Resident Evil 4, and by extension the franchise as a whole,falls into the category of horror games that let players defend themselves. When beset byResident Evil’s Umbrella biomutants, zombies, and crazed villagers, it is nice to know that most of the main protagonists can always fall back on an assortment of weapons and tools. The franchise may have started as a pure survival horror, but it has dipped into the action genre at times.
Resident Evil’s shift to full-on action can be traced to the originalResident Evil 4. The franchise was falling into a bit of a rut with spin-offs likeResident Evil SurvivorandResident Evil Zero, but instead of going back to its survival horror roots, Capcom decided to embraceResident Evil’s campiness and focus on action. The Leon in theResident Evil 4remake still has access to a massive arsenal like in the original, but the developers have borrowed some ideas from another game when it comes to how he wields them.
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Resident Evil 4’s Attache Case Makes Leon a One-Man Army
TheResident Evil 4remake brings back the iconic Attache Case. It is in this white-collar worker’s container where players can store all their usable items in a grid system. Healing items, grenades, ammo, and most importantly, weapons and their attachments can be placed in this case that Leon never carries around in the game world. Bigger cases can be purchased fromResident Evil 4’s Merchantover the course of the game, which allows Leon to carry larger and more numerous items.
As long as players sort the contents ofResident Evil’s Attache Casecorrectly, they can outfit Leon with as many weapons as possible. This means that they aren’t limited to the 4 weapons slots available in theResident Evil 2orResident Evil 3remakes. Because of this, Leon is more flexible when it comes to combat. Carrying more than 4 weapons at a single time is also great when it comes to immersion. Since players can switch between various weapons using a grid-like weapon wheel, they don’t have to pause the game to open their Attache Case.
Resident Evil 4’s Weapon Wheel Looks A Lot Like The One In The Last Of Us Games
Those who have played Naughty Dog’sThe Last of Usgames will immediately take to theResident Evil 4remake’s weapon wheel. By pressing the arrow buttons more than once in a single direction on controllers, players can quickly rummage through Leon’s Attache Case for the right weapon. They can sortResident Evil 4’s Sniper Rifleso it takes more button inputs to pull out (which is ideal since the weapon is supposed to be used at a safe distance), or they can set up the Shotgun to be immediately accessible with a single button press to quickly deal with close-range threats.
The controls are still the same on mouse and keyboard, meaning players still need to hotkey weapons to their desired keys or scroll through all their weapons, but those on controllers will find it much easier to swap Leon’s weapons at a moment’s notice. This ease of access was also whatThe Last of Us’s weapon wheel was built around. To keep players immersed in the dangerousworld ofThe Last of Us, Naughty Dog developed all of the game’s systems to work in real time.
This includes the crafting system, picking up and examining items, and even the weapon wheel. TheResident Evil 4remake picked a good inspiration to base its weapons wheel on, and it would be nice to see the game incorporate more real-time elements. Using the Attache Case and crafting system whilst Ganados are actively chasing Leon would heighten the tension and add more strategic elements to the game, further driving home the point that players aren’t welcome in this part of the world.
Resident Evil 4releases on July 31, 2025, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
