Featured Image Credit: Capcom
Topics: Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, Capcom, PC, Steam
Resident Evil 4 remake quality removes its worst feature, finally making the game playable, and good riddance!
The Resident Evil series has been one of Capcom’s hottest properties ever since its inception in 1996 on the original PlayStation.Exploring the eerie Spencer Mansion as Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine with fellow members of the S.T.A.R.S team, killing zombies, giant snakes, solving puzzles and uncovering a sinister conspiracy is a memory that lasts a lifetime.
Over the years, we’ve been treated to a plethora of Resident Evil sequels, spin-offs and remakes. Some, certainly better than others, with the likes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 sitting high at the top of the proverbial mountain, looking down on Umbrella Corps and Resident Evil 6.
Over the years, Capcom has treated us to some amazing remakes in the series, such as Resident Evil (2001), Resident Evil 2 (2019), Resident Evil 3 (2020) and most recently, Resident Evil 4 in 2023.
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Whether it’s the original Resident Evil 4 that was released in 2005 or the aforementioned remake, it’s widely considered by many to be the best game in the series, and after the OG RE2, I’m inclined to agree.
Much like the Capcom remakes that came before, Resident Evil 4 had improved gameplay and visuals, added new story beats, cut-scenes, areas, monsters and much more. In many ways, I think it’s a perfect remake across the board. Well, other than perhaps on PC.
Don’t get me wrong, Resident Evil 4 remake is still an amazing game on PC, and depending on your system, it can look and play much better than its console counterpart. However, there is one major caveat, and that’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) on Steam.
To put it simply, the purpose of DRM is to prevent a digital PC game from being copied and distributed freely, sometimes illegally on pirate websites (no, not those who sail the seven seas). From that respect, I can understand a publisher and developer's perspective.
Unfortunately for the customer, it means more restrictions on digital ownership for the game they’ve purchased. This is why I appreciate DRM-free platforms such as GOG. If you buy a game from that PC platform, it has no restrictions in terms of where you play it, because you own the game.
Sadly, DRM has another major negative implication, and that’s impacting a game's performance. On some PCs, the game might be rendered unplayable because of the technical issues that DRM can bring. What’s more, if a game that has implemented DRM on a server and that server shuts down, there might be no way to re-download the game that you’ve purchased.
As reported by Eurogamer, in March this year, three years after the launch of Resident Evil 4 remake, Capcom added the dreaded DRM to the game, and for the reasons mentioned above, this was not well-received by gamers.
The performance of the Resident Evil 4 remake was also reported by PC tech experts, and a subsidiary of Eurogamer, Digital Foundry, who detailed major performance issues with the game following the DRM update, especially regarding cut-scenes on lower-end systems.
Thankfully, at least, you might be pleased to know that Capcom has quietly removed DRM from the Resident Evil 4 remake on PC, and we hope that it never returns!
The Resident Evil 4 remake is available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, as well as compatible iOS devices.