Resident Evil 4 is a 2023 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. A remake of the 2005 game Resident Evil 4, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on March 24, 2023. Versions for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS were released on December 20, 2023, and a version for Nintendo Switch 2 is set to be released on October 16, 2026.
Players control the US agent Leon S. Kennedy, who must save Ashley Graham, the daughter of the US president, from a mysterious cult in rural Spain. The remake has an updated plot, new visuals, characters, cast, and modernized gameplay, in line with Biohazard (2017), Village (2021) and other Resident Evil remakes. The team expanded Ashley's characterization and relationship with Leon and used Capcom's RE Engine. Two pieces of downloadable content were released: the minigame Mercenaries, in which players battle waves of enemies, and the side story Separate Ways, in which players control the agent Ada Wong.
Resident Evil 4 received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Golden Joystick Award for Ultimate Game of the Year and The Game Award for Game of the Year. It had sold over 10 million copies by April 2025, making it the fastest-selling Resident Evil game, until being surpassed by Resident Evil Requiem in 2026. As of September 2026, Resident Evil has sold a total of 16.8 million copies.
Gameplay Resident Evil 4 is a remake of the 2005 game Resident Evil 4. It features "over-the-shoulder" third-person shooter gameplay similar to the original, while drawing other design aspects from the remakes of Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 3 (2020). Resident Evil 4 features redesigned visuals, designed to create a tenser atmosphere, along with new character designs and backgrounds. It offers six control schemes, including one styled after the original game. Occasionally the player must solve puzzles to reach certain areas. In some sequences, Leon must protect the president's daughter, Ashley. She uses a simpler health system than in the original, and can be instructed to stay close or far.
As in the original game, the player organizes their inventory with an attaché case. New to the remake, a crafting system enables the player to create items and ammunition using collected resources. The Merchant returns, allowing the player to buy, upgrade, and trade items while providing new side quests that can be completed during the main story. Similarly to the original, the focus of combat is shooting enemies and reloading. However, Leon can now move and use weapons at the same time, allowing him to evade attacks while firing and reload while on the move. Leon can use melee attacks to injure enemies and push them away. A new parrying mechanic allows him to block, counterattack, and kill downed enemies with his knife. Unlike the original, Leon's knife has a durability meter; if broken, the player will have to speak to the Merchant to get it repaired or increase its durability. Leon can carry multiple types of knives with various attributes.
The gameplay remains largely the same in the Separate Ways DLC, with the addition of a grappling hook mechanic, that allows Ada to reach previously inaccessible locations and perform melee attacks on enemies from a distance. Attaching a specific charm allows Ada to use her grappling hook to rip shields away from certain enemies. Additionally, Ada possesses an Internal Retinal Inquiry System (I.R.I.S) that allows her to see clues invisible to the naked eye, aiding her in her mission.
Plot Following the destruction of Raccoon City in 1998, Leon S. Kennedy (Nick Apostolides / Toshiyuki Morikawa) participates in a special programme and undergoes training with Major Jack Krauser (Mike Kovac / Kengo Tsuji) after agreeing to become an agent for the United States government. Six years later, in 2004, Leon is sent by the president to rescue his kidnapped daughter, Ashley Graham (Genevieve Buechner / Akari Kito), from a village in rural Spain with the remote assistance of Ingrid Hunnigan (Raylene Harewood / Yu Sugimoto). Soon after arriving, Leon finds his escorts brutally murdered by the villagers, who are being controlled by the parasite Las Plagas and have pledged themselves to the Los Illuminados cult. Searching for Ashley, Leon meets Luis Serra (André Peña / Kenjiro Tsuda), a scientist on the run from the cult whom Ingrid confirms once worked for the Umbrella Corporation. Leon and Luis are captured by the village head, Chief Bitores Méndez (Jon Bryant / Takeshi Oda), who injects Leon with a Plaga parasite. After escaping captivity, the pair separate.
Leon learns that Ashley is being kept inside the village's old church and rescues her. She has also been infected with a Plaga. They are pursued by Méndez and a horde of villagers until Leon kills him inside an abandoned warehouse. With their rescue helicopter delayed by inclement weather, the pair retreat to a castle to seek shelter but Lord Ramón Salazar's (Marcio Moreno / Chō) forces capture Ashley. Leon briefly re-encounters Ada Wong (Lily Gao / Junko Minagawa) following their last encounter in Raccoon City. Leon battles his way throughout the castle before reuniting with Luis underground, who provides suppressants for the Plagas and reveals he wants to atone for his actions while working as an Umbrella researcher and for Los Illuminados. The pair use mining tunnels to reach the surface, but Luis is fatally stabbed by Krauser, who engages Leon in combat until Luis forces him to retreat. Before he dies, Luis gives Leon the key to his personal lab so the latter can cure himself and Ashley. Upon returning to the castle, Leon battles and kills Salazar before receiving Ada's help in pursuing Krauser, who has taken Ashley to an island facility.
