Resident Evil 4 sent the series on a downward spiral from which it's only just recovered

From Eurogamer: "It's always a pleasure to get reacquainted with an old classic, so what's better than the chance to get reacquainted with three of them all at once? It's a bit of a bumper week on the Nintendo Switch eShop right now, with Resident Evil Zero, the 2002 remake of the original and Resident Evil 4 all suddenly available."

[FallenAngel1984]

This article didn’t even bother mentioning Resident Evil: Revelations 1 & 2. Those titles combined the horror from the first three games with the great controls of post RE4 titles into one great package

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Hell yes

[naruga]

REsident evil Revelations 1 -2 were the foam of the sht , the peak of a disatrous course ...imo its a blasphyme someones who likes RE 1-2-3 to like the Revelations abominations (the same goes for RE 7) ...i can say RE 4 -5-6 could be "swallowed" a bit with difficulty because had stellar gameplay but they were not Resident Evil ...Re 7+revelations were out of theme completely end of story

[Kosic]

I disagree those games were rubbish. Stupid story lines and the 2nd one was just pathetic. Felt poor in quality and was just made for the sake off it. Not as bad as re6 but they aren't great survive horror games. I can't call them true re games either as when the 4th came out the series isn't what it used to be.

[AK91]

What? It was 6 that sent the series on a downward spiral not 4.

[solideagle]

yup Resident Evil 4 was brilliant...

[CobraKai]

True, but it sounds more like Capcom relied too heavily on the play mechanics of 4 when creating its sequels which resulted in its downward spiral. They never criticized 4 as being a low point. On the contrary, it was a pinnacle for the franchise, that it went all downhill after.

I personally loved 5 and liked 6, so I dunno how far down this spiral supposedly went

[Benjaminkno]

5 was good tho not survival horror

[porkChop]

RE4 is where the push towards action started though. I think that might be what they mean by downward spiral.

[Sirk7x]

The action was great though in 4, and even in 5 the controls were very fun. The problem after 4 was lack of horror atmosphere, and convoluted story-telling.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

4 is where it started. It was an entirely different game from what they created previously, and not just from a controls standpoint. 5 and 6 just followed suit. People praise RE4 a lot as a game, but don't look at what the approach, and it's following success, did to the franchise.

[Hardiman]

Yeah I agree and I see lots give 5 a pass but man I did not care for it at all! it wasn't a bad game per say, neither was 6 from design standpoints but they just did not feel like RE to me.

[Hardiman]

I think they aren't saying 4 was bad but it's design led to 5 and 6.

[Imalwaysright]

It's design also led to the original Dead Space so I have to disagree with the people that say that RE4 was responsible for anything negative for the franchise. The downspiral started with the people behind RE5 and RE6.

[Hardiman]

@Imalwaysright didn't see it blame RE4 for everything, just the RE series. Dead Space rocks, for obvious reasons!

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I'm currently nearing the end of Resident Evil VII and my goodness I'm loving it. This is by far the best Resident Evil ever. Next I'm going to play the remake of Resident Evil 2.

[LOGICWINS]

Are you playing on PSVR?

[Sonyslave3]

Agree I'm just now playing it too and wow it crazy Mia had me and my family tripping out.

Resident evil 2 remake I would say is the better zombie game.

[Hardiman]

Yes it has the old school RE vibe to it, even with some of the structure layout. I also loved the "Everyman " approach and thought it added to the experience. He wasn't trained or a badass, he was just like a lot of us would be in a similar situation.

I hope the mainline games stick with contained contamination areas, preferably rural areas and have regular people dealing with the horrors.

They can keep remaking some of the more traditional games and eventually lead up to something big.

[TheColbertinator]

Despite the complaints I have towards Resident Evil, it's actually remained a rather solid series which does try out new ideas quite often. The only "bad" games in the Resident Evil series to me were only the spinoffs.

[Ninver]

I disagree. Res4 brought a fresh and much needed vibe to the series. It was dark, story driven and action packed where necessary.

Saying that, I may be a little bias because I never really played much of the first three iterations. I watched family members play while I watched.

[Ratchet75]

Do they even know what they re talking about????
Resident evil 4 was considered as a masterpiece when he launched back then and still is to this day.
This game has revolutionized how 3rd person action are played nowadays. Their wouldn't be gears of War or uncharted, without RE4.

[Varodor]

Resident Evil 4 not just one of best RE game it also one of best games ever

[demonicale]

Resident evil 4 is my favourite.

[BlaqMagiq1]

Umm that was Resident Evil 5 that started the action trend not 4. Why is it years later after RE4 was declared a masterpiece people are now pushing the faults on RE4? It makes no sense whatsoever.

