense if it was given to him by his late superior rather than just something he found lying around.
• Cycle of Hurting: This game lacks any form of Mercy Invincibility, much like Resident Evil 3 (Remake), meaning if one Ganado manages to hit Leon, the others can immediately follow up with their own attacks before he can even compose himself.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • Situations in the original that required you to rapidly press buttons now simply require you to hold said buttons down, which may result in a few cheap deaths for veterans wondering why they suddenly can never mash the buttons quickly enough.
  • Harder difficulties change up some of the puzzle solutions to make them slightly more complex, like the lake shrine puzzle and the electronic lock terminals.
  • In terms of game mechanics, the lack of ability for Leon to reload-cancel with the shotgun, bolt-action rifle, bolt thrower and certain magnum revolvers can be this given the game has mechanics for loading certain number of rounds at a time and upgrades to increase that number. The only way to reload-cancel is to swap weapons in the middle of reload, compared to other games where clicking the fire button while reloading will cancel.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Leon's portrayal in this game is far more forlorn and moody, bitterly reflecting on the events of his last adventure. The game itself is also shown to be less campy than the original, placing a stronger emphasis on horror. That said, there are still instances where Leon lets out some snark:
    Leon: (after shooting a lamp that sets a cow on fire, sending it running into the chasing Ganados) Bill me for the repairs later!
    Leon: (just before jumping out a window whilst being cornered by a few Ganados) I'll see myself out!
    Leon: (after Méndez's upper half tears away from his legs during his boss fight) Looks like your tap dancing days are over!
  • Ashley's victimization is taken far more seriously than in the original game, and by the same token, she adds to the darker and depressing atmosphere since she will react to Leon being injured or killed around her with horror and sorrow. The worst is her Mission Failed animation, where instead of Ashley just using her same calling-for-help voice lines, a new animation is set for it where she desperately calls out to Leon one final time before she's lost forever.
  • Leon's relationship with his allies can turn confrontational or strained at times, unlike their always amicable dispositions in the original. For example, Leon is shown throttling Luis against a wall and Ashley is shakily pointing a gun at Leon while suffering from the final stages of infection. Both are respectively justified in-story by Leon finding out Luis used to work for Umbrella, and by Saddler pulling a Grand Theft Me on Ashley and forcing her to attack Leon against her will.
  • The game itself is far more atmospheric with more emphasis on horror. Similarly with Resident Evil Village, it's an Actionized Sequel while maintaining its Survival Horror roots, but lacks the Denser and Wackier aspects Village brought back.
• Deadly Scratch: In Separate Ways, when Ada is attacked by Salazar's Left Hand, she receives a small scratch from one of its projectiles. This scratch actually infects her with a unique Plaga parasite that causes her to hallucinate alongside the standard decay into a mind-controlled parasite puppet. She eventually cures herself by killing Pesanta, which causes her to puke out the parasite.
• Death by Adaptation: Subverted. In the Chainsaw Demo and the prologue of the final version, a dead dog caught in a bear trap can be seen before Leon enters the village, a spot very close to the area where Leon could save a dog in the original game. Later on, though, "that" dog, is found alive after all, still stuck in a bear trap, needing Leon to rescue it.
• Decapitated Army: After Leon destroys Saddler's giant, monstrous form, he and Ashley run into what remains of the villain's Ganado minions as they make their escape, all of whom have been immobilized and appear to be on the verge of death all the while thrashing in pain. Leon theorizes that with the "core" Plagas housed within Saddler gone, the rest of the Hive Mind have lost their purpose and ability to function, rendering them helpless.
• Designated Girl Fight: A rather unusual variation that isn't immediately noticeable and offscreen. Documents around the castle single out the Verdugo that is sent after Ada was originally a handmaid for the castle and the Verdugo that attacks Leon was the male caretaker that oversaw her transformation before his own.
• Developer's Foresight: Has its own page.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • In the original, Luis dies upon being impaled from behind by Saddler's tentacle, whereas here he suffers a thrown knife in the back courtesy of Krauser after the minecart section.
  • Also in the original, Mike's helicopter is taken down with a rocket propelled grenade, whereas this time Novistadors attack the chopper and cause it to crash.
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Bolt Thrower is this. Fires slow-moving bolts that Leon needs to account bullet travel and distance drop to use properly against targets both far and near, with the mechanism also prohibiting fast-firing of bolts to handle crowds quickly. However, the Bolt Thrower has three perks, first that it is a silent weapon and so is helpful removing some Ganado without alerting a crowd. Second is that the bolts are recoverable and reusable, the third is the attachable mine ammunition that are essentially grenades, allowing Leon to clear crowds with a few good shots. Not to mention, the mines can be preset in certain locations (for up to 30 seconds) and the blast effect of the mines stack, so there are several fights against sub-bosses that can be cheesed with the proper placement of mines before the battle begins.
• Difficulty Levels: Has several
  • Assisted mode default activates aim assist to help with your accuracy during combat. Additionally, enemy AI is significantly less aggressive, and enemies will die in just a shot or three. Often only one Ganado will attack at a time, and they will usually keep from throwing their weapon unless nobody is close to you. Some items from the merchant will be cheaper, you'll get bonus ammo when crafting, and (most importantly) Leon will slowly regenerate health when he dips into danger.
  • Normal mode plays it straight. Enemy AI is aggressive, but not overly so. Prices at the shop are standard (but not higher than assisted, just lacking the frequent discounts), and your weapons deal less damage overall and have less durability when using the knife. From this difficulty and onwards, Leon no longer regenerates health.
  • Hardcore ups the ante by increasing merchant prices, and makes the enemy AI incredibly aggressive. On top of that, enemy damage is much higher.
  • Professional cranks the difficulty all the way up. It plays almost identical to Hardcore, but with the added negative that the game no longer autosaves or checkpoints your progress. If you don't save between typewriters, you will simply lose progress (potentially hours if you haven't saved in quite some time). Ammo drops are lessened, enemy health is pushed super high, and some basic enemies become more difficult to stagger. The only benefit professional mode gives is that it makes all levels of upgrade available right away, not just the first three levels until you reach later in the game. This also means you can buy exclusive upgrades with pesetas earlier if you have the cash.
• Disc-One Nuke: The legendary Handcannon can be unlocked via Mercenaries where you only need one character to beat three stages with an S rank, which is even easier than simply playing Professional mode. Hell, you could get the thing before you start a new game, letting you plow everything once you unlock it. As soon as you can get the exclusive ticket, you can upgrade your Handcannon for infinite ammo. It's basically impossible to lose after that.
• Discount Card: Played straight and inverted; various charms will reduce repair or upgrade prices or allow items to be sold at better prices.
• Dull Surprise: Lily Gao's performance as Ada is...subdued, to say the least. Separate Ways has her emoting a little more when Ada is talking to herself, but it still comes off as her just reading lines.
• Dungeon Bypass:
  • In addition to using it to one-shot bosses, the rocket launcher, or alternative sufficient explosives (be they grenades or mines) can be used to skip over certain sections of the game, such as blowing up the cave-in during the mines or destroying the anti-aircraft gun that shoots at Mike's chopper.
  • You can utilize several tricks to skip small sections if you know ahead of time. The cannon on the earlier part of the castle can be accessed early if you shoot the weight through the grating, meaning you don't have to drop down, release it, and then climb back up. Similarly, just before the section with the armored Gigante, you can throw a grenade through a grated metal door and break the weight on the other side, skipping the sun/moon switch area.
• Easy Level Trick: The double Garrador room can feel like a real nightmare, as you are facing two Garradors along with respawning generic enemies (when the previous fight against a Garrador was simply one on one). However, there is a very simple solution to beating them. Quickly take out the initial cultists in the room, then ring the bell. Both Garradors will charge the bell and be stunned briefly. In this time, shoot them in the back with your rifle to make their parasites appear, then throw a flash grenade and both will instantly die, saving you the trouble of defeating them "properly". Even killing one Garador this way can make the fight much easier. Another option is to save your Large resources and Gunpowder, and chuck multiple Heavy Grenades, which will kill any one Garrador after five of them, and will also kill any nearby Zealots.
• Emergency Weapon: In situations where Leon's primary knife is broken, players can still find Boot Knives or Kitchen Knives as substitutes, but with their minuscule durability, they're truly last resort weapons to ensure you can at least parry or finish off enemies once or twice before you're truly out of options.
• Enemy Mine: Leon and Ada aren't on great terms after her deception in RE2, but they still put aside those differences to take down the Los Iluminados. They seem to be on a mildly better standing by the end.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Los Iluminados cult operating out of Salazar's castle has been diversified to contain female zealots, although it may not be obvious at a glance due to their thick robes and shaved heads.
• Everything Fades: Enemies still fade when they're defeated, though not as frequently unless there's a large number of enemies at once.
