Resident Evil 4 Remake features more gruesome combat with Leon’s new degradable knife and stealth kills

I headed over to Capcom last week and spent a bit of time with the beginning of Resident Evil 4 Remake. In the short time I’ve had with the game, which is expected to be released on 23 of Marchnext year, it seems that has changed quite a bit… for the better.

I will start by saying that this is still inherently Resident Evil 4. Obviously I can’t speak for the rest of the game, but as far as Leon’s first date with the Los Ganados horde goes, Capcom has, so far, nailed the remake.

When it comes to a Resident Evil remake, we anticipate improved graphics, evolved combat, and a lot less crashing. Thankfully, my love of REmake 4’s combat left me wanting more, and here’s why.

First of all, the days of standing still to fire your firearm are over. This was the first thing I reached for once I had access to the weapon, and you can bet there was a sigh of relief as a result. This was to be expected, however what I didn’t expect was how powerful and entertaining it is to use Leon’s knife now.

In the original Resident Evil 4 game, you could use Leon’s knife to cut through loot boxes, or even attack and stun an enemy when needed. That said, I neglected the knife in the original in favor of guns because this is Resident Evil and I like shooting things.

In Resident Evil 4 Remake, however, there’s a lot more fun to be had with Leon’s melee weapon. It took me a hot minute to figure it out, but once I did, it was even more of a gore fest. Now, Leon’s knife is tethered to some kind of stamina bar, so he still needs to use it carefully instead of going to Michael Myers in Los Ganados.

In addition to this, the weapon is also linked to context-specific finishers whenever you debuff an enemy enough; just walk in, attack and prepare to possibly flinch at the bloody finisher or, if you’re me, and you’re generally bad at games, prepare to flinch at the equally violent incoming attack whenever you time your finisher a bit late. Better yet, you can use this knife to counter that terrifying chainsaw, if you’ve got the guts.

And for stealth fans, an absolute treat awaits. When crouching, yes you can now crouch whenever you want, you can get close to particular enemies without being detected. When he’s close enough, you can hit his melee button and score a horrible stealth kill. Admittedly, it felt more like Far Cry 6 at times, but it was still a lot of fun.

Capcom has also taken into account the fact that this makes Leon’s melee weapon quite powerful, and has also introduced a downgrade system for the weapon. After a limited amount of uses, players will need to repair the knife, but how will players do it? Well, even though I didn’t get to meet the insecure character, Resident Evil Showcase gave us a glimpse of the shopkeeper, and it looks like he’ll be after our knife fixes.

What do you think of Leon’s upgraded kit piece?