[PhantomTommy]

Seeing a lot of comments here from people who clearly didn't read the article and are just reacting to the (admittedly clickbaity) title. The article itself has nothing but praise for Resident Evil 4, but is basically saying that it was the drastic changes introduced in 4 that would eventually lead to 5 and 6 taking the piss with the action stuff and causing the series to lose a lot of its identity. I can't really argue against it, but I'm not going to blame Resi 4. It was a necessary change at the time and the game was and still is an absolute masterpiece.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

It was definitely 4 that started the action trend. It wasn't nearly the same type of survival horror vibe that the series was known for, and the game world wasn't claustrophobic by design, which previously was a signature of the franchise. It actually makes a lot of sense looking at something later, minus the hype, and seeing something for what it is. And not everyone shares the same opinion anyway. I always thought RE4 was a good action game, but completely overrated as Resident Evil.

[BlaqMagiq1]

RE4 is still classified as survival horror. RE5 was the first main game that went full on action and that sentiment has been echoed across the internet for years. Just because RE4 isn't like RE1-3 doesn't make it not survival horror.

[meep316]

Oh stop, there was one bad game and 5 was quite good.

[CrimsonWing69]

Man, Resident Evil 4 was incredible!

[Poopmist]

I'd say 5 did. It was just awful.

[Sirk7x]

It wasn't even awful, it was just an action game with the RE name attached to it. At least 4 still employed horror atmosphere very well in places. Starting with 5, no Shinji Mikami or Hideki Kamiya.

[Chumdiddy]

By being wildly successful and beloved? Yeah, I guess but it was probably worth it.

Capcom could have easily just not made the same game over and over again for a decade lol

[Orionsangel]

RE4 is a masterpiece for the ages! RE5 was ok. It's RE6 where we had a downward spiral from which it's only just recovered.

[Tankbusta40]

PREACH...RE4 almost killed the series!

[TargusX]

You are joking me! It got things going! Ffs

[Thundercat77]

RE 4 revived the series. It was a very amazing game. RE 5 started the downward spiral and then R3 7 revived the series once again and then RE 2 remake was also amazing.

[nucky64]

i liked RE4 - but, what it did was give capcom the idea to move away from survival horror and turn to more action/shooting......and that was a mistake. hopefully RE2 remake has them take the next proper chapter of the series back to survival horror - and please, no hillbillies.

[AdmGenAladeen]

Absolutely agree. That crap that was part 4 DESTROYED the horror in a series that was survival horror. 4 was nothing but the start of turning this series into a Hollywood action movie. It continued through 5 and culminated in the abomination that was RE6. RE7 went back to horror though I didn't too much care for the story.

[Fraggle1987]

True. One of the most overated games of all time. Was neither good as an action game or survival horror. Terrible dialoge and ridiculous qte was the icing. Unlike resi 1-³ its not aged well.

[YodaCracker]

RE4 has aged better than almost any game I can think of. It’s still rereleased in its original form on every new platform. And Capcom is remaking other games in the series with RE4 controls/camera.

[RosweeSon]

Pretty certain one if the best in the series wasn’t the prob 5? Not terrible wasn’t great and 6 was just too much 4 campaigns far too action based 7 brilliant. Revelations 1 was pretty cool on 3ds struggling to getting revelations2 operation raccoon city was garbage

[Hardiman]

Big RE fan here from way back when it all started and I gotta agree with this a little. I love RE4, love it but what followed with 5 and 6 just about did me in. Now 5 and 6 aren't bad games, in fact they are great action games but not great RE games.

It's like they just took the perspective, weapons and action from 4 but left out the atmosphere and horror. Sure we got RE Revelations and they were more like the OG games but the production wasn't as high. I hated how it felt like I was running on ice in Revelations 2!

It all turned out great though because 7 and I know it has its detractors too but it brought back the atmosphere and horror, that frankly I thought would never return! Parlay that with RE2 Remake and you're rocking on all cylinders.

We're also getting a Nemesis remake and I pray we eventually get a Code Veronica remake too because that game was pretty awesome in it's own right!

[iplay1up2]

I just bought RE4 AGAIN, for my Switch. I loved it. I just wish the Switch version had motion controls. RE4 on Wii was so much better with motion controls. It is one of the few games I have ever said that about.

The worst RE game is 6. That game sucked!

[EliteComments123]

LOL resident evil 4 was awesome

[Artemidorus]

Resident Evil 0 1 2 3 are the only classics worth playing the rest just went off the rails from the story

[pootymcpoockle]

Absolutely agreed.

I've been saying it for years, Resident Evil 4 was the beginning of the end for the series, as it set the precedent for more action focused gameplay and it nearly killed the franchise.

It was a phenomenal game, but I would never call it a good resident evil game.