Leon Needs To Lighten Up In Resident Evil 4 Remake

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When Resident Evil 2 Remake came rolling along, it impressed everyone with how it perfectly captured the tone of its source material without all the incredibly dated, awkward voice acting, writing, and presentation limitations. Then Resident Evil 3 Remake went a step further and amped everything up, making Jill Valentine more of a certified badass than ever before.


So of course you’d imagine a remake of Resident Evil 4 would follow this trend, embracing Resident Evil 4’s “Evil Dead 2 but as a game” campy, dark horror comedy antics to the next level. Instead, the resulting experience is so incredibly po-faced about everything that I have to wonder if anyone in charge understands why people loved Resident Evil 4.

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Sure, there are a lot of mechanical reasons people were thrilled by Resident Evil 4 – the game is the foundation of pretty much every third-person action and horror title since in the same way Quake was for FPS design. Except Resident Evil 4 is more than an over-the-shoulder camera, so much so that stripping it of its traditional flair makes the Remake’s scenes, no matter how over the top, feel lifeless and humorless by comparison. You can have Leon ask if everyone’s going to bingo, but if he sounds like he’s rolling his eyes at the line, you’re missing the point.

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Resident Evil’s storyline may be a ludicrous string of events, but the reason so many people cared regardless was because of how earnest most of it is, while occasionally leaning into the silliness intentionally.

This is a series where a biotech company expects to profit off of a zombie virus as a replacement for nuclear weapons. The heroes shoot hatches out of the air with precision and do The Matrix-style kung-fu moves when confronting their on-again, off-again love interests and rivals. Even in the more grounded games like Resident Evil 7 and Village, you have rednecks on a rampage in a chainsaw duel and a towering dominatrix vampire queen.

So it’s a bit jarring how utterly, painfully joyless Resident Evil 4 Remake sets out to be for far more of its runtime than is ideal. I can’t say it avoids it entirely, otherwise they’d have to drastically rework half of the game, but so many iconic moments and characters are drained of their charisma, most notably the beloved gunkata master himself, Leon Kennedy.

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Leon Kennedy was a decent lead in Resident Evil 2, but it’s not like he had gallons of personality in that game. He exists in a much more interesting story than he’s worth – literally just a rookie cop who showed up for his first day to find the zombie apocalypse threatening to kick off. Claire Redfield is the one who has a role to play and came back for the real sequel to the second entry, Code Veronica. Leon Kennedy never had to return, but Shinji Mikami went with him, and gave him one of the most immense glow-ups any character has received in gaming.

Resident Evil 4 classic 05 Leon using his binoculars

In Resident Evil 4, Leon Kennedy has actually grown from his experiences. He’s already achieved his Ellen Ripley-esque arc of going from helpless survivor to hardened badass, and better yet, he’s genre-savvy. Instead of undercutting the tension, it allows Mikami to amplify it with Resident Evil 4, while sprinkling in more levity alongside. One of the many brilliant aspects to Resident Evil 4 is its incredible variety, including in tone.

Leon cracking wise is necessary because you’re being hounded from all sides by opposition. Every inch you survive is a victory as the cultist villagers and their leaders harass you. It’s intense, but you get a bit of release when Leon has the perfect comeback, whether he’s being intentionally clever or a threat goes completely over his head.

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You know what’s not a release mechanism? A grumpier Leon Kennedy growling “Give me a break” for the fifth time in a row like it’s his only spoken line of dialogue. Remake Leon Kennedy isn’t just a bore, he’s a regularly complaining, glass-half-empty, pessimistic grouse. If he says a one-liner, it’s like he’s reading it under protest from some camera crew off-screen.

I can’t tell if this was a bad acting choice, a poor direction, or a simple issue of casting the wrong person for the role, but the man at the heart of Resident Evil 4 Remake isn’t the Leon Kennedy fans have known for years. No matter what situation you put him in, the man finds a way to suck the energy out of the moment, and that lack of enthusiasm just seeps into everything

resident evil 4 leon

It’s not that the Remake lacks moments of levity, but they’re miles apart now, and almost always courtesy of other characters around Leon. Even Ashley now alternates between a charming woman that seems like what the Remake wants her to be seen as, and Luis tells Leon to lighten up more than once, trying desperately to inject some mirth to the story whenever he’s present. At so many turns, Leon’s pessimistic grumbling replaces any of the joyously and horrifyingly great moments fans fell in love with before.

This fixation on being more grounded and depressed is antithetical to what Resident Evil 4 is. I understand wanting to subvert expectations, but even in light of the new tone of the other remakes, this is a step out of line from what’s come before.

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This incarnation of Leon only has one modern contemporary, The Evil Within’s Sebastian Castellanos. Go figure: The Evil Within 2’s response to his deadpan grousing turning fans off the first time was to make Sebastian way campier and more likable the second time around so people actually enjoyed his presence.

Capcom, of all games publishers, should know the value of good camp. Of all the undead monstrosities they’ve created, by far, this new Leon Kennedy might just be their most horrific yet…

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