Resident Evil 4 Remake On Switch 2 Is Capcom’s First Disappointment This Year

At least in handheld mode

No matter how many times I play it, there's something about Resident Evil 4's opening act that sets me on edge. It's no one specific thing — more a combination of atmosphere, pop-up murderers hiding in unexpected places, and the looming dread of Chainsaw Guy. I know how to deal with him, but he scares me anyway. I've been playing Resident Evil 4 remake's Switch 2 port recently, and the only thing more jittery than my nerves is the game itself. It struggles in handheld mode, unlike all of Capcom's other Switch 2 ports this year, though the performance is much better docked.

The Resident Evil 4 remake is as much a sequel to the Resident Evil 2 remake as it is a prequel to Resident Evil Requiem. In hindsight that wasn't available before Requiem, I can see how Capcom tweaked the story to make Leon S(exy) Kennedy's post-Raccoon City trauma more prominent as a set-up for his mid-life crisis. The ex-cop, now a US secret agent, travels to the boondocks of Spain to rescue the president's daughter, who’s been kidnapped by a creepy bug-worshipping cult.

The remake includes a handful of narrative tweaks and new scenes, most of which land well and smooth out the occasionally breakneck pacing of the original. Some are a bit too on-the-nose, though. When Leon actor Nick Apostolides says "Here we go" at the start of the now-well-known village encounter (the one that culminates in a showdown against Chainsaw Guy), Capcom has him speaking for the player, not for Leon.

Questionable additions aside, Resident Evil 4 remake still retains the original game's soul. Action is as prominent as horror. Leon gets more weapons more quickly and has a swift roundhouse kick to deal with staggered enemies. Run past enemies to conserve ammo? No! Mow them all down, and stomp their remains into the ground! Capcom designed Resident Evil 4's encounters so they're hectic and tense, even with all the kickassery at Leon's disposal. Running into a mob of bloodthirsty villagers is just as fraught with danger as encountering a single zombie in the gore-soaked hallways of the Raccoon City Police Department.

The Switch 2 version's performance is annoyingly uneven, however. Stuttering plagues handheld mode, usually when a mob of bug-zombies converges on Leon, but sometimes for no clear reason at all. The camera hitches regularly when you rotate it anywhere, and it frequently stuttered when I was walking or running along the initial path to the village. This is a run-or-gun game, though, not a run-and-gun one, so the stuttering never gets in the way of what you need to do. It's just supremely irritating and rather disappointing given how smoothly Resident Evil Requiem runs on Switch 2 in handheld mode.

The other impossible-to-ignore handheld irritant is how fuzzy and blurry everything looks. Requiem and Final Fantasy 7 Remake both look good, despite the DLSS frizz in their protagonists' hair — and, crucially, only in their hair. That frizz coats most things in RE4 remake's handheld mode, and it really loves foliage, of which there's an awful lot in the game's first half. The Switch 2 version has some texture loading issues, too. You'll be trotting along some rocky pathway and suddenly, the rocks become rockier the closer you get. It's not unplayable, but it is unpleasant to look at. This drawback isn't unique to the Switch 2, admittedly. Having also played it on handheld PCs, Resident Evil 4 remake is kinda ugly on Steam Deck and the ROG Ally as well.

None of these issues, minus the asset loading, exist in docked mode, however. Resident Evil 4 remake looks lovely docked, even with a bit of lingering frizz. While my nerves were as shaky as ever, I didn't notice a single stutter from the game, either. One other thing worth noting is how the game benefits from HDR on Switch 2 compared to handheld PCs that don't support that feature. The lighting really does look so much better with HDR enabled, whether docked or in handheld, without that glaring high-brightness sheen so common on Steam Deck and others.

I'd prefer playing all the modern Resident Evils in handheld mode, but I think this one's gonna have to be the exception. It's making me, one of the only Monster Hunter Wilds enjoyers I know, a little hesitant about that upcoming port as well. Hopefully, Capcom can patch out some of Resident Evil 4 remake's issues — and still has time to get Wilds running more smoothly, too.