The demo for the Resident Evil 4 Remake is continuing a great pattern in the Resident Evil franchise. Prior to the launch of Resident Evil Village, Capcom released a short demo introducing players to the world of the game, some basic gameplay mechanics, and a terrifying meeting with the mascot villain for the game, Lady Dimitrescu. This short bit of gameplay hyped up the pre-existing fan base by showing returning elements from Resident Evil 7, plus hooked new fans to the series with its European gothic-inspired setting.
Resident Evil 4 Remake is repeating this trend by releasing a short demo to entice players. While there’s no exact release date for the demo, it will arrive prior to the release of RE4 Remake in March. Some footage from the demo has already surfaced, giving the community a preview of coming attractions and escalating the anticipation. This footage and the demos from previous titles both prove that the demos have something to offer that even the main games themselves cannot achieve.
Resident Evil’s Demos Showcase Short, Tense Gameplay
Survival horror is a high-tension experience. Completing an entire Resident Evil game can fatigue the player or, worse, make them impatient to get to the end of the story. While the best entries in the Resident Evil series use sequences to break up the gameplay and vary the pace, the demos more succinctly deliver that tense experience. RE4’s ‘village sequence’ intro is a great example of this philosophy, building intrigue around the remote Spanish village, introducing the threat, and then throwing the player into an onslaught of parasitic enemies. Resident Evil 4 Remake adapts this sequence to a demo, keeping the action tight and leaving the player wanting more.
Resident Evil 4 Remake’s Demo Shows Off Updated Gameplay From Classic Sequences
The most obvious upgrade from the original RE4 in Remake is the visuals. While the village, castle, and island all had simple color palettes in the original game, RE4 Remake demo gives each environment a more complex color scheme. Instead of the village having a dry, brown veneer, it now has pops of lantern light in the windows and far-off mountains trapping Leon in. The sound is also vastly improved, with each classic Resident Evil 4 enemy having unique shuffling sounds, call-outs, and spine-tingling groans. Even with this, the B-movie charm of the original game remains intact: Leon still delivers cheesy one-liners in a surprisingly cavalier manner given the situation.
The graphics, sound and small elements like Leon’s one-liners can all be gained from trailers and footage. But demos allow players to experience the cohesiveness of all these elements together, showing how they play off one another. This is especially important for the survival horror genre, where the player’s immersion - and hence their enjoyment - is dependent upon having agency in the game’s events rather than being a mere onlooker. Additionally, the demo allows series’ fans to feel the difference between gameplay in iconic sequences like the village attack and changing Ashley's escort through Resident Evil 4's castle.
The short, escalating tension of the Resident Evil demos is their greatest strength, sometimes outclassing moments from the games themselves. It may be time to consider demos not just as a tool for promoting the main games, but as games in their own right. Even indie developers releasing short-form horror games on PC usually do so with an eye toward making a full game. Instead, this short-form horror could be a genre unto itself. For now, it’s enough that AAA games like Resident Evil 4 Remake are experimenting with this format.
Source: PlayStation/YouTube
