Alongside prior rumors of Resident Evil 8, we are now hearing rumors of a remake of Resident Evil 4.

In our prior coverage, the rumors stated that Capcom’s development of Resident Evil: Revelations 3 was so well received internally, that the game is being reworked as Resident Evil 8.

One leaker described how the game would have themes of hallucinations and occultism, and described a scene of beastmen or werewolves and a “witch”. This would match with older rumors claiming the game had wolf-like creatures, and a persistent “female” enemy.

The game was also said (at least at some point) to take place in a snowy mountain village and a castle. Later rumors alleged this was all true, elaborating on some details. In those prior articles proposed that, if true, Capcom may be attempting to create two styles of Resident Evil games.

“It could be quite possible we will eventually get a remake of Resident Evil 4,” we stated in the first article, “utilizing third person and more of a focus on action. Original Resident Evil titles could continue in the same vein as Resident Evil 7, being first person, using smaller locations, and more focus on fear.”

Now, we are hearing rumors that Resident Evil 4 is being remade.

The Rumor

Video Games Chronicle (VGC) [1, 2] reports that “multiple development sources” told them a remake of Resident Evil 4 is in production, and will launch in 2022. This will be handled by M-Two, who were involved in the development of Resident Evil 3 (2020).

They were founded in 2019, by former PlatinumGames CEO Tatsuya Minami. Minami would later serve as an Executive Producer on Resident Evil 3 (2020).

M-Two had reportedly been “preparing” for remaking Resident Evil 4 since 2018, with full production starting now. Many former Capcom and PlatinumGames employees are also said to be involved.

“Dusk Golem“, a leaker who previously provided information on the alleged Resident Evil 8 rumors, also had information on the alleged Resident Evil 4 remaster. This information was melded into VGC’s article, and their preceding one.

Along with claiming everything VGC had initially reported on was true, Dusk Golem stated “the game is still at least a couple years away and isn’t even the next RE game releasing”. That would supposedly be Resident Evil 8 in 2021, with Resident Evil 4 aiming for release in 2022. Though Dusk Golem notes this release date “may slip back further.”

He claims that M-Two was “developed with this project in mind, it was always their plan to remake RE4.” Their work on Resident Evil 3 (2020) was for “practice,” while working on Resident Evil 4.

“You can bet your ass they were also following reception of RE3 REmake closely”, Dusk Golem claims, “to see what worked, didn’t work, etc.”

Shinji Mikami (the director of the original game) has also allegedly given his “blessing” for the remakes, but is only offering “informal advice on its direction” as oppose to a major role.

“The project does have Shinji Mikami’s full approval,” Dusk Golem claims “his help here is limited because he’s obligated to GhostWire right now but part of how this project even came to be was through his decision and talking with Capcom.”

A source also told VGC that Mikami was busy with commitments on GhostWire: Tokyo. Another stated that a “newcomer to the series” was directing the game.

Dusk Golem also claims the development team are larger than the previous two Resident Evil Remakes, and that M-Two are the lead developers this time around (while Red Works were the leads of 2020’s Resident Evil 3). In addition, “parts of Div 1’s RE2 Remake team and DMC5 teams” are claimed to be involved with development.

As a brief aside, early builds of Resident Evil 4 would later become Devil May Cry, and an early build of Resident Evil 4 seems to be the inspiration behind Resident Evil 8 (including hallucinations and featuring a castle as a location).

However, Dusk Golem emphasizes that the game is very early in development, and any other information they have could be changed during development. “RE8 is the next RE game and I fully believe deserves the attention right now and may turn out to be excellent.”

“The bad thing about something like this coming out so early is you’re literally not going to see it anytime soon probably, probably its reveal is in like a year, year and a half from now, so I guess get ready to sit on this one for a while. Bright side, I’m super excited for RE8 and that should be revealed relatively soon.

I also will mention I don’t know Capcom’s marketing plans, reveal times, this is just educated guesses. So don’t take my year and a half comment as gospel, I do wonder how Capcom’s going to handle all of this, I do feel a bit bad for them all of this coming out so early.”

While Dusk Golem downplays his estimation on the release date, he was correct about Resident Evil 3 (2020) launching in April 2020, back on December 10th 2019.

In a later report, VGC claimed that two of the original Resident Evil 4 developers would be involved- Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, and Designer Kouji Kakae.

Is it True?

While the volume of leaks should not add to credibility, everything Resident Evil related has been cropping up after claims relating to the Silent Hill franchise [1, 2, 3]. We cannot help but wonder if Capcom are allowing some leaks to occur to “test the waters” on how interested gamers would be.

Resident Evil 4 have always received high praise with nearly all of its ports [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. In fact, it is due to those high number of ports and high praise we are surprised that a Resident Evil 4 “remake” would not just be a graphically superior port, even with annoyances such as escorting Ashley.

Then again, investors tend to look more fondly on a major title being “updated”, rather than a port- even with improvements. Resident Evil (2002, re-released in HD in 2015), and Resident Evil 2 (2019) both received high praise to the point some considered it a replacement to the originals.

While Resident Evil 3 (2020) has been praised by most, there are some (including us) who felt it was short, linear, and failed to live up to the original. If there is one part of the rumor we hope is true, it is that M-Two are listening to critique and feedback.

If Resident Evil 8 is on the cards, then we feel that a Resident Evil 4 remake will be as well; at this time. As Dusk Golem stated, while full production has begun, many things can change. Leading staff, how fans react to other titles Capcom release, and things that no one can predict.

What do you think? Do you want a remake of Resident Evil 4? Sound off in the comments below!

Image: Steam