Fighting through the island, Leon reunites with Ashley, but they encounter Osmund Saddler (Christopher Jane / Hōchū Ōtsuka), Los Illuminados' leader who intends to send the infected Ashley back to the United States to infect her father so he can take over the world. Saddler uses their Plagas to control Ashley and incapacitate Leon, separating them again. While moving through the facility, Leon discovers Krauser kidnapped Ashley and brought her to the village out of resentment against the United States government for their handling of "Operation Javier", a mission he narrowly survived two years prior that resulted in his entire unit being killed. Desiring power, Krauser uses a Plaga to mutate himself and fight Leon, who reluctantly kills him. Leon reunites with Ashley again but Saddler returns and attempts to kill Leon until Ada intervenes, allowing Leon to take Ashley to Luis's lab and remove their parasites. While searching for a means of escape, Leon rescues Ada from Saddler before joining forces with her to kill him, who drops a vial of Plaga amber. Ada takes the vial and leaves in a helicopter while Leon and Ashley escape the exploding island on a jet ski.
Separate Ways Prior to Leon's arrival, Ada frees Luis from Salazar's dungeon so he can procure a vial of Plaga amber he had hidden for her, but gets infected with a unique Plaga by one of Salazar's enforcers, Pesanta. While attempting to rendezvous with Luis and evading Pesanta, Ada covertly assists Leon in his fight against Los Illuminados. As her infection worsens, Ada's increasingly impatient boss, Albert Wesker (Craig Burnatowski / Jouji Nakata), periodically checks in on her. She eventually reunites with Luis, who realizes she is infected and convinces her to collect ingredients for a suppressant to slow her, Leon, and Ashley's infections. Complicating matters, Ada's condition worsens further in the amber's presence, forcing the pair to separate once more until her suppressant takes hold. While Luis helps Leon and Ashley, Ada kills Pesanta, which causes her to vomit her parasite. After killing it, she tries to find Luis again, only to learn Krauser killed him for the amber.
Ada helps Leon reach Los Illuminados' island facility before secretly placing a tracker on him and breaking off to find Krauser. She witnesses him give the amber to Saddler before Wesker provides a device to help her bypass the facility's security. Upon learning Wesker also intends to detonate the island, regardless of Ashley's survival, Ada uses Luis's files to sabotage the bombs before using Leon's tracker to locate Saddler. She rescues Leon and Ashley and defeats Saddler, but he catches her off-guard and captures her. Leon eventually rescues Ada, who joins him in killing Saddler before retrieving the amber. As she leaves, she contacts Wesker to inquire about his intentions for the amber. When he promises a "new dawn will break" at the cost of billions of casualties, a disgusted Ada forces her pilot to change course.
Wesker learns of Ada's betrayal and that the island is still intact due to the bombs not detonating correctly. Having obtained Krauser's body, an undeterred Wesker proclaims the "age of man" will soon end.
Development Capcom brought the development in-house in early 2021, led by the Division 1 team, with many staff members who worked on the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 returning for Resident Evil 4. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi said he found the idea of remaking Resident Evil 4 challenging as a result of its popularity. Kazunori Kadoi and Yasuhiro Anpo, who worked on the Resident Evil 2 remake, were selected as directors. Kadoi supervised gameplay elements, most notably how to use Leon's knife and its durability after encounters with enemies. Capcom minimized the use of quick time events in comparison to the original game. The development team was split into three groups that worked on three areas: the village, the castle and the island.
The team aimed to expand Ashley's characterization and relationship and make the story more horror-focused. The visuals were developed to improve the idea of horror. The game was developed using the RE Engine. While the Japanese voice actors for Leon and Ada in the Resident Evil 2 remake returned to reprise their roles, Nick Apostolides returned from Resident Evil 2 remake to voice Leon in English. The English-language voice of Ada was recast to Lily Gao (who previously portrayed the character in the 2021 film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City), replacing Jolene Andersen. Gao deleted her Instagram posts after she was harassed online, later responding to critics with: "My Ada is a survivor. She is unpredictable, resilient, and absolutely not a stereotype." D.C. Douglas, the long time English voice of Wesker, did not return; he was instead portrayed by Craig Burnatowski. As with previous Resident Evil remakes, an additional cast provided likenesses, 3D modeling and performance capture. The Dutch model Ella Freya provided the face model for Ashley, while Genevieve Buechner provided her voice.