Sony kicked off June with a bang, with its recent State of Play setting the bar pretty high for Summer Games Fest and the other showcases this month. One of thebiggest highlights of the entire State of Playwas its very first announcement, that beingResident Evil 4 Remake. With rumors circulating its existence long before this announcement, thisResident Evil 4 Remakereveal was more of a case of when as opposed to if, but that didn’t stop it being an incredibly exciting reveal.
Despite the trailer being around two and a half minutes, fans didn’t actually get to see all that much. While someiconic locations fromResident Evil 4were shown off, all being masterfully recreated in a modern style, actual gameplay wasn’t really shown. Although some aspects ofResident Evil 4 Remake’s gameplay are near certainties, such as a third-person camera perspective, there are still some elements that haven’t been confirmed just yet, and there’s one big gameplay feature of the original that should not make a return in the remake.
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Resident Evil 4 Remake Needs to Get Rid of QTEs
The originalResident Evil 4is a certified modern classic. Releasing in 2005,Resident Evil 4was one of the best games on the 6th generation of consoles, and is still widely considered to be one of the best action games of all time. Featuring groundbreaking third-person gameplay for the time, and an incredibly unique horror atmosphere,Resident Evil 4deserves its place in the annals of gaming history, but it isn’t quite perfect.
Being released in 2005, the originalResident Evil 4has a few elements that were part and parcel for the time, but make it stand out for all the wrong reasons now. The biggest offender by far is the game’s quick-time events. InResident Evil 4, a lot of the most cinematic moments were boiled down into a series of QTEs, such as the ending to a few boss fights, and any sequence whereLeon has to run away from something.
QTEs in general are now widely considered to be just inconvenient interruptions to the natural flow of gameplay, but inResident Evil 4, their presence goes one step further, being unreasonably difficult. Most ofResident Evil 4’s QTE sequences require lightning-fast reflexes, or excellent memory, leading to many unfair deaths. And to make matters even worse, death often means that the player needs to start the entire encounter from scratch, being forced to watch entire cutscenes all over again, or kill an entire room of enemies.
At the time, the inclusion of QTEs inResident Evil 4made quite a bit of sense. By the mid-2000s, more and morebig AAA games were experimenting with QTEs, with many developers believing that they were a great way to deliver a cinematic moment to player, while also allowing them to interact with the action on-screen. Thankfully, though, times have moved on a bit, and it’s generally believed that the best games integrate their storytelling into their gameplay.
Put simply, theResident Evil 4 Remakeshould make sure it stays well away from the original’s quick-time events. From the look of the reveal trailer, it seems as thoughResident Evil 4 Remakeis trying to go forthe same visual style and tone as the last twoResident Evilremakes, which would make QTEs stand out even more. IfResident Evil 4 Remakewants to capture the same modern sensibilities as its predecessors, then it needs to abandon this old mechanic to the past, and focus on what made the last two remakes so excellent: the gameplay.
Resident Evil 4launches July 24, 2025, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