• The Exile: The original game alluded to the Los Iluminados cult having a precursor group hundreds of years ago, who were persecuted by Salazar's ancestor and driven out of the region. This persecution was considered justified, given that the Las Plagas were considered a great evil, which is why Salazar's ancestor sealed that away under the castle. The same backstory element is true in the remake, but a stone slab with poetry written on it suggests that the island was where the original Los Iluminados fled to in order to escape punishment. The poetry is credited by a Hester Saddler, obviously one of Osmund Saddler's ancestors.
• Extreme Omnivore: In addition to eggs and fish like in the original game, Leon can now eat snakes as well to recover his health.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The story takes place within a roughly 24 hour timespan, justified by Leon and Ashley being infected with the Las Plagas that will fully take over their bodies by sunrise.
• Eye Scream:
  • If Leon's HP is reduced to zero by an unarmed Ganado in a grapple, the attacker will kill Leon by squashing his eyes with their thumbs, Oberyn Martell-style. The same can happen to Ada in her Separate Ways story.
  • When Leon meets Saddler in person, he immediately shoots him through his eye. It only serves to irritate Saddler a bit.
  • When stunned, Mendez, Salazar and Saddler can each be stabbed on the giant eyes that sprout on their bodies following their mutations. Leon also finishes off Saddler's new One-Winged Angel form by taking his staff and shoving it directly into his eye.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: In keeping with the series tradition, there are now some eyes on some of the Plagas popping out of enemies that weren't there before.
• Fake Longevity: The game can be beaten at least under 4 hours at most if you ignore side quests. The game encourages you to do side quests and upgrade your equipment as you play, which at most would take 5 hours to do due to backtracking, including parts of the game that tells you to go back certain areas you just left from.
• Fanservice Pack: In a very small way. Ashley is more mature-looking and acting than she was in the original, where you would be forgiven from how she looks and acts for thinking she's a high-schooler rather than a twenty-something.
• Fate Worse than Death: Multiple talking points in the story bring up how being subjected to the Las Plagas control can be an experience worse than death as it robs the person of their free will and personality. Luis' own notes on how removing an adult parasite could kill the host even states that "death may be a mercy". The people who experience this trope the worst are the scientists working under Saddler to research on Las Plagas, then ordered to become infected by the parasite. One researcher, Anabel, contemplates in their notes between taking the parasite or ending herself with her gun.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In The Stinger with Ada, one shot of Albert Wesker's monitor shows Excella.
  • In the Campaign Results screen at the end, Hunnigan has several post-it notes on her monitor. One of them suggests the headquarters has Friday night bingo.
• First-Name Basis: Ramon Salazar in the Remake introduces himself as just "Ramon" and Leon also just calls him Ramon throughout the Castle. This is possibly to avoid confusion with the similarly named Saddler.
• Foreshadowing: After escaping from Mendez, there's a cutscene where Leon and Ashley run across some ramshackle scaffolding that starts breaking down from their weight, and they barely make it to the other side before it falls apart and drops into the ravine. It'd be a good idea to remember this after leaving the castle's clock tower, where you encounter similar scaffolding that will collapse on you with lethal results if you run instead of walking slowly across it.
• Fun with Acronyms: In Separate Ways Ada has special contact lenses with an augmented reality overlay called the Interactive Retinal Inquiry System, or "IRIS".
• Funny Background Event: During the first encounter with Salazar, you can see a self-satisfied smirk appear on Ashley's face while Leon starts telling him off.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • While this can only happen on a New Game Plus, it's entirely possible to ring the church bell during the first chapter which will immediately end the village ambush.
  • There's a file about Salazar that reveals he has a severe egg allergy. You can get your hands on an extremely rare golden egg right before the fight against him, which will deal 70% damage to him. Somewhat downplayed, however, as only golden eggs seem to have any effect on him (regular white or brown eggs won't hurt him much).
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Although Luis’ death by a knife stab was tragic, one can wonder why Leon did not use a first aid spray or herb to help considering most gameplay can consist of Leon suffering more grievous wounds like being chopped by farming utilities, bashed by medieval weapons, and such while coming back to good health with said items.
  • Ashley becomes possessed by Saddler in the castle and grabs Leon's knife from him, even injuring his hand when he tries to defend himself. Despite her dropping the knife on the other side of the gate that separates them and she runs away, Leon will still have his knife when the cutscene ends, and doesn't make any visible effort to retrieve it before the next chapter.
• A God Am I: As if it wasn't already apparent enough in the original, Saddler is much more overt with his religious rhetoric in the remake. Talking at great length to Leon about how the world is lost, and this new holy body (parasite) will unify the world. To hammer his conceit in further, Saddler actually had the audacity to write his own version of the Bible but themed around the parasite as its messiah.
• Gory Discretion Shot: While the game is not shy to show off gory kills and deaths, this trope is used for effect in certain scenes.
  • The opening human sacrifice scene does not show the cultist's killing blow to their victim. It shows a swing of an axe, then the scene cuts to blood dripping down the altar.
  • In Separate Ways, this happens if Ada gets killed by the drill trap in the castle. The camera pans away as the drill gores Ada apart, with a splatter of blood to imply the gruesome death.
  • Another one in Separate Ways is Ada's death scene in the laser room on the island. One version has the laser decapitating Ada, with the camera pivoting away to her legs, but the scene cuts to black when it shows a split second of Ada's head hitting the floor. The second version is of a grid laser cutting through Ada, where it shows blood seeping through the cut, but right before Ada's body falls apart to Ludicrous Gibs.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: Ada carries her signature grappling hook pistol to get around otherwise unreachable areas. In Separate Ways, players can use Ada's grapple hook not only to get across areas, but even in combat as a means to melee attack distant enemies and even pull away enemy shields.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Keeping in with RE's tradition of hidden destroyable objects, the remake features the castellan wind-up dolls. Many of them are hidden in easy to miss areas, some of which are one-shot. The only clue you have of their location is the winding noise they make, but even then, the noise is so faint that you may need to be wearing headphones to hear it. For example, the one present in the last chapter is in the portion where Leon and Ashley are escaping the exploding island, in the same room as a bunch of convulsing Ganado. Between the explosions, the agonizing grunts, and the stress of a countdown timer, it can be difficult to find the wind-up doll without knowing where in the room it is.
  • As in the original, treasure maps can be purchased from the merchant to alleviate the issue of having to find all the game's treasure through the need of a guide. However, some of the treasures are stored inside locked drawers, which require a small key to unlock which tend to be difficult to find without a guide. Especially since getting to some of these locked drawers after obtaining the necessary key require doing some backtracking.
• Guns Do Not Work That Way:
  • The Chicago Sweeper appears to be a M1A1 Thompson model specifically, but it's compatible with a drum magazine, when only the 1921/1928 Thompson model is compatible with such magazines.
  • While the scene it occurs in is otherwise a very impressive case of Shown Their Work, Ashley jamming Leon's pistol with a stovepipe malfunction also means the gun is out of battery (i.e. the slide is pushed back from the breech so that the firing mechanisms aren't connected), and thus it shouldn't be able to go "click" when she pulls the trigger again.
• Harder Than Hard:
  • A demo-exclusive case, where the "Chainsaw Demo" had a secret Mad Chainsaw Mode that may pop up randomly when booting the story slice. Not only are enemies even nastier by way of damage output and health, but you get a swift introduction to Super Salvador, a formerly Mercenaries-only encounter in the original game.
    • As of the release of Separate Ways and the corresponding update to Mercenaries mode, the Super Salvador now shows up on the Docks map.
  • Professional Mode returns, applying the harder difficulty from the initially selectable Hardcode mode but with a few tweaks to make it resemble the 2005 original. Perfect parries are the only type of parries available, and the autosave system is disabled, forcing the player to manually save via typewriters. However, all of the weapon upgrades from the Merchant are immediately unlocked in turn. Ironically, this actually makes it more difficult than the original, as the original had checkpoints where you'd respawn on all difficulties, and the checkpoints, along with autosaves, were done away with.
• He Knows Too Much: One scientist found themself under this in Separate Ways, where their research into the "Amber"'s capability end up getting the attention of Saddler, who gives the scientist a Las Plagas parasite to inject themself with under the threat of death.
• Hellish Copter: As typical in the Resident Evil series, the same chapter Mike shows up in to save the day, his helicopter is taken down in a fiery crash.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The red rocket launcher that Ada gives Leon to penetrate Saddler's capsule is revealed in Separate Ways to be specially ordered by Krauser to protect Los Illuminados from outside threats.
• Immune to Flinching:
  • Downplayed with Krauser in The Mercenaries, who can tank through regular enemy attacks when he's in knife stance and slicing away. He still takes damage, but does not stagger easily like the other playable characters unless hit by grabs, explosions, and powerful blows from elite enemies. This is to maximize his efficiency at close-range combat, since his gameplay specializes around it.
  • On Hardcore and Professional, it often takes more than one shot to stagger a ganado. This can be especially jarring as the original gives you the chance to stun targets easily for melee finishers, but the remake's higher difficulties make this a much more dangerous option in a pinch.
