CAPCOM recently released their Resident Evil 4 remake, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews and love from the fans. If you read my Resident Evil 4 Remake Review, you’ll know I count myself among the game’s rabid fans. RE4’s remake brought modern graphics and care-filled fixes to restore one of Resident Evil’s most unique and terrifying titles to date.
RE4 is hardly the first Resident Evil remake CAPCOM has released. Though the Resident Evil remakes go as far back as the original Resident Evil remake way back in 2015, it was the Resident Evil 2 remake in 2019 that really set the precedent for new RE-makes. Since then, three and four have been released with similar gameplay and graphics, and it would seem logical that we can expect Resident Evil 5 to follow in short succession.
However, not everyone is thrilled by the idea of a Resident Evil 5 remake. In fact, while Resident Evil 4 received some mild backlash over the remake, fans have yet to be as vocal about their opposition to a RE-make as they have over RE5. If a Resident Evil 5 remake is in fact in the works, CAPCOM might expect to receive some negative feedback over the title.
Before we get into why some fans don’t want a Resident Evil 5 reboot, let’s get some facts straight. Notably, CAPCOM has not as of yet confirmed a RE5 remake. However, the ending to RE4, without spoiling anything for new players, directly sets up the events of RE5. Whether or not that means CAPCOM wants players to expect a reboot or not is unclear, so we can’t confirm that the title is being remade yet.
Resident Evil 5 follows Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) agents Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a potential bioterrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional region in West Africa. The game also sees the return of Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker, as well as an epic final showdown against the famous Resident Evil antagonist that, to many, felt like a bookend to the series. I, like many others, loved Resident Evil 5, but it’s not hard to see why fans might be averse to a remake of the game.
To put it bluntly, Resident Evil 5 is super campy. Between over-the-top fight scenes and Chris Redfield famously punching a boulder, it’s easy to say that the game strays a bit from the darker, more serious tone that CAPCOM seems to be going for in their remakes. Fans of the original are afraid of what this might mean if the game receives the RE-make treatment.
While CAPCOM stayed pretty true to the experience of RE4, there are those who feel like some of the sillier, more action-oriented aspects of the game were toned down or removed altogether to make the game feel more serious. While more subtle in RE4, giving Resident Evil 5 the same treatment would mean much more obvious and drastic cuts to the original. It’s not unreasonable at all for fans of the original game to be nervous about the cuts CAPCOM might make to preserve a more serious tone.
There are also those who believe that the game simply hasn’t aged enough to warrant a remake. Originally released back in 2009, the game looked amazing at the time and still looks pretty good to this day. Besides some dated controls, you can still easily argue that RE5 still holds up.
The last real argument against an RE5 remake, and the one I agree with the most myself, is that Wesker’s story simply hasn’t been told enough through the RE-makes to justify releasing his final chapter. Wesker, despite being one of Resident Evil’s most iconic antagonists, isn’t present in many of the mainline games, with much of his story told in RE:0 and RE:Verse. Jumping to Resident Evil 5, which is the final chapter in Wesker’s story, might be a bit premature considering how little he has been present throughout CAPCOM’s remake storyline.
Resident Evil 5, to many, is considered more of an action game than a horror title, and it’s fair to be cautious about how true CAPCOM is going to stay to that premise. While many of the titles included so far in the RE:make series have been horror-centric, it’s clear that CAPCOM seems to want to go for a more “serious” vibe for the titles included. In the specific case of Resident Evil 5, that just might not be the right move, and players might find the game fundamentally different than the original.
While I personally am excited for a potential Resident Evil 5 remake, I won’t pretend like I’m not cautious about the direction the game might take. However, it is important to remember that no matter how different a Resident Evil 5 remake might be, the original game is always there. The original is still available online, so fans of the classic experience who don’t yet own a digital copy can still immortalize it forever.
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