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Thus far, Capcom and their supporting development studios have remade Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. One of these is a fantastic re-imagining of a classic title while the other is Resident Evil 3. This weekend, videogameschronicle.com put out a report saying that a remake of Resident Evil 4 is in development.
The site cites "multiple development sources" that have told them a remake of Resident Evil 4 is in full production. A release window for this remake is currently slated for 2022. Development is being led by M-Two, a development studio based out of Osaka that was formed by former PlatinumGames head Tatsuya Minami. According to the report from VGC, the studio has been preparing for this project "since 2018."
Though Capcom won't be handling this one first hand, they will reportedly help with the development on this Resident Evil 4 remake. Capcom will have both internal teams and other external studios that can lend "significant development resources" to the production of the game.
Sources also tell VGC that this remake "has the blessing of original game director Shinji Mikami." Mikami, though giving his blessing on the project, has reportedly declined the opportunity to lead the project himself. He will at least provide "informal advice" on the remake.
The studio in charge of this supposed remake, M-Two, also helped contribute towards the development of the Resident Evil 3 remake. While Resident Evil 3 remake has received generally favorable reviews, it has still drawn a considerable amount of ire from fans due to its short length, lack of reply value, and the fact that it completely removes multiple areas from the original game that it's based off of. Naturally, the biggest worry for any subsequent remakes in the Resident Evil franchise is: Just how much content will get cut? The Resident Evil 2 remake already had content cut, mainly in each character's "B" scenarios. It wasn't a terrible issue, but it was something that did not go unnoticed. Obviously, Resident Evil 3's issues were a far more egregious issue given how light on content the original game was to begin with, how there are no extra modes or scenarios included, and the obvious reduction in gore compared even the Resident Evil 2 remake.
In its current, non-remade state, Resident Evil 4 has been released about eight different times across 12 different platforms (including multiple mobile platforms). There is also an "HD" version of Resident Evil 4 that was released in 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In 2014, Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition was released for the PC. This release included the improvements that were made for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a few other minor upgrades. As far as HD releases go, this one is considerably underwhelming from a visual standpoint.
Those looking for a proper HD remake of the game turned towards the Resident Evil 4 HD Texture Project. This comprehensive mod has been in development for a number of years from just two people. The duo has been going through and completely redoing every single texture in the game by using real world sources. They have also been correcting a number of texture mapping and issues with various 3D models. They have also made entirely new 3D models to replace flat objects.
Despite not being 100% finished, the Resident Evil 4 HD Project can be downloaded and used right now. Just keep in mind that the current download being offered is from June 2018. It does not include the updates made since that time, which include character texture replacements, enemy textures, or weapon texture replacements. If you download via torrent, the download size is 19GB while the direct file downloads total 28.5GB in size. Yes, it is that comprehensive even in its incomplete state. Is it worth it if you're playing on the PC? Absolutely.
People's first response will be "well the controls could be better" and i just cannot agree with that, yes you can't sidestep, yes you can't move and shoot, but if you change RE4's mechanics you really lose a lot about what makes it so special, and so replayable, there are few games that receive perfect review scores at launch and this is one of them, are you really going to try and remake it?
The quality of Remake's 2 and 3 is high, and people loved returning to 2's police station in glorious new detail with mechanics honouring its slow and methodical roots, but they can't follow the same formulae with RE4, to honour it would be to embrace its campy side, to somehow push its combat to new satisfying and strategic levels, but as i said the game was/is already incredible, so can you remake it without ending up with something lesser than before?
I don't think you can.
I was kind of hoping Code Veronica was next, it brought next generation graphics to the franchise but a lot of its design was stuck in the past, there's quite a lot about it that can be improved, remember how exciting and memorable the intro cinematic is and how the game doesn't really capture that excitement? What if you could play that intro, what if they took the mechanics of the Remakes, stuck it with adrenaline, and gave Code Veronica a chance to really shine!
With how they cut content from RE3, they could cut Steve Burnside from the game.
Or maybe give him the Carlos treatment and transform him into something spectacular. Though Carlos at least had the advantage of being pretty great in the original. Can't say the same about Steve.
As a long time supporter i was also going to thank you for bringing up the RE4HD mod, it's getting close to the finish line!