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What ya buyin’, stranger?

Everytime when there’s a new port of Resident Evil game I’m there to play it. Latest port was Resident Evil 3 on the Mac computers which I played and reviewed as 4/5. Nintendo Switch 2 is the freshest platform to get native versions of Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 remakes. I had a little hard times to pick which one I should play and review first. But in the end I chose Resident Evil 4. This was the Gold Edition that includes tons of things, but the main extra addition is the Separate Ways that is an extra story mode.

Plot

Leon S. Kennedy, a famous rookie cop who survived all the horrors of the Raccoon City, is now a special government agent. He has a new mission: to search and save the US President’s daughter, Ashley Graham. Her abduction lead takes Leon to a rural Spanish village, where soon after arrival, they attack him and tries to stop Leon to find Ashley. Leon finds out that the villagers are infected with a parasite called Las Plagas, making them slaves for their leader Lord Saddler.

Nevertheless, Leon manages to find Ashley and then the true survival takes place as now everyone is after them; not just the villagers, but other monsters that they have created using the Las Plagas parasite.

I do love the plot and the game is near and dear to my heart. Resident Evil 4 introduces other interesting characters, such as Ada Wong (a mysterious agent who is no stranger to Leon), Luis Serra (a former researcher for Umbrella Corporation and who helper Lord Saddler to create the Las Plagas) and Jack Krauser (a former U.S. military comrade of Leon turned mercenary). Every character has they own agenda—being it good or bad—but everyone and everything stirs the pot, making Ashley and Leon’s escape that much more difficult.

The extra story mode Separate Ways tells Ada’s side of the story and happenings. What comes to—not just every Resident Evil DLCs, but all the DLCs I’ve ever played—Separate Ways is one of the best. So much so, that I occasionally just play it through on its own.

Gameplay, controls, audio and visuals

Resident Evil 4 is a third person action-shooter-survival game. Players play as Leon (there are a few sections where players must control Ashley) trying to survive hoards of enemies that vary a lot. So, the gameplay is keeping players on their toes, not knowing what to expect and what kind of monsters waits ahead. There are some little puzzle elements, but they aren’t that difficult to solve as the answer to them always could be found rather nearby.

Leon can use a ton of weapons such as handguns, shotgun and snipers. Only melee weapons are various knives that wear out and can ultimately break. Knives are very important weapons to have as they can block any melee attack, even chainsaws. Leon can do some other melee hits such as roundhouse kicks, but they can only done when enemies are stunned. The most important ally in this game is a mysterious seller man that conveniently always appear when Leon needs him. He can fix Leon’s weapons and sell him new guns and their upgrades.

In Resident Evil 4 players shouldn’t just run mindlessly onwards, but seek for hidden treasures that are almost everywhere (and buying the treasure maps from the seller, the treasures then appear conveniently to Leon’s map). All the treasures can be sold to the seller “for a high price” as he always liked to say.

Controlling Leon feels good and natural. I played this through using Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller as I don’t prefer using the JoyCon 2s as they don’t feel good to play these type of action game.

Resident Evil 4 is fully voice acted and it is done correctly. The enemies’ voices and all the weird sounds they kept freeked me out. I highly suggest players to play this with headphones on. It will immerse so much more and it also helps to know where the enemies are coming. Resident Evil games are also known from their soundtracks and Resident Evil 4‘s is up to par.

Next comes the only negative part of the game: the graphics. Don’t get me wrong; the character models looked good, but the environments closely looked very muddy and unsharp. Lots of graphical pop ins and slow texture loadings. Using sniper rifle and zooming to enemies that were afar, then I could really see the problems with the graphics. But remember Residen’t Evil 4 on Switch 2 runs on an older hardware that can compared almost to PS4/PS4 Pro level of performance. Technically the game ran smoothly most of the time. There was some lagging here and there (I played this through docked mode).

Verdict

Resident Evil 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 was as horrifying experience as it has been on other platforms I’ve played. It has a good gameplay, nightmare-inducing enemies, action and this suspense it carries amazingly the whole playthrough. Graphically, though, this isn’t the best place to play Resident Evil 4 remake. So, that’s why I snatched one point off. Even so, I do recommend Resident Evil 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 to everyone who want’s something to play this Halloween.

SCORE:

4/5

“The most important ally in this game is a mysterious seller man that conveniently always appears when Leon needs him.”

RELEASE DATE: October 16, 2026
GENRE: Action / Shooter
DEVELOPER: Capcom
PUBLISHER: Capcom
PLATFORMS: Nintendo Switch 2 (reviewed)
PS5
PS4
Xbox Series X|S
PSVR2
iOS
iPadOS
Windows
Mac

 

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