Sometimes a game is so good that it never dies, it just evolves and adapts with time. Such is the case of Resident Evil 4, a game that continues to be remade, modded, remastered, and tweaked by Capcom and fans alike. The latest stab at reinventing the classic horror game turns it into a 2D side-scroller that looks like it fell out of the ‘90s in all the right ways.
Originally released in 2005, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 was a watershed moment for the beloved survival horror franchise. First released on Nintendo’s GameCube, RE4 moved the series away from its traditionally static cameras and slow action with a new over-the-shoulder third-person perspective and more combat than ever seen in a prior Resident Evil game. Since then many Resident Evil entries and other action-horror games have tried to recapture the feel of RE4, with mixed results. Now someone is taking that original classic and reinventing it as something completely new.
On July 25, classic Doom modder DooMero posted a new video showing off their still-in-development game that takes Leon and RE4’s story and gameplay and translates it into a 2D side-scrolling action game. In the video, we see the famous intro of RE4 from a whole new perspective.
Much of what you expect when playing Resident Evil 4 is here, including the game’s creepy atmosphere, cutscenes, segments in which you talk to people via a communication device, and even that cool moment when Leon leaps out of a window. It’s all here but presented as a lo-fi 2D side-scroller. It’s like looking at an alternate dimension where Resident Evil 4 changed the series but went this direction instead of an action shooter.
According to DooMero, this impressive 2D creation is built using GZDoom, the popular open-source source port of the original Doom engine. While it’s cool to see GZDoom being used like this, it also presents some challenges for DooMero, who explained in a post on Doomworld that they have had to reduce the resolution of the game’s cutscenes because they consume too much memory and crash GZDoom.
DooMero hasn’t shared a firm release date for their game, but on Doomworld they did say a demo for the 2D RE4 is coming “soon.” Until then you can check out the modder’s YouTube channel where they have documented the development of this project for six years.