• Infinity -1 Sword:
  • The Fighting Knife obtained by defeating Krauser boasts superior durability and attack power compared to Leon's default Combat Knife at base level, and when fully upgraded can easily chew through enemy and even boss health with well-placed attacks. However, the Combat Knife's durability can eventually surpass it, and its relatively weaker strength is compensated by its exclusive upgrade which increases its attack speed. As both knives are still immensely durable and can be upgraded at the Merchant, they're both meant to co-exist with each other rather than the Fighting Knife appearing as a direct upgrade instead. The Primal Knife, meanwhile, can be upgraded to have infinite durability, but its lower power and speed make it a fantastic backup for when the other two knives break, rather than supplanting them outright.
  • The Riot Gun. Its raw damage output when fully upgraded is a bit lower than the W-870's, but the very fast semi-auto rate of fire and tighter choke make it a devastatingly effective shotgun that easily blows Ganados to pieces at mid-to-close range, and is far easier to keep fed compared to your magnums.
• Informed Ability: Separate Ways reveal that the red-colored rocket launcher that Ada provides to Leon to help defeat Saddler is specially ordered by Krauser from Newman Arms Corporation that has enough power to "perforate a battleship's thick hull", with the designers even calling them "somewhat overpowered". However, the red rocket launcher's performance in-game is no different against Saddler as a normal rocket launcher that Leon can purchase from the merchant.
• Insult Backfire: During their second fight, we get this exchange between Leon and Krauser.
  Krauser: You've made it all this way, but you haven't learned a thing! I have to say, I'm disappointed.
  Leon: From you, I take that as a compliment.
• Instakill Mook: Like the original, the chainsaw-wielding villager and sisters are capable of one-hit killing Leon with so much as a swipe by their chainsaws.
• Ironic Echo: Leon believes the world has changed after Raccoon City, saying "you try to save one person, a hundred others die." When Wesker talks to Ada about his plans, he says that "a hundred will give their lives so that just one may live."
• Item Amplifier: Various charms will improve healing when using certain items like Green Herbs or fish.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: If you wish, you can change Ada's outfit to a gorgeous elegant dress that doesn't hinder her whatsoever in her campaign. It's not as revealing as her qipao from the original game, but it's still quite a fancy-looking outfit.
• Knight Templar: Plagas hosts who are still sapient usually support spreading Plagas infestation as a path to world peace.
• Lampshade Hanging: In Separate Ways, Ada does this twice to the more ridiculous traps from the original game, the drill room and the laser hall.
  Ada: (After triggering the drill trap) Who comes up with these things?
  Ada: (After dodging through a laser hallway) Well, that was excessive.
• Law of Inverse Recoil: Zigzagged. Generally, the guns in the remake have the appropriate amount of recoil for their size and power. However, when Leon uses the rocket launcher, he reacts as though it imparts a lot of recoil onto him when firing it, despite the design's intent in real life to be recoilless.
• Laser Hallway: Though the famous laser hallway from the original was cut from Leon's campaign, it makes a return in Ada's story in Separate Ways.
• Lighter and Softer:
  • In comparison to Resident Evil 3 (Remake), the mood of this game is significantly lighter. Leon has more allies both within and outside the danger zone, quips more often to lighten the mood, and the villains are much campier than the Nemesis and Nicholai. Even the trailers chose to present the games differently, given how Jill was often shown struggling and dying horribly in RE3R previews, while Leon is presented more like a flashy action hero who evades death like a pro.
  • Playing the game reveals that at least a few favorite lines are being kept from the original, as well, including Leon's famous "Where's everybody going? Bingo?" at the end of the village battle.
  • The first Ganado Leon comes across no longer viciously curses him out when Leon tries to talk to him, rather he settles for some spaced out mumbling before attacking Leon.
  • There are no references to Ashley having "ballistics"
• Ludicrous Gibs:
  • Can happen to Leon if he is killed by an explosion, most notably a dynamite stick from a Ganado. He is reduced to a messy pile of blood, with not a hint of his body remaining.
  • Also can happen to Ada in a same manner during the Separate Ways DLC, but she also has another death scene in her story of being cut apart by a grid laser on the island, although the scene cuts to black before her body falls apart.
  • Ultimately how the monster Martinico is killed, by being taken through the laser room and cut apart by the grid laser.
• Magikarp Power: If you stick with them long enough, Leon's starting handgun (the SG-09 R) and the first shotgun you find (the W-870) end up being some of the most powerful weapons in the game when fully upgraded with their exclusive upgrades. The former gets a huge critical hit bonus while the latter gets a double damage boost, both of which tend to make them far better than other weapons in their respective classes.
• Male Gaze: Ada's behind takes up a lot of the frame in cutscenes. Notably Ashley is much more relaxed in this regard, camera angles take different shots when compared to Leon so as to not focus on her rear.
• Men Are the Expendable Gender: Averted more than the original game. In the original, the only female enemies were during the Village segment, starting with the Castle, you faced nothing but men except for the brief trip in the mine. In the remake, female zealots appear as enemies in the Castle, with only the Island portion lacking any, as Saddler's private army is still all-male.
• Meta Twist: Early on in the original game, if you freed the dog stuck in a bear trap, it would later return to help you in a boss fight. This time around, the dog in the bear trap is long dead by the time you arrive. Except later on, you find another dog that is in another bear trap yet very much alive. Once freed, this dog will later return to help with the same boss fight.
• Microtransactions: Following the release of the game (and released on online storefronts the same day that Mercenaries Mode was released), Capcom added a series of Golden Tickets to the store. These tickets work identically to the Silver Tickets you can obtain from the Merchant for 30 or 40 Spinels per playthrough, however, they instead cost actual money from the player. These tickets are sold in six sets of single tickets for $2.99 USD each, four sets of three tickets for $6.99, and one set of five tickets for $9.99. Each individual ticket or ticket bundle is its own purchase, and can only be purchased once. Without sales tax applied or any store discounts (depending on platform), the tickets cost a total of $55.89 (for 23 tickets total). Each ticket appears in your inventory by default on every playthrough, will appear in your inventory on every new game (but do not refresh on New Game +), and can either be used to immediately gain access to an exclusive upgrade, or can be sold for 80,000 Pesetas each (possibly netting you 1,840,000 Pesetas). May also overlap with Bribing Your Way to Victory, as players can use these tickets to make completing the game's S/S+ challenges significantly easier ^note Example: Unlock the Handcannon via Mercenaries mode, then start a new game on Professional and use a golden ticket on the Handcannon when you meet the merchant in Chapter 2. You now have infinite ammo right near start of your new save file before you've fought a single major boss, rather than hoarding spinels and obtaining a silver ticket when you reach the castle (Chapter 7).
• Missing Backblast: The rocket launcher will not roast Ashley nor other enemies should they happen to be behind Leon when he fires it. Leon himself will also not be impacted if he uses the launcher in enclosed spaces.
• Money Is Experience Points: Pesetas can be used to upgrade your weapons as in the original game.
• Mood Dissonance:
  • In the days leading up to the game's March 24 release, Capcom, in collaboration with Nippon Animation, launched a series of short promotional videos done in the style of World Masterpiece Theater that cast Leon and Ashley in what's basically a surreal Affectionate Parody of a lighthearted children's TV show. It has to be seen to be believed.
  • Separate Ways opens to a Luis performing a dance routine in his cell, while at the same time showing the Los Iluminados cultists torturing and killing fellow prisoners.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ashley gets briefly possessed by the Plagas at one point and attempts to stab Leon with his own knife, piercing his hand when he defends himself. When the mind control wears off, she is sobbing to herself in shame about what happened, believing her to be a danger to him.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The design of Leon's leather bomber jacket for this game is recycled from the scrapped design used in the Castle and Hallucination builds of the original game.
  • Another reference to the Hallucination build is during Ashley's solo section where she walks down a hall filled with the mounted heads of hunting trophies. One mounted stag head falls off of the wall, scaring Ashley, much like how a mounted stag head fell off the wall during the hallucination segment when Leon approaches it.
  • Ashley's starting outfit is very similar to an unused model for Ashley back in one of the scrapped builds for the original RE4.
  • One of the DLC weapons, the Sentinel Nine, actually originated as an airsoft model made by Tokyo Marui to promote Resident Evil 6, but only first showed up in the franchise proper in Resident Evil: Vendetta as Leon's primary weapon.
  • The Bolt Thrower is essentially a crossbow version the Mine Thrower from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
  • When Leon is struggling to parry Dr. Salvador's chainsaw, their poses briefly recreate one of the promotional images◊ of the original game where Dr. Salvador successfully lands his chainsaw on Leon.
  • The dog that Leon can save from a bear trap is found later, in Chapter 3 rather than Chapter 1. A dead dog can be seen caught in a trap in roughly the same place as the original game for those who remember.
  • An abandoned truck can be found right before the castle drawbridge. This references a sequence from the original that involves a Ganado attempting to run Leon over with one at the same location.
  • Another abandoned truck is found just beyond the hunting lodge at the start of the game, the same one that originally ran the cops off the road.
  • One of Ashley's lines is "I'm pretty much the master of unlocking."
