This game is just an utter masterpiece on how to do a remake and revitalize an old classic. Everything that was outstanding about the original has been re-worked in such a fantastic way. The visuals are massive improvement obviously and seeing them run on this gorgeous new Capcom engine is a site to behold. Combat is so fluid and engaging throughout the entire game and enhanced even further than the original. For one of course being able to move while aiming but the responsiveness in shooting, the enemy stuns, and the way everything feels is so smooth. I also adore the new treasure system allowing for allocating gems into certain jewelry for added bonuses. The return of the fan favorite merchant is back with a great new side mini-game the shooting gallery which can earn you trinkets for your suitcase that can help with certain things like more ammo when crafting, better health upon eating items, etc. On top of that, there's new side missions available which can be done to win exclusive awards from the merchant as well and they never feel out of place.

There's so many things I love about this game compared to the original, like the much more of a focus of this being a scarier experience. From the knights room, to the terrifying Verdogo fight, or everyone's worst fear the Regenaradors the game does an excellent job of raising tension and fear much more the second time around. I love exploring the map, finding treasures, looting everything possible, it's a true survival horror experience. All the characters are extremely well done and I gotta hand it to them for making this story much more fleshed out and mature. The original was a bit too campy/cringy and now it's handled in a much better way with a few pieces of one-liner classics here and there from Leon of course. Ashley's ai is a bit improved and her as a character is far more interesting and likeable than before. Graphics look incredible, combat/boss fights are amazing, all 3 major sections are done brilliantly, it just culminates into a true tried and true survival horror masterpiece.

Now as much as I loved this game, it does have some issues but mainly it's PC port problems, not really much in gameplay. Unfortunately this game does have unavoidable traversal stutter meaning loading into new areas will cause a first noticeable hit but thankfully it's a quick second or two before returning to normal. The other is Chapter 5, for some reason this chapter is insanely unoptimized pretty much across this board with tons of users complaining regardless of rigs of extremely significant fps drops, myself included and no patch has ever addressed this sadly. The island, least on my rig has some noticeable frame issues here and there but it's thankfully not enough to cause major deterrence. Otherwise the game does run pretty smooth. I just wish this games camera was similar to 2-3 remaster as this one has a weird lunge forward effect whenever leon walks which is kind of distracting and can feel like stutters when you're actually not. Anyway, as for gameplay, only really big complaint is the stun damage issue. Sometimes Leon when hit will stay stunned and instead of an invincibility frame or two you'll take another hit which can lead to unfair deaths quite often and raise frustration.

In short, this a 10/10 masterpiece! I was expecting something great with this game but they delivered on all cylinders and I'm in love with this! Game of the year so far, easily!

This game is just an utter masterpiece on how to do a remake and revitalize an old classic. Everything that was outstanding about the original has been re-worked in such a fantastic way. The visuals are massive improvement obviously and seeing them run on this gorgeous new Capcom engine is a site to behold. Combat is so fluid and engaging throughout the entire game and enhanced even further than the original. For one of course being able to move while aiming but the responsiveness in shooting, the enemy stuns, and the way everything feels is so smooth. I also adore the new treasure system allowing for allocating gems into certain jewelry for added bonuses. The return of the fan favorite merchant is back with a great new side mini-game the shooting gallery which can earn you trinkets for your suitcase that can help with certain things like more ammo when crafting, better health upon eating items, etc. On top of that, there's new side missions available which can be done to win exclusive awards from the merchant as well and they never feel out of place. There's so many things I love about this game compared to the original, like the much more of a focus of this being a scarier experience. From the knights room, to the terrifying Verdogo fight, or everyone's worst fear the Regenaradors the game does an excellent job of raising tension and fear much more the second time around. I love exploring the map, finding treasures, looting everything possible, it's a true survival horror experience. All the characters are extremely well done and I gotta hand it to them for making this story much more fleshed out and mature. The original was a bit too campy/cringy and now it's handled in a much better way with a few pieces of one-liner classics here and there from Leon of course. Ashley's ai is a bit improved and her as a character is far more interesting and likeable than before. Graphics look incredible, combat/boss fights are amazing, all 3 major sections are done brilliantly, it just culminates into a true tried and true survival horror masterpiece. Now as much as I loved this game, it does have some issues but mainly it's PC port problems, not really much in gameplay. Unfortunately this game does have unavoidable traversal stutter meaning loading into new areas will cause a first noticeable hit but thankfully it's a quick second or two before returning to normal. The other is Chapter 5, for some reason this chapter is insanely unoptimized pretty much across this board with tons of users complaining regardless of rigs of extremely significant fps drops, myself included and no patch has ever addressed this sadly. The island, least on my rig has some noticeable frame issues here and there but it's thankfully not enough to cause major deterrence. Otherwise the game does run pretty smooth. I just wish this games camera was similar to 2-3 remaster as this one has a weird lunge forward effect whenever leon walks which is kind of distracting and can feel like stutters when you're actually not. Anyway, as for gameplay, only really big complaint is the stun damage issue. Sometimes Leon when hit will stay stunned and instead of an invincibility frame or two you'll take another hit which can lead to unfair deaths quite often and raise frustration. In short, this a 10/10 masterpiece! I was expecting something great with this game but they delivered on all cylinders and I'm in love with this! Game of the year so far, easily!