A Mostly Excellent Remake | Resident Evil 4 Remake

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If you go through most of the lore and notes, in luis’ lab, you find a note that hints that “smokes” are a code word for those working with umbrella

Regarding Luis's smoke line: A letter that can be found in Luis' lab in the remake reveals that Luis asking people if they have a smoke is actually a code to figure out whether the person he's talking to is working with him or not. If he asks "hey, got a smoke?" and they reply with, "the kind you like", then he knows they're friendly.

I absolutely love the tons of world building they did in such surprisingly subtle ways. - Blue light stuns the Plagas --> That's why the merchant has blue lanterns and doesn't get attacked - If you look at a Ganado with the Biosensor scope you can see that the Plaga itself is located in the neck --> That's why a stab to the neck instantly kills any infected - A note mentions that Plagas can even infect birds --> That's why flashbangs kill crows - There are both an old and a new version of Las Plagas, the old one damaging the brain and being the one administered to the villagers and castle inhibitants, the new one being the one given to a few scientists and Krauser. The old versions pop out of every wound (e.g. after blowing off a Ganado's arm) and are the head-exploding variant seen in villagers, soldiers, etc, the new one giving Krauser a bit more control over his transformation. --> This implies that the old Plagas either entirely hollow out their victim and wear it like a skin suit or take over the nervous system with their tentacles, the Plaga's "main body" (the little bug thing in the injections) residing in the neck, which is also why the suits of armor are so wobbly in their movements. Las Plagas try to control the armor like a human skin suit, but they lack any pre existing joints and muscles, so the Plaga has trouble walking and attacking.

Krauser was like the definition of a textbook one-note character in the original, like he literally just shows up, banters with Leon a bit, then dies while the game pretends like there's some deep history between them without actually fleshing any of it out until after the fact with a side-game. He was just a Wesker goon who took the Plaga pill because it would make him stronger, but now he has his own motivations that actually addresses his history with Leon, even if he is copying some of his homework from Vergil.

The only major thing I disagree with here is krauser, his role in the remake is way more interesting than "triple agent" like in the original, since we already had ada. Here he's Leon's darker reflection. Both of them went through a b.o.w. encounter ending in disaster, while Leon saw the terror of this, krauser saw the absolute power of it all, but this is where he no longer becomes one note. During his boss fight he explicitly says "without power you can't protect anything" not only that he still has all the dog tags of the men he lost in operation javier. While he not might admit outright, he still deeply cared about losing his men, and the betrayal of the u.s government. Also his insistent rookie calling of Leon stops the moment Leon finally deals the killing blow. Almost as if he was imparting a final lesson with his own death. Krauser most likely understood he was wrong in the end. Now you can call all this cliché, but I don't think you could ever call it one note. Especially compared to the original of "all for umbrellas sake" Krauser

One big change you don't have context for. The enemies are Spanish, and they now talk like Spaniards. The accents as well as the general manner of talking (use of "vosotros" instead of "ustedes") and the references to Don Quijote and Pulgarcito. I really appreciated this. Big part of the Spanish speaking fan community considered the "bad" accents to be part of the charm, however.

I think Krauser was actually an improvement. Instead of being just a thug with no agency that was working with Wesker, we now have a character that makes his own decision to join the Los Illuminados because of what he saw during Operation Javier. The fact that he's now Leon's superior instead of comrade in arms was also a nice change. It now gives them a Master & Apprentice connection. And since Krauser is the one who taught Leon, he knows his true potential. With that in mind, it makes their fight in the ruins not only a battle of ideals, Krauser, wanting power for the sake of self preservation, and Leon gaining power for the sake of protecting others., but also almost a final graduation ceremony for Krauser. He dies knowing that he'll live through the lessons Leon carries onward. There's a respect there that we don't typically see with other RE villains.

The reason Luis brings up smokes so often is because it’s a code word his Umbrella Unit used to see if the other individual was also Umbrella. This is on a note in his lab at the end of the game. That’s why he asks Leon immediately, and also asks Ada

the chad in this game was, whoever keeps spilling yellow paint and tried fixing broken windows w/ yellow tape in the RE series. love how blunt the visual que were.

I disagree with some of your issues, mostly with the Krauser changes. The original Krauser felt a bit confused of a villain to me, but the remake really focused in on him being Leon's mentor, and their fight being a test of wills and beliefs. During his fight he keeps taunting you almost like a drill instructor, and his death is almost of a proud teacher. Makes me wonder what was under the plagas' control and what was his own volition.

Luis asks everyone for a smoke as a code, it's in the notes. If he's responded with "the kind you like", then that means they're working with him

Surprisingly, one detail people never pointed out yet is that during ashley's part where she walks along the corridor of taxidermy heads with her blue lamp, and a deer head fell. The blue light and deer head falling from wall was in the RE3.5 footage. Very subtle reference. Hope someone would make a video on it some day.

I enjoyed most of the ways they trolled returning players' expectations, like with the dead dog in the opening, or with the thumping sound before you meet Luis. They were lighthearted subversions that punished you for being too confident that you knew what was coming up next, without really hurting you. Though... the broken butterfly thing was pretty mean. XD

A cool detail I found out Is where Ashley struggle to not shoot Leon, you can actually see the slide not going back fully after the second shot, thus giving a hint that the gun was jammed

Ashley’s improvement and just general character acting greatly out ways the other small character downsides. She’s downright cute and the banter between the 2 of them is very charming

Speaking as someone who absolutely adores the original like so many others, I have to say that the remake is so good in its own right. It takes everything established in the 2005 game and expands upon it in a way that makes the experience feel different yet familiar for newcomers and veterans alike. That's not to say it completely overshadows the original as there are a few key things, namely the radio banter between Leon and the villains and some small gameplay things like the reload animations not being as cool (I know, I'm a wierdo) and a better Ada voice actor that the 2005 game still does better. In conclusion, Resident Evil 4 (2023) is a tremendous accomplishment in filling the shoes of a game as big as the original. While the original still has its place and is still fun to play, the remake has plenty of changes that make it just as, if not more enjoyable experience. This is an instance where I am more than happy to have eaten the crow in regards to my doubts about this game when it was first announced. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Thankfully, in Spain we're still lucky with the dubbing of the games. Leon and Ada still have the same voice actors they've had since Operation Raccoon City and Damnation for Ada, and Degeneration for Leon, and they're still just as great.

I played the game from start to finish and enjoyed it a lot, never got tired of roundhouse kicking the Spanish villagers like the inquisition was lead by Chuck Norris. I know that RE5 isn't a super fan favorite, I'd be down to get a remake of that so we can punch boulders in the RE engine.

this remake was phenomenal. while you could never replace the original, this definitely stands on its own and a great game in its own right.