  • Classic lines from the original that didn't make it into the dialogue became the name of achievements/trophies, such as "Grilled Big Cheese" (after beating Mendez), "No Thanks, Bro" (after beating Salazar), "You Used To Be a Good Guy" (after beating Krauser) and "You're Small Time!" (after beating Saddler).
  • Suplexing enemies is changed to only allow you to so do after shooting an enemy in the knee and approaching them from behind. Occasionally though, zealot and soldier enemies will spin around 180 degrees after being kneecapped, effectively letting you perform suplexes like you would in the original game. ^note The animation for the takedown is still a German suplex and not an overhead suplex.
  • Visiting the Merchant's shooting gallery with Ashley in tow will have her take a seat atop a large barrel and coquettishly cross her legs, mimicking a well-known piece of her character art from the original game. In addition, the music that plays when you enter the bonus mode in the minigame remixes the vocal song from the first cutscene in the original game.
  • The charms obtained from the shooting gallery all reuse the models from the 2005 game.
  • The unlockable "Primal Knife", which can be upgraded to be unbreakable, is the exact same design that Leon carried in the 2005 game. The Fighting Knife, which is obtained by defeating Krauser, is identical to Krauser's mean-looking knife from the original.
  • During Krauser's boss fight before his transformation, Leon makes mention of an old injury in Krauser's arm, which is a nod to the original timeline where Krauser suffered a debilitating arm wound in Darkside Chronicles that caused his Start of Darkness.
  • Female zealots are now in the game, after they were cut from the early development cycle of the final build of the original RE4.
  • The same "crappy script" exchange between Salazar and Leon in the radio comms from the original game is retained in Salazar's boss fight.
    Salazar: You're nothing but an extra in my script, Mr. Kennedy. So don't get too carried away. Your biggest scene is over.
    Leon: Leave me out of your crappy script.
    Salazar: Well then, why don't you show my what a first-class script is like... through your own actions!
  • The last file obtained in the Castle arc is written by the Salazar family's housekeeper, resolving to stay and keep watch over him until the very end despite knowing he was too far gone. Said housekeeper became the Verdugo who, in the original game, took this to the extreme by fusing with him for his boss fight and death.
  • In the ending, Ada offers a chopper ride to Leon when the island begins to blow up. Leon rejects it and in turn namedrops Ada's side campaign from the original when he states that they need to go their "separate ways".
  • In "The Wandering Dead" side quest, your objective is to destroy an Iron Maiden that has many more parasites in its body than normal; not only is this the only instance of a Regenerator being a Maiden straight from the get-go^*every other one shows up after you destroy the parasites in the 'normal' forms, leaving only a single one in its head, but you fight it back in the Incubation Lab that you found the 4 suspended Regenerators in. This is a nod to when you first ran into an Iron Maiden back in the original game in a similar room, which also included more parasites on its body compared to the Regenerator's beforehand.
  • The appearance and motions of the Clockwork Castellan collectibles (which are clockwork toys) are based on the infamous Salazar mecha statue from the original game.
  • In the original game, an easily-discoverable Easter Egg lets Leon sit on the weird Saddler throne room found on the Island. In the remake, Saddler's throne room was cut, but the Easter Egg has been retained and transplanted onto Salazar's throne room in the Castle, which is now explorable with backtracking after Leon escapes from the mines.
  • When discussing the situation in the village with Ada in Separate Ways, Wesker asks her to "consider the village infected. Complete local saturation.", a reference to his memetic "complete global saturation" line from Resident Evil 5
  • In the original game, Leon kept mispronouncing Luis's name as "Lewis." In this game, he now says it with the correct Spanish pronunciation, but this time around, Wesker is the one who keeps saying his name the incorrect way in Separate Ways.
  • In Chapter 4 of Separate Ways, when Ada and Luis comes across a locked door, Luis searched his body only to sheepishly reveal that he must have dropped the key, which is a nod to a scene in the original version when Luis meets up with Leon in the castle trying to give him the medicine against Las Plagas, only to awkwardly reveal he must have dropped it while running away.
  • The laser hallway in the original game was always a massive homage to the 2002 live action film, but the Separate Ways DLC takes it up a notch with the lasers themselves taking on a blue color forming into a square pattern that winds up slicing someone into pieces. The unfortunate victim would be the original monster Martinico here, though Ada can fall victim to this too if the correct button prompt is not pressed in time.
  • The "Chapter End" theme in Separate Ways is a reworking of Ada's theme in the 1998 original Resident Evil 2, which played during a tender moment between her and Leon.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • One of Leon's escorts, who was previously known as "Beard Cop" and credited in the remake as "Veteran Officer", is now named Mario Fernandez Castaño.
  • Luis' surname is changed slightly, from Sera to Serra-Navarro in order to align with Spanish traditions of having two surnames, one from the father and one from the mother. It also helps indicates Luis' relation with the village when Leon comes across notes about the Navarro family.
  • The Plaga type that emerge from the Ganado now have names aside from their "Type A/B/C" designations. Type A is now the Guadaña (Scyte), Type B is the Mandíbula (Mandible), and Type C is the Araña (Spider).
  • Zigzagged with the standard villager enemies. All of their respective charms gives them their names from the original game: Don Jose, Don Manuel, Don Diego, Don Pedro, Isabel and Maria. Dr. Salvador and the Bella Sisters keep their names in the charms, though they lose them in their models- which refer to them as "Chainsaw Villager" and "Chainsaw Sisters", respectively.
  • A note reveals that the Verdugo that chases Leon was once a castle servant named Isidro Uriarte Talavera.
  • In Separate Ways, the name of black-robe Verdugo, also known as U-3, is revealed to be Pesanta from the housekeeper that Isidro experimented on.
• Nerf:
  • While they're still very useful in combat, headshots don't always guarantee a stun like in the original and melee attacks are likely to only knock down two or three enemies at a time as opposed to, say, an entire group.
  • Downplayed with your rifles, which have been tweaked to be a bit more Difficult, but Awesome than before. The base damage rate is much lower compared to their counterparts from the original game, but you get a large damage multiplier for hitting a target's weak point. So basically, they pack the same heavy punch as always if you nail a headshot, but limb or torso shots will take a lot more rounds to kill an enemy than they used to.
  • The duration that enemies are stunned for by flash grenades is much shorter, making them less useful for crowd control. Their effective radius has also been dramatically reduced.
  • Hunk in The Mercenaries takes longer to do his Neck breaker attack, preventing him from chaining multiple neck-snaps together as easily. This is offset by elite enemies now being susceptible to the Neck breaker, however.
  • The weapons in the game no longer have laser sights. Instead, the game implements a crosshair blur system, meaning weapons outside of rifles or handguns compatible with the purchasable laser sight are a lot more unwieldy unless you stand perfectly still and wait for the reticule to tighten. This is especially true for weapons such as the Red9 and the TMP, both of which now suffer from poor accuracy even with their respective stocks attached (the TMP more so than the Red9, due to the former's wider spread).
  • Both the Handcannon and Chicago Sweeper have all around worse stats than their original incarnations. ^note For comparison, the remake's Handcannon has a firepower of 36 when fully upgraded, but in the original, it could reach a maximum firepower of 99.9. And as mentioned before, their accuracies are greatly reduced due to the removal of laser sights; their respective spreads are so wide you often need to be right in an enemy's face or spend a long time steadying your aim to consistently hit them. They're still quite powerful, but the Sweeper no longer shreds bosses nearly as easily as before (though its lack of precision ironically makes it excellent for crowd control and reining in annoyingly fast, evasive enemies like Colmillos and Novistadores), while the Handcannon's even lower accuracy and slow firing rate make it a poor choice for dealing with faster baddies. Like the Primal Knife, they're balanced more towards supplementing your weaponry rather than out and out replacing them even with their exclusive upgrades.
  • The Rocket Launcher is still a One-Hit Kill on a direct hit, but its blast radius has been greatly reduced and it no longer has a scope, making it less accurate at longer ranges.
  • Leon's tactical vest, dubbed the "body armor" in the remake, now has a durability meter and a slightly costly repair fee. Zig-zagged in that it now completely absorbs certain types of damage, like explosions (at the cost of higher damage to the armor itself).
• New Game Plus: A signature game mode of the original RE4, you have the ability to keep all your belongings (barring story-related keys) when heading into a new playthrough. Unlike the original though, you can opt to bring them in on other difficulties as well, allowing you to head into a Hardcore or even a Professional run with a fully upgraded arsenal if you so chose to. The game still allows you to clear challenges as well while on such a run, with the only noted penalty being that the player cannot achieve a final rank of S+ for that playthrough.
• No-Gear Level:
  • After being subdued and chained up with Luis, Leon begins Chapter 2 with nothing except his clothes (minus the jacket) and must work through a short segment using only the knives he finds before he can reclaim his gear.
  • Later on in the Castle, when Leon and Ashley get split up, Ashley must work through several areas with only a lantern and whatever she finds that she can throw until she reunites with Leon.
• No Kill like Overkill: The cannons in the castle are now fully controllable and can be aimed around. You can use them to take out any common enemies around you and even get an achievement for it.
