Ada Wong (Lily Gao) betrays Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) in Resident Evil 4 (2023), Capcom
Like many players who recently made the return trip to the Spanish home village of the Los Illuminados cult, original Resident Evil 4 director Shinji Mikami has nothing but praise to offer Capcom’s recent Remake of his fan-favorite franchise entry.

Ashley Graham (Genevieve Buechner) revives Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) ahead of his final battle in Resident Evil 4 (2023), Capcom
The esteemed video game director, whose other works include Killer7, God Hand, and Vanquish, shared his positive opinion of the Resident Evil 4 Remake during a recent interview given to IGN’s Matt Purslow.

Speaking on the subject of ‘what makes a good remake’ in light of the upcoming Hella Remastered release of his previous third-person horror-action game Shadows of the Damned, Mikami opined to his host, “I think the comprehensive and fundamental understanding of what it was that made the original work in the first place is probably the most important point of a good remake.”

“Everything from the ground up, basically,” he added before noting how “There’s a few examples of that with certain series that Capcom has put out,” (a less-than-subtle reference to their recent string of Resident Evil remakes, which thus far includes 2, 3, and 4).
Luis Sera (André Penã) introduces himself to Leon (Nick Apostolides) in Resident Evil 4 (2023), Capcom

To this end, Mikami was then asked by Purslow for his thoughts on how the Remake team, as directed in his stead by Capcom’s Yasuhiro Anpo and Kazunori Kadoi, handled his survival horror classic.

In turn, the director asserted, “I thought that it was really well-made,” offering particular praise, as summarized by Purslow, to “how the remake handles the more nuanced details of combat, such as the timing between aiming and shooting, which in the original was finely balanced to ensure mounting pressure and tension.”

“I thought that they showed a really good understanding of that element,” said Mikami.

Leon S. Kennedy (Toshiyuki Morikawa/Paul Mercier) becomes infected with the Las Plagas parasite in Resident Evil 4 (2005), Capcom
Continuing, Mikami further praised, “Another thing I thought was really well done was the way they took the half-assed scenario that I just wrote up in two weeks and really built up on that and really fleshed it out.”

“They showed that they really understood the characters and their interactions,” he said. “They showed a good understanding of the backbone of each character. And they took not just the scenario itself, but even the dialogue, and they improved all that stuff so that was really great.”
Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) parries the Chainsaw Man’s weapon with his pistol via Resident Evil 4 (2023), Capcom
Far be it from players to question the opinion of a given work’s creator, but it is notably interesting that Mikami would offer such a blanket praise to every aspect of the Remake‘s direction given that, in making the aforementioned ‘improvements’ to the original, particularly in regards to its dialogue, the game stripped away the original’s identity as a campy-but-genuine, over-the-top horror experience.

Of course, given Mikami’s own admission that Resident Evil 4‘s narrative was quickly and haphazardly thrown together, there’s also the chance that the now infamous B-movie charm of Leon Kennedy’s Spanish adventure was an unintentional side-effect of its infamously messy production, and thus he has no ‘creative attachment’ to the game’s 2004 characterization – Which would be a bit of a bummer for fans to hear, but hey, that’s how the creative process sometimes goes.
Ada Wong (Sally Cahill) leaves Leon (Paul Mercier) to fend for himself in Resident Evil 4 (2005), Capcom
Either way, Mikami’s next game, Shadows of the Damn: Hella Remastered, is currently set to beginning revving its engines this Halloween.