While the original Resident Evil 4 remains an all-time classic, both in its own series and for shooters in general, the recent release of its remake means that quite a few of the game's more dated aspects can be painful to revisit. Aside from extensive graphical updates and gameplay changes, the remake of Resident Evil 4 also alleviates a number of the original game's more controversial, clunky, or dated mechanics, leading to a game that's almost indisputably smoother to play for modern audiences.
First released in 2005, the original Resident Evil 4 was a foundational game - not just for the Resident Evil series, but for third-person shooters in general, laying much of the groundwork for games like Gears of War and Dead Space. In fact, it's not a far-fetched claim to place Resident Evil 4 as one of the most influential games ever released, or as one of the best. However, while RE4's remake can't hope to be as revolutionary for it's time as the original, it does benefit hugely from a combination of hindsight regarding some of the original's mistakes, and a generally more modernized design. As a result, players returning to the original RE4 will likely find many of its aspects, ranging from gameplay to character portrayals, to be dated.
10 Movement While Shooting
Among the many gameplay changes made by Resident Evil 4's remake, the ability to move while aiming or shooting is perhaps one of the most notable - a stark contrast to the original game keeping Leon completely rooted in place while aiming. While being forced to hold still while aiming helped to play up many of Resident Evil 4's horror elements, it also could be somewhat awkward-feeling to control by modern standards - as evidenced by the fact that most other third-person shooters, even survival-horror games like Dead Space and The Last of Us, elected not to copy the decision from the original RE4.
9 Knife Functionality
While the original Resident Evil 4's knife is both useful and fairly iconic, it's also lacking in many ways compared to the knife of the remake. Parrying is the flashiest example of what the knife gains in the remake, but perhaps even more significant is the added ability to use the knife for quickly escaping grabs, minimizing damage and, in many cases, even preventing a death. Moreover, the original RE4's knife has be readied each time its used, unlike the quick slashes that are available in the remake - although the newfound durability of knives in Resident Evil 4's remake does put a limiting factor on their increased usefulness.
8 Quick Time Events
As one of the original RE4's most straightforwardly controversial features, quick time events, or QTEs, are massively reduced in the remake, being used solely for escaping enemy grabs by mashing the requisite button. In the original, however, they are both an incredibly common sight and punishing to fail, with many of them giving players an instant death if not done correctly. Additionally, given their tendency to pop up in cutscenes where players might not be ready for them, simplifying and heavily reducing QTEs in the game is perhaps one of the remake's most welcome decisions.
7 Treasure
While Resident Evil 4's treasure collecting (and the merchant that players sell treasure to) is one of the game's signature aspects, making its way into many of the series' later entries, its treasure combining was somewhat less intuitive than the remake's implementation. Rather than simply inlaying standard gems, many of the original Resident Evil 4's most valuable treasures could only be obtained by combining discrete, unique pieces of loot, making them both easier to miss and, in some cases, counterintuitive to even attempt to combine. The remake's treasure combining system, while simplified, is much easier to grasp.
6 Ashley
Although escorting Ashley makes up a prominent part of both the original RE4 and its remake, it's significantly less troublesome in the latter. Unlike in the remake, the original Ashley can only be commanded to wait or follow, leading to potentially irritating situations where she gets hit by attacks or grabbed. And while this can still be somewhat true for Ashley in the remake, what can make her original implementation more of a problem is her health bar - unlike in the remake, the original RE4 forces players to use precious healing items on Ashley when she gets hurt, making her a potential drain on valuable resources.
5 Luis
Seeing the spotlight that Resident Evil 4's remake gives to Luis, even going as far as to make him a partner character for a decently-sized portion of the game, players returning to 2005's RE4 might find his original character lacking. Dying unceremoniously fairly early into the game, Luis ends up being one of the less memorable characters in the original Resident Evil 4 - a stark contrast to the remake, where Luis's character is fleshed out fairly well. And, contrasting his sudden end in the original game, the remake's Luis gets a sendoff that can be fairly touching, owing both to its better circumstances and Luis's own expanded character.
4 Novistadores
While their remake iteration can still be tricky, they're still a substantial step down from how frustrating the bug-like Novistadores could be in the original RE4. Contrasting their more natural camouflage in the remake, which lets them blend in with surroundings but is still relatively simple to spot for players with good awareness, the original Novistadores had something closer to invisibility, making them difficult to pick out in many of the original RE4's dark environments. Combined with their greater aggressiveness and a lack of quick grab escape options, the original RE4's Novistadores could be a nasty surprise for players fresh from the remake.
3 Salazar
Although some players will undoubtedly miss some of the cheesy banter between Leon and Salazar in the original game, the changes made to his climactic boss fight are likely less contentious. While a fairly simple fight on paper, the original Salazar boss fight is complicated by the presence of additional enemies running interference - something that does not make a return in the remake, with Salazar now being able to move and deploy a wider variety of attacks. Fortunately for those playing through the original however, Salazar's boss fight is potentially very easily solved by the one free rocket launcher that the game generously provides.
2 U-3
The boss fight with U-3 is one of the few sections of the original RE4 to be fully cut from the remake, and likely for good reason. As one of Resident Evil 4's most forgettable boss fights, U-3 is relatively simple and not nearly as interesting as many of the game's other bosses, with its only notable feature being the container mazes that Leon needs to escape from before the boss can be properly fought. Otherwise, it's a fairly generic monster that's easily dealt with, especially if the player has been keeping stocked on magnum ammo - although potential story DLC for RE4's remake might give it new life.
1 Kra
Despite ostensibly being an important character to the game's plot, and one with a connection to Leon, Kra's first appearance in the original game can seem it comes out of left field, especially compared to the remake. In contrast to the remake giving Kra a more fleshed out character and folding in much of his backstory from Darkside Chronicles, Kra in the original game comes mostly out of nowhere, seemingly showing up just to be one of the island section's antagonists. Moreover, his first fight in the original Resident Evil 4, a long string of insta-kill QTEs, is a far cry from the tense knife fight of the remake.