• Noodle Incident: The exact specifics of this version's Operation Javier are left vague outside of Krauser's unit being wiped out and the government apparently leaving him for dead. Krauser's intel file gives a little more context as to what Krauser's unit was doing in South America, but no clear explanation as to why the US government abandoned them.
• Notice This: Interactive elements (primarily barrels that can be smashed for resources or windows that can be leaped through) are stuck with faded yellow tape or splotched with yellow paint. This mechanic is carried over from Resident Evil Village and was also utilized to a lesser extent in every other RE Engine-based title since Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
• Not So Stoic: Leon goes through the entire game's ordeal relatively calm and stoic. However, the minecart section in the mines with Luis has him screaming, compared to Luis who treats it like a roller-coaster.
• Obvious Rule Patch: The unlockable cat ears give you infinite ammo for every weapon... except the Bolt Thrower, whose missed shots can be retrieved and put back into your inventory, so no farming bolts to sell for easy money. Of course, since getting the cats ears requires acing the hardest difficulty, it's unlikely you care about money at that point.
• Oh, Crap!: Ashley's reaction to the catapults in the castle entrance.
  Ashley: No way! They have catapults!?
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: When a temporary Plaga-possessed Ashley takes Leon's knife and wounds him with it, Leon eases the incident from a My God, What Have I Done? moment to this by teasing her crazed knife handling. First by joking about it when they reunite at the end of Chapter 8, and again at the end of the game when Leon suggests that Ashley "take up a few knife lessons".
• One Bullet Clips: While the "magic ammo pool" element is still in effect, what the game does account for is the "one in the chamber" — partial reloads for magazine-fed handguns include a "+1" in the ammo count to indicate this. Oddly though, this attention to detail doesn't extend to other magazine-fed guns.
• One-Hit Kill: Several enemies have the ability to instantly kill Leon no matter how much health he has.
  • The iconic chainsaw-wielding villagers return, and will gore Leon to death the moment their blade contact Leon.
  • The Plaga Mandíbula variant can do this to Leon by chomping down on his head and biting it off.
  • Several grapples by bosses and sub-bosses can also instantly kill Leon if the proper prompts are not pressed in time.
  • Getting caught in an automated gun's laser field will result in Leon being instantly cut down by a hail of bullets, regardless of his health or armor levels.
• One-Man Army: Leon proves to be this, capable enough to take down with the entire Los Iluminados cult with nothing more than the weapons he carries in his cache.
• Optional Boss: New to the remake are special bonus bosses that are given as side missions for spinels. There is one per segment of the game:
  • In the Village, there is a very durable parasite dog with a special attack that strikes out at long range multiple times, requiring Leon to parry multiple times in rapid sequence.
  • In the Castle, there is a golden Armadura. It starts out flanked by two standard Armaduras that can be taken out like normal. The golden Armadura is the variety with the parasite sticking out of the back of it's "neck", making it harder to hit, and it takes much more damage before it's helmet can be knocked off (at which point a flash grenade finishes it off). On top of the vertical slice that standard Armadura's can do, it also has a horizontal slice that must be avoided with a dodge prompt.
  • On the Island, there is a unique Iron Maiden that has more weak nodes to shoot in order to kill it along with much faster movement speed. To top things off, it appears in the room with the four Regenerador tanks, 3 of which may still be alive if you haven't taken care of them. They can join the battle to make things a lot more hectic.
• Optional Stealth: You can stealth kill certain enemies by sneaking up behind them, but stealth overall isn't mandatory unless your resources are low. This even applies to the brief Stealth-Based Mission during Chapter 2; if the player is fast and careful enough, Leon can just run past the enemies and get his gear back without having to use stealth at all (or just carve them up with a kitchen knife, since enemies aren't especially tanky this time out even on the hardest difficulty).
• Orcus on His Throne: Wesker in Separate Ways. Despite having superhuman capabilities and even showing up in-person during Ada's mission to save her or assign her additional missions, he makes no effort to help out any further, letting Ada handle all of the dirty work of retrieving the "Amber".
• Outside-the-Box Tactic:
  • As suicidally bad an idea as it sounds, taking on the Regeneradores with your knives is actually a viable strategy, so long as your reflexes are decent. Parrying will cut off their hands when they swipe at you, and the knife's damage hitbox can go through their entire torso and destroy their internal parasites. Once you have the technique down, this can save you loads of ammo (just don't try it on Iron Maidens).
  • You can also take out enemies in the Mine Cart section by shooting their carts instead of them. It may require a few extra bullets to do the job, but the substantially bigger target makes it a lot harder to miss.
• People Puppets: Saddler uses the Plagas inside Leon and Ashley to control their movements when it becomes apparent that they are resisting his Mind Control.
• Permanently Missable Content: If the player accidentally gets rid of or eats the Lunker Bass, it will not spawn again, making completing the side quest for it impossible.
• Pint-Size Powerhouse: The DLC weapon, Skull Shaker, is a compact lever-action shotgun that only takes up a 1x5 space in the inventory and holds a max of six shells, but when upgraded well, it can hold its own.
• Plot Tunnel: Once the double Garrador fight starts halfway through Chapter 10, the gates will close behind Leon and he won't be able to return to previous areas of the castle until the start of Chapter 12, which gives him one last chance to explore the castle before crossing the Point of No Return.
• Point of No Return: While the maps are a little more backtrack friendly than they were in the original, Salazar's castle in particular letting you explore nearly every inch of it until its own late PONR, there are still ample moments where an event or set piece will prevent you from returning to a previous subsection of the map. The Merchant is usually pretty good about giving you a heads up of these approaching, but there's at least one instance of his warning coming after one such point (you can't backtrack once you've activated the lift in the clock tower, but he only warns you when you've already reached the top).
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Whereas Leon regularly and casually throws S and F-Bombs in exasperation and jest, Salazar makes a conscious effort to always use polite and formal vocabulary even when enraged, and never using modern profanity or slang. This is mocked by Leon during their final battle in the remake, where Salazar screams the rudest word allowed by his practically Victorian Era upbringing:
  Salazar: Damn You! Damn You!
  Leon: "Language, My Lord!" What will the others think of you?"
  Salazar: "It means death! IT! MEANS! DEATH!!!
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Saddler's anti-American streak is transferred to Salazar for the remake, and combined with good old aristocratic classism in his taunts towards Leon.
  • Wesker keeps pronouncing Luis as 'Louis.' A show of his usual antipathy and a nod to the frequent mispronunciations in the original Resident Evil 4.
• Power Up Letdown: In-universe, Leon doesn't seem to think too highly of Krauser's mutated form, scoffing at its weakness and quipping that he oughta get a refund for it.
• Product Placement: The June 2022 State of Play trailer includes a note that Leon's bomber jacket is modeled after this snappy number, available from Schott NYC for only $1,495. And yes, there is already a five-star review from "Leon":
  Brought this with me to Spain while searching for the Presidents missing daughter, very comfortable and cozy!
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: Some of the most beneficial accessories are also some of the goofiest looking in such an otherwise serious horror game, like the Deer Antlers that give your knife a huge damage buff and the infinite-ammo Cat Ears that return from Resident Evil 2 (Remake).
• Random Drop Booster: Various attaché cases will increase the drop rate of certain items.
• Reduced Resource Cost: Various charms will increase the frequency of crafting bonus ammunition or require less resources when crafting.
• Related in the Adaptation: Of a sort. Notes indicate that the Novistadors have been given the official label of U-2 while Verdugo is U-3, adding a connection between the two of them and indicating one with the otherwise cut U-3 from the original game.
• Remixed Level: Overlapping with Mythology Gag, the game delights in taking elements from numerous chapters from the original game and blending them together, often substantially remixing environments so they play out loosely the same but with very different pacing.
  • An early example is Chapter 2, which contains elements from 1-2 and 1-3 of the original game. In the original, Leon wakes up next to Luis in the valley compound, journeys through an abandoned factory, and ends the chapter at the Village Chief's House. In the remake, Leon wakes up next to Luis in the abandoned factory, enters into the valley compound from where he exited it in the original game, and then proceeds up to the Village Chief's House.
  • The Novistador waterway, a hedge maze trip with involving the Blue Moonstone key item, U-3 boss fight, stone ceiling crushers, drill puzzle room, cable car, and laser hallway sequences have been transplanted from Leon's campaign to Ada's Separate Ways campaign. The cable car sequence in particular has also been transplanted from the Village to the Island. Additionally, the bizarre scene where Mendez attacks Leon in his room (right after letting him go) was also remixed into a Separate Ways scene starring Ada. Conversely, Ada's altar sacrifice and escape sequence has been (loosely) remixed into the remake's opening Human Sacrifice sequence.
• Retcon: The events of Operation Javier have been altered significantly. Though the details of the mission are unknown, it now involves an entire unit instead of a two-man operation. Said unit was left for dead by the US government with Krauser being the only survivor. This also changes the circumstances of Krauser's Face–Heel Turn as he became disillusioned with the government instead of losing his right arm and being relieved of active duty forced him to turn to Wesker for power.
