Small Details We Noticed In The Resident Evil 4 Remake Gameplay Trailer

The "Resident Evil" series has transformed significantly over the years, and following remakes of earlier games that were fundamentally altered to meet modern expectations, the "Resident Evil 4" remake is going to make some changes too. Fans hoping to learn more about the highly-anticipated "Resident Evil 4" remake were rewarded with a ton of updates during the October 20, 2022 "Resident Evil" showcase. A new trailer and gameplay footage showed off some of the incredible graphical improvements to "Resident Evil 4," how gameplay has been updated for modern tastes, and some of the other changes coming to the classic horror game.

Amongst all the major updates announced were some smaller details likely missed but telling in their own regard. For example, though not directly highlighted in the "Resident Evil" showcase, several major villains received significant redesigns for the remake. The opening to the game is a bit different than the original "Resident Evil 4," too, and there's a lot more going on with what Leon can do in the field.

Graphical updates and gameplay changes were the focus of the showcase, of course, but they're far from the only things revealed. Here are some small details from the "Resident Evil 4" remake gameplay trailer.

"Resident Evil 4" has a particularly memorable cast of characters, including both the protagonists and the bad guys. During the reveal and gameplay trailer, fans were treated to a more in-depth look at the modernized character designs of the game's main characters. Of course, fans already knew what some characters would look like from previous trailers, like Leon and Ashley, but until now, fans had no idea how the team updated the rest of the game's characters, enemies, and boss designs.

For a few brief moments in the trailer and gameplay footage, the "Resident Evil 4" showcase revealed the new looks for villains and characters like Bitores Mendez, Luis Sera, El Gigante, Ramon Salazar, and Osmund Saddler. After the gameplay reveal, Hirabayashi remarked on some of these changes. "We are paying respect to the original game's world, while implementing new ideas and state-of-the-art graphics to strengthen the core concepts of the title," Hirabayashi said. 

While some fans have said that Salazar and Luis look completely different from their original versions, these design changes are being generally praised by "Resident Evil 4" fans alongside the game's massive visual overhaul in general.

In addition to the look at the reworked villains players will be facing, the "Resident Evil" showcase offered a glimpse at what it will feel like to control Leon in the remake.

Leon looks to control much faster and more responsively in the "Resident Evil 4" remake, shown charging into the iconic town center where he first encounters a chainsaw-wielding Ganado. In the lead-up to that terrifying scene, viewers can see Leon quickly transition to a roundhouse kick after stunning a foe with a quick shot to the face. While this combination existed in the original game, Leon often moved slower than a shambling zombie. Now, he can quickly dip in and out of combat — even using the environment to his advantage in a pinch.

Players will also find that Leon has a few other utilities that flex his new agility, including a parry and the apparent newfound ability to crouch or sprint. The sprint differs from the light jog Leon could do in previous iterations as he'll no longer hold his weapon up and move much faster. Of course, crouching adds a little extra layer of stealth to Leon's outing with the Las Plagas parasite. With Leon's zippy new responsiveness and techniques, players can finish up their mission and make it back to Raccoon City by supper time.

The "Resident Evil 4" remake won't be a one-for-one adaptation of the original Gamecube and PlayStation 2 classic. Instead, the team behind the remake aims to redeliver everything that made "Resident Evil 4" great while reimagining and reoutfitting the game for a modern audience with modern expectations — and that's fine considering there have always been things fans thought Resident Evil 4 should change. So in that sense, there will be some overhauls and added details to the story and characters.

The "Resident Evil" showcase offered up a taste of how pieces of the narrative and character interactions have been altered. In what appeared to be a redux of Leon's first encounter with the Las Plagas-infected Ganados, viewers could see Leon going through a very familiar set of events, but in an eerily different setting and punctuated by a new cutscene depicting a conversation with once-minor character Agent Hannigan.

It seems like players will not only find themselves in familiar-but-different settings, but they'll also get to see a whole different side to characters in the "Resident Evil 4" remake.