Before its recent recommitment to survival horror, the Resident Evil franchise had been criticized for ditching its roots and becoming an action series. The fifth and sixth games were the ones that took much of the criticism for being action-focused.
However, several fans believe that Resident Evil 4 was actually the first fully-fledged action game in the series. It's easy to see why people would think that, as the fourth game is certainly different from its predecessors.
The debate about whether or not RE4 is a survival horror game has been going on for many years. In this list, we consider both sides of the argument.
10 Survival Horror: Moments Of Vulnerability
Making players feel vulnerable is a sure-fire way to instill fear in them. And there are certainly occasions in Resident Evil 4 where you feel vulnerable.
One of these instances is during the opening of the game. The two people you were with are gone, and you're trapped in a village with lots of enemies (including a chainsaw-wielding one) out for your blood. As you've only just started the game, you've only got a handgun and minimal bullets, so you know you can't fight them all. You feel equally vulnerable during the section where you're controlling Ashley since you have no weapons besides the occasional lantern to throw.
9 Not Survival Horror: Leon's Jokes
Resident Evil has always been more humorous than most horror franchises. Although, in the early games, the humor was usually unintentional and came about due to cheesy dialogue.
In RE4 though, it's on purpose, as Leon makes a lot of jokes throughout the game. He constantly spouts lines like "where's everyone going, bingo?" and "I'm sure you boys didn't just tag along so we could sing kumbaya together at some boy scout bonfire." The hilarity of the jokes can be questionable, nevertheless, they definitely lighten the mood. If they were rare, it wouldn't be a problem, yet Leon delivers a one-liner in almost every conversation, making the whole game less scary.
8 Survival Horror: Puzzles
Scaring people isn't the only thing that survival horror games are known for. Puzzle-solving has long been a significant part of the genre. Resident Evil 4 includes a plethora of puzzles that you need to solve to progress through the game. Some test your logic, whereas others use physics, and most are very different from each other.
They allow for breaks in the combat and the tension to build. Without them, RE4 would be virtually non-stop action and wouldn't be very reminiscent of a survival horror title.
7 Not Survival Horror: Melee Attacks
Melee combat in the early Resident Evil titles consisted of simply using a knife. While useful, it was hard to keep everyone at bay with it, and its existence certainly didn't make the game less scary.
The melee attacks introduced in Resident Evil 4 are a lot more useful, not just to kill people but also to knock groups of enemies back. It's hard to feel scared when you have the ability (if an enemy is stunned) to knock back three infected creatures with one spin kick. A previous entry talked about moments of vulnerability in the game, and there may have been more of them if it wasn't for things like overpowered melee attacks.
6 Survival Horror: Inventory Management
An important aspect of many survival horror games is inventory management. Despite the increase of resources in Resident Evil 4, there are still a limited number of slots available in your inventory.
Fitting everything in your attache case can sometimes take careful planning and organization. Mismanagement could lead to the inability to pick up (or need to drop) important items. This isn't usually something that comes up in shooters or action games, yet its a big part of the survival aspect of survival horror.
5 Not Survival Horror: A Lot Of Ammo
Ammo is intentionally limited in a lot of survival horror games, so the player can't just gun down everyone if their path. The Resident Evil games used to be known for this, as in the first few installments, many players would try to run past plenty of enemies instead of fighting them.
Resident Evil 4 is different, as you receive a great deal of ammunition throughout the game. So much so that if you are good enough at exploring and finding extra bullets, then you could kill almost every enemy in the game without having to avoid any. Sometimes the infected creatures you kill even drop some ammo for you, which is a mechanic usually seen in a shooter, not a horror game.
4 Survival Horror: Verdugo Fight
At one point during RE4, you go up against Salazar's right-hand monster, Verdugo. Before the fight even begins, he strikes fear in an abundance of players. The game keeps cutting to his POV, showing that he is hunting you down. Then some eerie music plays as he occasionally takes swipes at you from the ceiling. When the scary creature finally comes out, you can take him down or run.
The atmosphere before and during the fight make this boss battle terrifying. And it certainly fits the conventions of survival horror more so than any other genre.
3 Not Survival Horror: Lack Of Jump Scares
Jump scares are included in nearly all survival horror games as it is an easy and effective way to frighten players. The Resident Evil series has adopted this approach plenty of times, with the first game's dogs jumping through the window moment being one of the most iconic jumps scares ever.
However, in the fourth game, there is a distinct lack of them. There are the occasional ones, like the man charging out of the oven, but they're rare. Thus, when walking around in Resident Evil 4, you don't have that feeling that something is going to jump out at you at any moment, unlike in most horror games.
2 Survival Horror: Regenerators/Iron Maidens
Regenerators (a.k.a Regeneradors) and Iron Maidens are some of the scariest creatures in Resident Evil history. You first encounter a Regenerator in cold storage in the second half of Resident Evil 4. After that, any time you hear their creepy heavy breathing, it will likely send a shiver down your spine.
They're made even more terrifying by the fact that they're almost unkillable, as they twitch and shuffle towards you barely slowed down by shotgun blasts. It's the sort of enemy you aren't likely to see in a typical action game.
1 Not Survival Horror: Action Sequences
The main reason why many don't consider Resident Evil 4 a true survival horror game is due to the number of action sequences it has. For instance, when you and Luis are defending the house, or when you're battling infected in a line of minecarts.
Although, it is the helicopter sequence where Resident Evil 4 goes all-out action. During the section, you're running through groups of enemies with a helicopter backing you up. The scene includes mounted turrets, miniguns, and plenty of explosions. Replace the infected with humans, and the sequence wouldn't look out of place in a Call of Duty game.