• Rewatch Bonus: Those who have played the original or are on their New Game Plus playthrough know that the first village fight ends when the church bell subdues the villagers from aggressively attacking Leon. Instead of waiting for Ada to ring it, the player can shoot at it themselves and effectively end the fight early, saving time and resources.
• Rule of Cool:
  • Leon has the ability to parry most attacks in the game with his knife, which includes Dr. Salvador's and Bella Sisters' One-Hit Kill chainsaws, creating a shower of sparks when the weapons lock.
  • Leon performs backflips often as his dodge maneuver, even when it's unnecessary. The best example of this is his first encounter with the Chainsaw/Bella Sisters. Yes, he could've just stepped back to avoid their chainsawing entry into the cabin, but opts for an epic backflip off of the wall the Chainsaw Sisters are cutting through and make a Three-Point Landing.
  • When escaping the island at the end of the game, you can perform tricks with your jet ski just like you could in the original. Unlike the original, this inexplicably earns you pesatas.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun: The Skull Shaker, which is DLC you have to pay real money for, is a Mare's Leg-style Winchester 1887 shotgun. It lacks the same punching power as the Shotgun and the Riot Gun and has a measly capacity, but it's still a shotgun, and the low recoil, cool reload animation and tiny inventory space requirement make it worth consideration (and both DLC weapons can actually be upgraded now, unlike the AW-01 pistol from Village).
• Self-Deprecation: Capcom knows how longtime fans of the original regard Ashley as a totally useless pain in the neck that must be constantly rescued, whose only redeeming quality is how cute and cuddly she is, and runs with it in the adorably animated parody commercials used to promote the remake. It's almost as if the developers are preemptively apologizing to newcomers who are about to endure the same ordeal of babysitting her that veterans had to. They've also made Ashley much more bearable this time.
• Sequence Breaking: There are some not-so obvious methods that the game provides to be more speedrunner friendly. Here are some of the more crucial ones:
  • On a New Game Plus, Leon can shoot the church bell south of the village to immediately end the village fight.
  • During the first chapter, it's possible to break the lock to the room containing the wooden cog needed to open the gate at the farm by shooting said lock through the window or throwing a grenade, as opposed to having to climb up the ladder at the gate then back-tracking to get up to the second level of the building.
  • The gallery fight in Chapter 9 can be skipped by throwing a grenade or using the Bolt Thrower with a mine attachment to kill the Zealot before it lowers the bridge. Alternatively, you could also use a flash grenade to stun the Zealot.
  • The rocket launcher can destroy the rocks blocking your path during the mine section.
  • Using a rocket launcher or even just three hand grenades on the wall during the wrecking ball sequence will speed up its destruction. This also works on the anti-aircraft gun (although it'll be tricky since the anti-aircraft gun is above you, requiring some practice with your aim).
• Shoot the Mage First: The red-robed zealots now have the power to cause Plagas to burst out of their lesser counterparts' heads on command, as well as giving Leon and Ashley severe migraines that slow their movement. Shooting them before they start chanting "Glorias Las Plagas!" will negate their abilities.
• Shout-Out:
  • Luis, a true Spaniard, references Don Quixote in one scene, and appropriately he and Leon fights off two El Gigantes later, similar to Don Quixote fighting off his giants.
    Luis: *hoists up length of pipe* Come, Sancho Panza! Let us rescue the Princess Dulcinea.
    Leon: (snarkily) You're going to hurt yourself. *takes Luis' pipe away*
    Luis: (slightly insulted) Hey! ...That was my lance.
  • Ashley's broken phone is clearly a Motorola Razr (minus any potentially copyright infringing logos on it), a popular cell phone sold around the time of the original game's release.
  • During his second boss fight, Krauser paraphrases a line from another of Capcom's power-obsessed antagonists:
    Krauser: Strength is everything. The weak can protect nothing! ^note Vergil: Might controls everything. And without strength you can not protect anything.
  • After defeating the Knights, Leon will quip: "Nighty night, Knights."
  • Just like in the original game, the Killer7 magnum takes its name from Killer7, which, alongside RE4, were both part of the "Capcom Five" lineup for the Nintendo GameCube. The remake adds to the reference by giving it an exclusive upgrade that massively increases critical hit chance - in Killer7, critical hits are a major part of combat. Furthermore, the gun (be it from RE4 or K7) resembles the laser-equipped AMT Hardballer used in The Terminator.
  • The musical-cue that heralds the arrival of an El Gigante, which bears more than a passing resemblence to the Cave Troll in The Fellowship of The Ring, is the screeching-howl of a discordant horn, distinctly resembling that of the "Uruk-Hai of Isengard and Mordor" motiff written by Howard Shore for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
  • The climax of the Rollercoaster Mine sequence where Luis accidentally snaps the brakes to his and Leon's out-of-control mine-cart and sheepishly shows The Hero the broken lever is a homage to how Short Round also breaks the brake and awkwardly shows it to Indy during Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
  • One to Dirty Harry, getting 5 kills with a magnum unlocks the "Got a problem, punk?" challenge, referencing Harry's habit of calling two-bit crooks punks.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Leon's weapon handling is top notch, showing realistic tactics that are used by professional police and military. The gun reloads are also handled properly.
  • Mixed with Bilingual Bonus, but the Castilian Spanish-accented Ganados also speak with properly structured Castilian Spanish. When Leon's alone, they say "Puedes correr, pero no te puedes esconder", and when he's not, they say "Podéis correr, pero no os podéis esconder", which even averts the Spexico trope. They both mean "You can run, but you can't hide".^{Spanish 101}In English, there is no way to distinguish a singular or plural "you" without context (though most people say "you all" or "y'all" in plural contexts). In Spanish, "tú" is the informal singular "you" while "usted" is formal. The plural "you" is "ustedes" which according to the above sounds like the formal plural "you", but it isn't for most Spanish-speakers, it's just the normal pronoun and has no formality to it. Except in, you guessed it, Spain. That country uses the pronoun "vosotros" as the plural form of "tú". "Vosotros" results in -áis, -éis, or ís suffixes in verbs, while "ustedes" results in -an or -en suffixes. The reflexive pronoun reflects this, as "os" is the reflexive pronoun for "vosotros" while "se" is the reflexive one for "ustedes". Anywhere else in the Spanish-speaking world, you would hear "Pueden correr, pero no se pueden esconder". When playing as Ada, the appropriate feminine endings are used by ganado, as well, ie "matala" instead of "matalo".
    • As an additional note, the Ganados speak with the correct variation of the European dialect, mostly spoken by older people, which sound much archaic than the modern, post-2000 variation, which is heavily influenced on Latin American dialects, due to the influence of the internet.
    • In the case of subtitles, when the Spanish police and Luis called Leon a "Yankee", the subtitle shows the correct Spanish variation of the word, “Yanqui”.
  • Leon uses the CAR stance (Center Axis Relock) when he's at close range with enemies. The CAR stance provides numerous benefits, and is a good idea for close encounters. The 45 degree angle allows for quicker sight acquisition on targets, and allows for faster switching between targets. The 45 degree angle plus the cupping of both hands over the length of the handgun provides better recoil control. The extra tension put in the elbows plus the gun being pulled back towards the chest makes it harder for the enemy to wrestle the gun out of the shooter's hands. There's no gun technique that is "perfect" necessarily, but given Leon's police and military training this is a technique that he would have a reasonable chance of knowing about.
  • During a partial reload, Leon will put the old magazine away, and then place the new one into the mag well of the handgun. Leon wouldn't dispose of a perfectly good magazine that still has ammo in it. This partial reload also reflects that there is still one bullet left in the chamber, so Leon has however many bullets are in the magazine plus one bullet extra in the chamber to fire. Sadly this +1 feature does not apply to other magazine fed weapons like the rifle or the submachine guns, which would allow for the same result.
  • The Punisher's 5.7x28mm rounds are properly modeled in the magazine, being closer in appearance to small rifle rounds (which is accurate to the 5.7mm round, being a small-caliber round designed for light armor penetration).
  • The pump action shotgun does not have the pump pulled back during a partial reload, because that would simply extract the current shell loaded in the shotgun's chamber. Only when Leon has put fresh shells in an empty shotgun, does he rack back the pump action, in order to load a shell contained inside the magazine tube.
  • The knife fighting between Krauser and Leon is handled much more realistically compared to the original fight. Attempts to stab are not unknown in a knife fight, but professionals prefer to use quick omni-directional slashes in order to hit as many vital points as possible to bleed the opponent out. The original fight relied too much on stabbing attempts and had their knives clash, which is remarkably rare for such a small target. Krauser did have ambush attacks from behind in the original, but most of his attacks were from the front. In the remake, Krauser is much more persistent about trying to maneuver around Leon to flank him on his more vulnerable side or back regions.
