Capcom has done a wonderful job recreating Leon and Claire inResident Evil 2Remake, keeping faithful to the original style without sacrificing any efforts to make their appearance realistic. Now reports indicate there’ll be another remake in store for Leon, this time forResident Evil 4. It still holds up graphically, at least by modern standards, so having the game remade may not need overhaul or redesign all that much.
Character redesigns have happened a lot throughout theResident Evilfranchise, especially with the most recent remakes. Even in mainline games multiple characters have been redesigned or changed, but remakingResident Evil 4may be a special case in that there may not be many changes needed to any of the character’s designs. As much asResident Evil 4has become a classic game in the series by now, the game’s character aesthetics are still relatively realistic in detail. Other than maybe a bit of a haircut, remaking Leon fromResident Evil 4may best be approached with subtle changes.
Resident Evil Redesigns
For the overall franchise,Resident Evilhas been kind of hit-or-miss with character redesigns throughout the series. The most glaring example is Chris Redfield, who’s been the most shape-shifting character in the series thus far. From as early as the firstResident Evilgame toResident Evil 7more recently,Chris' visual appearance has changed drastically throughoutResident Evil. Initially Chris' design was pretty basic, sporting a standard physical build for someone who was the member of a special police unit. InResident Evil 5/6, he was redesigned to become much more bulky with larger muscles, perfect for punching boulders with his bare hands. Then inResident Evil 7,he slimmed down to a more realistic weight, along with a different facial design as well.
Funny enough, Chris' sister Claire got some controversy for her redesign inResident Evil 2 Remakeas well. While it wasn’t any particular scandal by any means, there was some initial criticism that Claire’s facial features looked radically different compared to her original design. Same went for Ada Wong, eschewing the usual red dress for a more inconspicuous overcoat (at least, for a little while).Leon and many other characters also received redesigns inResident Evil 2 Remake, mostly in service of modernizing each character with very little changes. AResident Evil 4 Remakewould likely want to stick to this minimalist approach for its aesthetic as well.
Redesigning Leon and Ashley
Leon’s appearance inResident Evil 4was largely faithful to his design in the originalResident Evil 2, albeit without the RPD uniform. The graphical facelift between the original PlayStation and GameCube was a massive improvement in detail, but Leon’s design was still very familiar.AssumingResident Evil 4does get remade, changes will likely come to Leon’s design, although this time they may not stray too far from his original design. In fact, taking a more minimalist approach would probably be more beneficial. Making a few adjustments just to keep his design more in line withResident Evil 2 Remakewould make a lot of sense, but going any further than that would be too much.
As for Ashley, well, she’ll probably receive a bit more attention during the design process. In a lot of ways, her design hasn’t really aged well and would likely be changed to represent more modern design. Outside of aesthetics, more importantly Ashley’s in-game AI behavior would likely receive a much needed overhaul. Too often would Ashley be helpless to run or defend herself from danger,to the point of it becoming a meme forResident Evilfans. A remake could go as far as implementing new commands players could issue to Ashley, or at the very least give Ashley more leeway to escape certain dangerous situations instead of her just standing in fear.
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How Faithful Can the Remake Be?
Outside of the main characters, it’s kind of hard to gaugewhat other kinds of design changes could be made inResident Evil 4. For as much as the game did to revolutionize third-person action shooters, there’s a whole lot about the game’s themes and aesthetic that’s strange.Resident Evil 4walks and crosses a fine line between realism and absurdity in many examples. It’s quite the dichotomy to play a game that realistically simulates rural Spanish farmlands, whilst simultaneously including a giant mechatronic statue of Ramon Salazar built to chase Leon out of a medieval castle. WhetherResident Evil 4 Remakewants to retain that level of absurdity, it’s hard to gauge. Then again,Resident Evil 2 Remakekept the giant zombie crocodile, so maybe Capcom will just own its quirks.
WitnessingaResident Evil 4 Remakewill be impressive regardless, but there’s a lot to consider in redesigning the many oddities through its playthrough. Despite how beloved the game is,Resident Evil 4takes a turn to crazy town in a lot of places throughout its runtime. At least in terms of character designs, there’s not much needed to be changed/updated inResident Evil 4for the main characters. Especially withResident Evil 2 Remakealready setting a basis for Leon’s new design, a remake for the fourth game wouldn’t want to deviate too far from that groundwork. That being said, many will be curious to see how faithful a remake is to the original game.
