The Resident Evil 4 remake offers a variety of accessibility settings to get started. The remake’s main focus is on the technical side, and luckily there are plenty of options to tailor the experience to your needs.
Even if you’re not really looking for larger subtitles or different reticle colors, some settings can be universally useful and affect the way Leon moves and interacts with the world. Here are a few settings that you can set up from the start Resident Evil 4 remake to have a clear and comfortable perception of your surroundings in the midst of the chaos on the screen.
There is a secondary parry button
By default, at least on PlayStation, you perform parries with L1. In practice, this is the same prompt you use to ready your knife, so it’s fairly intuitive in its own right. If you want to do quick slashes, you can do that by pressing R2 – also the shoot button. As long as you don’t aim with L2, Leon will perform knife attacks instead
In the Controls tab of the settings menu, you can use the Parry with R2 option to add it as an additional defense button. The idea is similar: when you’re not aiming down, you can press R2 to use Leon’s blade. However, instead of attacking, he will parry incoming attacks. L1 also continues to function as a defense button.
If you usually don’t mind using your knife without aiming, this could be a good choice. In the heat of battle, when enemies are quick to surprise you with a deadly attack, it can be useful to have a second button on hand to use as a reflex.
Activate subtitles from the beginning with subtitles
Closed captioned subtitles is a setting that everyone should use in the Resident Evil 4 redo. Not only does it add a little more flavor to the world, signaling actions and key sounds in the middle of battle, but it’s also very useful for surprise attacks, traps, and more. You can activate it in the Language menu.
An early example is the tripwire traps commonly found in the village area. If closed captioning is not enabled, you must hear or see the trip wire to determine its location. If you burst into a room or hallway, you can interact with it face-on. With captions, you’ll see a momentary “(weakly beeping)” line, which gives you a clear and concise warning to watch your step.
The same philosophy applies to many other aspects. If you try to sneak around a group of enemies, but one of them happens to see you, the captions will warn you that someone has been warned.
While fighting special enemies, you often know when they are about to attack or attack Leon. It also applies to exploration, especially if you’re looking for collectibles. If you see a subtitle about a rat making sounds, it means that the rat in that area is related to a request from the merchant.
Adjust the field of view
Field of viewfound in the Camera menu, is almost exclusively an option for first-person shooters, but it is present in this version of Resident Evil 4 – and it offers a fundamental difference in visual aid.
This setting is related to motion sickness, so your experience may vary. You may be more comfortable with a certain amount of field of view, rather than extending it to the max limit, which is what I’d recommend.
All in all, if you can raise it from the defaults, a wider field of view will give you a clearer view of any enemies around Leon. Who knows, it might save you from a few surprise attacks.
Switching from tap to hold can be helpful in difficult situations
The Resident Evil 4 remake proudly removes quick-time events, but that doesn’t mean you won’t press specific buttons in certain situations. The option to switch from repeatedly tapping a button to just holding it isn’t new, and thankfully it’s become quite common in AAA games.
In Resident Evil 4where enemies can often get a hold of Leon while damaging him in progress until he can escape, the stress of repeatedly pressing buttons while also looking out for oncoming enemies or your health bar can take a lot to deal with.
However, holding down the button allows you to focus your attention on other elements of the screen while the action ends on its own. You can use the Repeated button input type option of Repeat tap to hold in the Controls menu. Given the frantic nature of the game, it’s a welcome breather knowing you won’t fail one of these sequences because you didn’t tap fast enough.
There’s a quick twist… but it’s complicated
Let me be honest: I spent over 35 hours with the Resident Evil 4 remake until I heard that the fast spin is still there. If you’ve never played the original, quick spin refers to a short action where, by holding down the analog stick and pressing a button, Leon will spin 180º in no time, ready to face whoever trying to attack him from behind.
In the remake, you can do this by holding down the analog stick while holding it down – which is an awkward combination, and might explain why I never accidentally activated it. Or, if you prefer, you can replace it with the crouch button (circle press on PlayStation by default). The Quick turn type setting can be found in the Controls menu.
Again, it’s a matter of preference. You might find that a quick twist in your thumb as you move Leon is more comfortable than adding another knob to the mix. But since you won’t be crouching too often, unless you dodge or move quietly, the alternative may be a good option to consider.