  • The Regeneradors' healing factor is treated with a little bit more realism (insofar as such a creature can be), since heat is factored into the equation. The exposed regeneration cores glow in the dark, suggesting that the Plagas cores are producing vast quantities of energy to enable the high speed regeneration. When the Regenerador regenerates a body part, huge amounts of steam pour out of the freshly grown limb, something that would only happen if the flesh was producing an enormous amount of heat. If hyper fast regeneration was ever a real thing, the heat produced by regenerated body would look very similar to what's presented in the game. On a physics level, the amount of energy needed to regrow a body part at those speeds would likely boil to such an extreme degree that the blood inside the person would expand and explode. This is to say nothing of the hyper fast blood pressure the Regenerador would be undergoing, because the new limbs would receive their nutrients from the blood carried through the body. The Regenerador exploding upon death is one of the most realistic depictions of what would happen to a fantasy healing factor. Where the Las Plagas gets the nutrients necessary to sustain this regeneration is another matter altogether, and that issue borders on magic.
  • When Saddler mind controls Ashley to use Leon's handgun on Leon, the gun jams. This is not plot armor, but a reasonable occurrence. ^note Guns are recoil operated, and use an internal spring mechanism to pull back the slide of the chamber, which then ejects the old round and then pushes forward a new round into the chamber. This kind of jam is to be expected when the ejection mechanism has worn out due to repeat firing, let alone if the gun has taken blunt force trauma. This jam can also happen if the shooter is "limp wristing it", meaning that they're not letting the recoil hit their hand properly. The entire point of the recoil spring is that the recoil felt by the explosion of gas from the bullet is supposed to hit the gun, so that the recoil can put pressure on the spring and cycle the action. If you don't hold the gun properly then the recoil doesn't hit the gun properly and the force is instead transmitted to the frame, weakening the ejection cycle and preventing the casing from ejecting fully. The already fired casing then gets ejected weaker than it should and jams in the ejection port as the slide returns forward. In short, Ashley is an inexperienced shooter and her hand quite visibly wobbles around in fear; perfect conditions for a "limp-wristing" malfunction, formally named a "failure to eject" or more commonly called a "stovepipe" jam. You can clearly see that the slide is too far back and there's a cartridge jamming. Leon also checks the gun in textbook fashion when he gets it back, clearing it.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • Leon shuts down the bosses during their penultimate encounters, perhaps most pointedly and amusingly in his final encounter with Salazar:
    Salazar: Such a fool, Mr. Kennedy. To have been bestowed with Lord Saddler's grace...
    Leon: (sighs) You talk too much. (raises his pistol and aims)
    Salazar: ...and yet fail to - AGH! (is shot twice in his chest) You vulgar, utterly uncivilized-! (is interrupted with a perfectly-placed headshot that sends him plummeting over the platform's edge.) Mongrel...
  • As a Call-Back to the trapdoor scene from the original game, you can also pull this on him throughout the level. Shooting the loudspeakers he taunts you through will cut off the speech early and cause him to give off an Evil Laugh instead.
• Significant Name Shift: Throughout their interactions, Major Jack Krauser calls Leon Kennedy "rookie", being his former instructor during his training as a government agent. Once defeated in his Boss Battle, Krauser tells Leon how proud he is of how far he's come and refers to him as "Leon" in his dying moments.
• Skippable Boss:
  • The entire village fight can be completely skipped by shooting the church bell, causing it to ring early... that is, if they've finished the game at least once.
  • The first Garrador can be skipped by opening the gate quickly enough.
  • Like the original game, the Verdugo doesn't need to be killed to advance but avoiding and running from its attacks to wait for the elevator can take a long time.
• Spexico: Averted. Unlike the original, in which the Ganados spoke with a Mexican accent, this time around they actually do speak with a clearer, Castilian Spanish accent appropriate to the setting, which also extends to Leon's police escorts.
• Spy Fiction: Just like the original, since the narrative focuses on the conflict between the opposing interests of the Secret Agents Leon & Ada, RE4 remake is as much a Spy Thriller as it is a Survival Horror Game. With its downplaying of fun gadgets (except for Ada’s grappling-hook-gun) and one goofy unnecessary backflip from Leon, the game as a whole is too grim & grounded to ever reach the Roger Moore “Tuxedo and Martini” camp and fun of the original. It still runs between a seductive-and-cynical Timothy Dalton “Dirty Martini” when the narrative focuses on Ada, to a moody-yet-witty Pierce Brosnan “Stale Beer” when Leon takes the spotlight.
• Spy Speak: The "Emails" file found on the island implies that Luis' "got a smoke" question to Leon and Ada is this, as a way to confirm he is contacting with an agent sent by Albert Wesker, alluding to the conversation had by their emails.
  A.W.: You still remember the code phrase, I assume?
  Luis: Relax, I haven't forgotten. [...] Think you can pick me up a pack of smokes on the way? Any brand is fine.
• Stab the Picture: Krauser keeps a picture of Leon which he stabbed with a knife, highlighting how much he resents the latter and wants him dead.
• Stealth-Based Mission: Very briefly occurs when Leon is captured after finding Luis. The villagers actually take all of Leon's gear this time instead of just his cool jacket, so he has to sneak through a ruined factory silently eliminating Ganados with knives he finds scattered about until he can regain his equipment.
• The Stinger: After leaving the island with the Amber by helicopter, Ada contacts Wesker and asks him about his plan with it. Hearing that Wesker's endgame involves killing billions of people, Ada forces the pilot to turn around.
• Super Mode: New to this game's iteration on the Mercenaries game mode is the Mayhem Mode gauge, which fills up at different rates and with dramatically different effects for each character. Leon's baseline of moving faster and dealing more damage applies to Luis and Hunk as well alongside their own personal effects, while Krauser's, who already had a Limit Break of his own in the original version, is expanded to altering his movement and moveset entirely for a few seconds.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • When Leon is captured at the beginning of the game, he awakens later on chained to Luis and missing his jacket and all of his weapons and gear, necessitating a brief stealth section against Ganados before he can recover his equipment. This was a glaring oversight in the original game, where he was only missing his jacket while still armed.
  • The shotgun's traumatic injury potential has been severely upgraded from the original, to more accurately reflect how devastating shotgun blasts can actually be. At the right gauges, and certainly at close range, a shotgun blast would make human flesh look like shredded hamburger meat and would take big chunks out of the flesh. While there is some exaggeration for gameplay effect, the wounds shown here are not far off from what a shotgun would actually do to a human body.
  • While the knockback effect of the shotgun is still sorta there — in randomized instances — the majority of the time shotgun blasts typically just stun enemies if they don't manage to kill them. Shotguns are powerful, but they're not magic gravity gun weapons that fling a target 20 feet across the room, which was the exaggerated effect the original game had for shotguns.
  • The first time Ashley has to jump down from a high spot into Leon’s arms, she doesn’t simply jump down directly into a Bridal Carry, she has a mild panic attack at the very idea of it and has to be coached into it by Leon. And his knees realistically buckle a little bit when she lands because even though Leon is in-shape, it’s still upwards of 110-120ish lbs landing on him from fifteen feet up. Of course, they accomplish this feat repeatedly over the course of the rest of the game with no issues after the first time.
  • The advanced stage of the Plagas infection takes a far more serious toll on Leon's body than it was in the original. Despite some convulsions, and the occasional slip up of insanity where he became hostile, Leon in the original game was able to power through these episodes and stay focused on the mission. The removal of the parasite with the radiation laser was treated as a fairly benign situation where there was no rush to get them out, outside of it being something they needed to do before they went home to President Graham. In the remake, the infection is so severe and painful it causes Ashley to pass out with black veins all over her arms and face and it's obvious that if not removed now, she will be irreversibly infected. Leon suffers the same throughout the game, including occasional convulsions and even towards the end of the game the same black veins Ashley has. After rescuing Ashley from the Sanctuary he uses the last of his strength to remove the parasite from Ashley, and the only reason he gets his parasite removed is because Ashley got him on the chair while he was passed out. Massive parasites wiggling around inside your torso are no joke — action hero or not.
  • Whenever he's confronted face-to-face by any of the major villains and has a clear line of fire on them, Leon tends to just pump them full of lead at the first opportunity rather than trade banter with them. Both Mendez and Saddler's human forms are unfortunately Immune to Bullets until significant trauma is inflicted upon them, but with Ramon Salazar, Leon rarely has a clean shot on him until just prior to his boss fight, resulting in them trading a lot of Snark-to-Snark Combat in the interim, and it's clear Leon is extremely frustrated by being unable to decisively shut him up.
  • A journal found after defeating the first El Gigante explains why it's so difficult to raise a large beast as an attack dog aside from its aggressive behavior. Within a year of its creation, the El Gigante at the quarry had eaten nearly all the livestock in the village. This would also explain why there's only one of this giant found in the village area as there is no way a village this small can feed it indefinitely.
  • Ada's prior manipulation of Leon through lies and seduction in RE2R have made him bitter, wary, and distrustful of her when they next meet again here. Rather than lowkey express any desire to reconnect like his 2005 portrayal did, Leon now keeps his distance and gives Ada the cold shoulder every time she tries to get back in his good graces, albeit still showing appreciation for her help by returning the favor when he can.
