I recently got to spend some time with the Resident Evil 4 Remake, and I made certain to pick apart every fine detail I could locate. Not only was I striving to hear Leon Kennedy say, “Bingo?” or to determine that arranging my storage case was truly just as satisfying as the 2005 title, but — and I’m sorry for doubting Capcom — I was also hunting for a typewriter. Resident Evil 4 wasn’t the first Resident Evil game to use a typewriter as a save point, however, it was the first to use a typewriter that didn’t require ink ribbons. Saving also became unlimited, before eventually being ditched in Resident Evil 5, along with the series’ spirit. Anyway, I did find a typewriter. After all, it wouldn’t make any sense to remake Resident Evil 4 — a game that is supposedly going to have closer connections to Resident Evil Village — without having typewriters as save points. However, in this day and age, you never really know what’s going to make it into a remake and what isn’t (looking at you, Resident Evil 3 Remake). It is worth mentioning that in the build I was playing, we couldn’t actually use or interact with the typewriters. After all, it was a demo, and I didn’t need to panic over saving my progress in fear that a random Los Ganados was going to take me out suddenly. It also seemed as though there was a form of autosave present between areas of the game, but again, this could’ve all been exclusive to the demo build. That said, it’s safe to say that the Resident Evil 4 Remake remembers exactly where it came from. So far, based off of the demo portion of the game that I got to play, it feels unequivocally like Resident Evil 4 with some fresh paint and evolved combat. Leaving small details untouched such as how the storage case looks, the save system, and dialogue will go a long way to making this a fantastic remake; seeing that typewriter, even if I couldn’t yet use it, led to yet another sigh of relief, and comfort that this remake is in the right hands.
