Resident Evil 4 Review (PlayStation 5)

by Jim Smale · Published April 3, 2023 · Updated May 2, 2025

For our Resident Evil 4 Review, Where Survival is just the beginning. Six years have passed since the biological disaster in Raccoon City. Leon S. Kennedy, one of the survivors, tracks the president’s kidnapped daughter to a secluded European village, where there is something terribly wrong with the locals.

Resident Evil 4 Review Pros:

Stunning graphics.
Download size.
Platinum trophy.
PSVR support.
You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game.
Graphics mode – resolution or frame rate.
Play data gets uploaded to Re.Net.(optional)
Controller settings – six presets, toggle run, toggle crouch, quick turn type, parry button, repeated button input type, aim to assist type, aim to assist max speed slider, reticule deceleration slider, auto-reload, reset scope magnification, vibration, and adaptive triggers support.
Camera settings – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders for the camera, zoomed-in views, and gameplay. Field of view slider, motion sensor camera control, running camera assist, camera wobble, and motion blur.
Display settings – ray tracing, HDR, brightness slider, Hud, dot display, damage display, Hud opacity, display tips and tutorials, sight settings like color, lens distortion, depth of field, hair strands, and color space.
Accessibility options for – visual, auditory, and motion sickness.
Sound settings allow setting up surround sound, individual noises and effects, and preset.
Extra content shop – earn CP (completion points) and spend on new unlocks and Skins.
Challenges award CP.
Concept art and character viewer.
Three difficulties – assisted, standard, and hardcore.
Action survival horror gameplay.
Fast loading times.
Third-person perspective.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
Oozing in Dread and fear.
Uses the controller speaker.
Typewriters are where you save, change out weapons and deal with inventory management.
Your case (storage) can be a customised with skins and charms.
Cutscenes can be skipped.
In-game cutscenes and in game character interactions that look incredible.
Familiar controls to vets but accessible to new players.
No tank controls or ink ribbons in this one.
Some of the best lighting work in a game.
Powerful and impactful soundtrack.
Quick weapon change menu on the d-pad.
Treasure maps show where valuables are in the game and are on the map.
Stealth kills are gory and practical.
Can approach situations in many different ways.
All crafting recipes are shown when you click craft on an item.
Blue request notes can be found and give out tasks and rewards. (optional)
Send items to the storage that is located at save points.
The merchant allows you to buy/sell/trade/repair and upgrade items and weapons.
Spinel gems are rare rewards and can be used to buy rare items from the merchant.
Upgrade all aspects of your weapons.
Your case (inventory) can be manually or auto-sorted.
The end of the chapter breakdown gives a rundown on performance and time taken.
The merchant will do one-off limited sales of items.
Still has the handy 180-degree turn.
Complete dismemberment engine, shoot off legs and arms, and enemies will crawl and react to shots.
Just like in the other remakes, enemies will react and dodge Gunfire and attacks meaning aiming is only half the battle.
A lot of reasons to replay the game.
Mercenaries game mode is a FREE download.
Discover a shooting gallery mini game where you earn coins to put into a gacha machine.
The map is handy as it shows all items you can find.
Find pieces of jewellery that can have gems attached to them to make you way more money.
Ashley controls are a lot simpler now, you can just click the right stick to have her either following close or following from a distance. Of course you can still order her into dumpsters and lockers to hide.
Many memorable set pieces.
I like that the rocket launchers are in the game, they are expensive to buy and you can only ever have one equipped but it one shot kills bosses.