Out of the freezer and into the frying pan, it seems. Fortunately, this time our backup has a gun.

I think David Phillips and I are in a good position.

I’m of course aware of the QTEs in the original Resident Evil 4, despite never playing it. It may not have been the game to pioneer the concept of Quick-Time Events, but it was the one that popularized them for that generation of video games and the one immediately preceding it before they were eventually phased out. What I wasn’t aware of was how this fight against Major Beta-Male was originally just a long QTE.

And while I can’t say I would necessarily object to a QTE here, I also can’t help but be grateful that this modern remake is free of them. They gave way to quite an entertaining boss fight with Krauser, where we have to use our knives and melee to do the bulk of the work. After all, guns are too slow in close quarters.

We don’t really have a lot of chances to make use of the parry mechanic in a normal run, but here it’s given center stage as the primary focus of how we stagger the boss to get in a good hit. It’s not difficult, but it is immensely satisfying.

We’ve done it. David Phillips and I survived the most difficult encounter in all of Resident Evil 4. At this point, we have nothing to fear, and no enemy will frighten us.

This is definitely a phrase that won’t come back to bite me.

It might not seem like given me reactions on stream, but I actually have a lot of fun with these horror game segments where we just have to stall for time against a powerful enemy while our escape route is being prepared for us. Though it is certainly possible to fight off this particular enemy, I was not going to waste the ammo necessary to do it when there’s no material benefit.

There’s fun in confidently walking around and passed this terrorizing menace because we know its patterns, and can abuse them to keep ourselves safe for the duration of the encounter. Turning a monster into a routine is a powerful act, even in the confines of a video game.

And it always feels good.

This is the second time David Phillips and I’ve lost the young woman we’re supposed to be escorting out of this hellhole. We really need to stop doing that.

But that’ll have to wait until after we’ve got her back.

It might not seem like it, but this episode contains the most challenging part of the entire game. Nothing quite compares to having two giant brutes with knives for hands charging at us if we so much as sneeze in their general vicinity.

I didn’t have as many explosives on me in my original run as I did on this one, so I died a lot to that encounter. On their own, the big guys wouldn’t be too much of an issue. But the never-ending horde of zombies that spawn into the room with them makes it difficult to stay quiet because they need to be managed and most weapons in Resident Evil 4 are very, very loud.

Believe me when I say I am grateful it only took a few tries to get it right.

We’re reunited with Ashley, after our brief time apart. Now, David Phillips and I need her help to keep exploring the castle.

This entire section of the game does much to slowly build up Ashley’s confidence and capabilities. All of the puzzles require her and Leon to work as a team to solve them. Even when Leon is fighting, like against the armored parasites, she’s working in the background to help him out.

It culminates in a strong section where we play as her without Leon’s help, and she has to outwit the monsters in her way if she wants to free him. I like this section a lot as a small capstone towards our deuteragonist’s character growth.

Oh no. Ashley’s run away after being mind controlled into attacking us. David Phillips and I can’t leave without her, so we had best get moving.

Props should go both to Ashley and Leon’s respective voice actors for their performances in this game. The two of them have a lot of chemistry and naturally play off each other. For a franchise that almost prides itself on a B-movie aesthetic, I can’t help but admire the character work.

And in the next episode, that same character work pays off nicely.

We’re one boss fight and a few combat encounters into this castle, and we’re still some distance away from the courtyard. Luckily, David Phillips and I are more than capable of taking on whatever Napolean sends our way.

What I appreciate most about this section of the game is the way they frame Ashley as a vital companion that Leon needs in order to keep going against all of these hordes. While she can’t and doesn’t fight, she’s helpful in her own way, able to get to places that Leon himself simply can’t on his own.

I can’t speak for her portrayal in the original game, but in this remake, I grew quite fond of the character over the course of the campaign, and this is largely why.

With no better options for us, David Phillips and I have a castle that we need to explore in order to get our cure for the parasite and secure our escape route.

What could possibly go wrong aside from all the other things that have gone wrong?

I can already see the early advantage my advanced armory gave me at the start of this run slipping away while enemies gradually escalated in power level. It doesn’t help that this is roughly the midpoint, and the game has fully loosened the valves as far as ammo and resources are concerned. Our ability to fight back is still tightly controlled.

And it’s even worse when one random mini-boss’s attack patterns insist on screwing us at every possible opportunity. I’m slightly embarrassed the fight took as long as it did, but a win is still a win.

It’s about time David Phillips and I got Ashley out of this village. We just have one obstacle in our way.

Weirdly large, muscular Rapustin, the evil advisor of the Romanov family.

Fortunately, like all fights in the series, once we recognize the pattern, they aren’t too complicated. Rasputin is no exception, with predictable tells that help us determine exactly how to avoid them while continuing to pressure him with damage.

I know that part of it is that we’re using highly upgraded weaponry, but even still that fight went extremely smoothly. Good tidings for the rest of the run.

Turns out that rescuing Ashley is going to be a little more complicated than we first suspected. David Phillips and I’ll need to take another route to make our escape.

But I have faith we won’t have any more struggles this time. It’ll go smoothly. Right?

Right!?

One of the coolest parts of replaying a game is using foreknowledge of the ambushes and traps coming our way to take off problems before they actually become problems. I’m glad David was here to not only remind me of the chainsaw lady ambush but give me a strategy I could use to eliminate them before they became a problem. Definitely went a long way towards saving me a lot of time and energy.

I look forward to seeing what other exploits and tricks we employ in the rest of the run.

Finally, after going through several large fights, and a few puzzles, David Phillips and I have what we need to get our missing girl out of this accursed village safe and sound.

Surely, once we find her, nothing bad is going to happen right?

Right?

As a reminder, I never played the original Resident Evil 4. I have no attachments, good or ill, to that version of Ashley. For me, the version we have in this 2023 remake is the one that I have experience with, so she will be the one I think about. (Aside from Moushley.)

Having said that, I quite like this version of Ashley Graham. They’ve given her a strongly defined personality to start with. For now, she is very much the damsel in distress, but that’s merely a starting point. And over the course of the game, it’s fun to watch her grow in capability and confidence.

I’ve been told that the original version of the character was annoying, but I would never have guessed that from how she behaves here. She acts in much the way I would expect a young woman of her age and station to behave, especially since she’s barely an adult and thrust into a situation well beyond her understanding.

She’s great.