  • Ada bails on Wesker upon learning that he's planning to cause a mass purge that will kill billions, just to see his eugenics utopia become a reality. Far too often in fiction, henchmen stay loyal to their boss(es) long after it's become apparent they've gone off the deep end, or worse yet have genocidal intents that would likely cause their own demise. Ada realizes her paycheck from Wesker doesn't mean much if his plan causes the collapse of society; a collapse that would likely kill her in the process too.
  • Leon is not aware that Ada is working with Wesker in the remake, which suggests that Wesker did a better job of covering his tracks. Per Code Veronica the authorities still know he's alive, since Chris would have filed a report, but Wesker has clearly been more secretive since Rockfort Island. Making it worse is in the 2005 version where Ada didn't even try to deny that she was working with Wesker, and Krauser let it slip that he was working for Umbrella.^note Separate Ways confirms Krauser is not affiliated with Wesker in this version of the story, as one of the final notes shows he had procured the special rocket launcher to shoot down Wesker's mercenary forces (whose identities he did not know) in case they attacked the island Wesker may be superhuman now, but why take even the slightest risk that the authorities might be able to alter the outcome of his plans? Better to play it safe.
  • One of the Merchant's quotes has him complaining about his back, which is a natural consequence of carrying such heavy luggage consisting of an arsenal of weapons, ammo and healing items around over the course of several years, as noted by his dialogue.
  • After Ada runs away with the Amber, Wesker gets radio communication that his forces are still in range to shoot down her helicopter if that's what he wishes. It makes total sense that someone as paranoid and crafty as Wesker would have a contingency just in case Ada didn't come through with her end of the deal — when you have a giant criminal network on your side, why wouldn't you use it to keep an eye on your agents? Wesker deems her theft of the Amber as a minor inconvenience, since he recovered Krauser's body to extract a different Plaga sample, which is why he allows her to live.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: At one point, you enter a rather large room with a lot of ways to go and a pretty decent supply of resources, but with only two enemies roaming around. It doesn't take a big brain to realize that more enemies will be arriving before long. And indeed they do, because the moment you grab the crank for the gate, you are attacked by the Chainsaw Sisters along with about five regular enemies.
• Tainted Veins: A symptom of a more advanced stage Plaga infection, which is noticeably more prominent than in the original. Leon and Ashley both exhibit this to varying degrees on their arms and faces depending on their stage of infection and their proximity to Saddler's influence.
• Tamer and Chaster: Leon's romantic tensions with Ada, Ashley and Hunnigan are downplayed here compared to the original. His interactions with Ada have a more adversarial tone, Ashley expresses her crush through more subtle means (most notably by asking him to be her official bodyguard at the end rather than inviting him home for some "overtime"), and he no longer gets flirty with Hunnigan nor asks her out at any point. Likewise, Luis, though still considering himself "quite a ladies' man", no longer makes a rude joke about Ashley's "ballistics".
• Team Killer: Dr. Salvador and the Garradors can now opt to slaughter other Ganados if they're unfortunate enough to be standing in the way as they're chasing after Leon, which can be exploited to the player's advantage.
• Third Party Stops Attack: Krauser’s attempt to kill Leon in Chapter 11 is halted by Luis shooting his knife away.
• Too Awesome to Use:
  • The Matilda with the stock addition is this. The three-round burst function that the stock provides makes it one of the fastest firing gun in the game to dish out damage real quickly. However, it eats up handgun ammunition at an exorbitant rate, and as prevalent as that ammunition type is, the consumption rate doesn't match up to other single-shot pistols that provide more disciplined use of the ammunition, especially when setting up for melee combos.
  • The newly-added CQBR is an automatic assault rifle that makes mincemeat of most enemies. However it only takes rifle ammo, which is intended for single-shot weapons and parceled out accordingly, with the average pickup giving 4 or 5 bullets at most. This means that you'll seldom get to actually shoot the CQBR once its first 20-round magazine is spent unless you have infinite ammo activated, and you're much more likely to unlock the Chicago Typewriter before then.
  • Definitely now the case with the Rocket Launcher, which gibs large mobs of regular enemies and can one-shot any enemy or boss in the game... but you better have the spare Pesetas to afford it, because its base price has been inflated five times over the original's. On Hardcore or Professional mode, a Rocket Launcher will set you back an eye-watering 160,000 Pesetas (even Assisted mode bumps it up from the original cost to 50,000). To say nothing of the fact it takes up a huge amount of inventory space, and it's a fire-once, throw-away weapon. Averted with its infinite ammo version, of course.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Leon as a whole compared to RE2R, where he was a rookie cop trying to escape the madness of Raccoon City. Six years later and a deadly routine of government training, Leon shows his improvements immediately in the game by roundhouse-kicking a Ganado so hard he breaks its neck.
  • A weapon example! The knife Marvin gave to Leon from Resident Evil 2 (Remake) was simply better used a defensive resource to ward off attacks that would break after a couple of uses rather than as an offensive melee weapon. Here, not only is it possible to repair it, but Leon can use it a melee option and it can parry weapons that includes giant blades and chainsaws!
• Tragic Keepsake: Leon has kept the M9 Bayonet knife Marvin Branagh gave him on his doomed first day on the beat in the Raccoon City PD.
• Training from Hell: Leon states in the opening of the game that the training he received from the American government nearly killed him on a regular basis.
• Turn of the Millennium: Like the original, the game takes place in 2004. As nods to the culture and fashion of the decade, Ashley's Casual outfit is very inspired by the "scene girl" fad that emerged during the 2000s in the US. Also, she has a Motorola Razr phone, which was also sold around the time the game takes place.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment: Salazar's castle is positively stuffed with swords and polearms on display that Leon will not use, even though they'd surely be more effective compared to the fragile kitchen/boot knives he collects instead. Weirdly, none of the other enemies aside from Armaduras bother to use them, either. The only swords he can pick up are display models for a puzzle and explicitly said to have a dulled edge, so the same may apply to the others hanging around the place (Leon doesn't acknowledge their presence either way). The closest that Leon comes to acknowledging the equipment is Ashley saying Leon would look dashing in a suit of armor decorating the castle that may act as body armor, but Leon replied saying that it may be a bit "old-fashioned" for his tastes.
• Vocal Evolution: Nick Apostolides reprises his role as Leon, but rather than recreate the boyish-sounding voice he used for RE2R, opts for his lower-pitched, natural speaking voice to better match the character's circa 2004 Older and Wiser portrayal, same as he did for Infinite Darkness, which canonically takes place after 4. Watch this to hear the difference more apparently.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In Separate Ways, after Ada kills Pesanta, the game shows her vomiting out the parasite it infected her with.
• We Buy Anything:
  Merchant: Rubies or rubbish, it makes no difference. The price... well, that’s our choice to make.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Salazar's second Verdugo mysteriously vanishes after Leon defeats the first Verdugo in the castle's underground laboratory. It is not seen when Salazar hands Ashley over to Krauser at the end of the castle section and does not fuse with him like in the original.. However, it plays a major role in Separate Ways, now called "Pesanta", where it infects Ada with Las Plagas, pursues her throughout her campaign a la Mr. X, and is defeated by her.
  • With Operation Javier now retconned into a failure with its sole survivor marooned, it's unclear what comes of Manuela. Given that she could die even in the original continuity, her odds are not looking good.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: After escaping several Armaduras into an elevator, Ashley explicitly says she is done with armor. Where does the elevator stop? The path leading to the mausoleum containing the needed crest with twice the amount of armor.
  Ashley: Didn't I just say I was done!?
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted by Leon, but in all instances, it doesn't work out because the people he's shooting at are mutated:
  • Mendez flat out no sells all the bullets Leon pumps him with. With Salazar it's played as more of a surprise that his Las Plagas is advanced enough that it mutates him so he can survive three bullets, one of which goes through his forehead.
  • When Leon first meets Saddler, he immediately shoots him in the eye, though it does nothing but irritate Saddler a bit. Later, when Leon and Ada are having a standoff with Saddler, rather than let him rant (not about action hero clichés this time) they unload their handguns on him. Saddler chooses to mutate rather than continue fighting them in his human form.
• Worthy Opponent: Despite his constant dismissing of Leon as a rookie, Krauser considers Leon to be this. He expresses relief that the U.S. government sends an experienced agent like Leon to face him instead of some useless grunt.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: The bullet that Leon took for Ada in Resident Evil 2 (Remake) has evidently shattered a bone or two beyond repair, as six years on in the present, it still haunts him in the form of stretching his right shoulder in visible pain as idle animation, even if you do not sustain any damage throughout the entire game.
• You Have Researched Breathing: In Separate Ways, Ada's skill of using the grappling hook to take away enemy shields is unlocked with a suitcase charm purchasable by the merchant. This is required despite the fact that Ada already uses the grappling hook on enemies to reach out and perform melee attacks.
• You're Insane!: Implied but not outright stated when Ada interacts with Wesker. Upon hearing that Wesker plans to kill billions for the advancement of the worthy few, she responds coldly and sarcastically with, "How ambitious." and immediately points her gun at the pilot to get the Las Plagas sample as far away from Wesker as possible.

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