Resident Evil 4 Remake is Being Review Bombed (Again)

Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake is facing a review bombing on Steam, almost three years after its initial release. Players are voicing their displeasure with the Resident Evil 4 remake after Capcom released an update that changed the game’s DRM, which has significantly affected its performance.

Upon its launch in 2023, the Resident Evil 4 remake received critical acclaim, garnering a massive Top Critic Average of 92 on review aggregator site OpenCritic, with 98% of critics recommending the game. Reviews of the Resident Evil 4 remake praised its faithfulness to the original, while still improving the game in important ways. One area of noted improvement was the defending Ashley mechanics, which were extremely annoying in the 2005 original. With Resident Evil 4 being generally considered to be among the best survival horror games of all time, it was no small feat that Capcom actually managed to improve it with the remake. But one recent update has shifted the game’s reception among the community on PC.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Set a Strange Precedent For Future Remake Bosses

Resident Evil 4’s remake made several changes, and one of the biggest shake-ups with a boss fight could inform other remakes.

New Resident Evil 4 Remake DRM Sparks Steam Review Bombing

An update to the Resident Evil 4 remake on PC has replaced the Denuvo DRM with Enigma, which has caused quite a stir among the community. A YouTube video by user ItalicMaze highlights that players now suffer significantly worse average FPS after the addition of Enigma DRM, despite nothing else changing in-game. This sentiment has also been echoed in the game’s Steam reviews, with many players reporting a performance drop after the update. “Capcom have decided to implement a new DRM checker called Enigma that has seriously impacted overall performance,” one review said. “No idea why an old game needs this, but again, this is Capcom treating paying customers terribly.” Another review highlighted that the game previously was “one of the best examples of game optimization done right,” and has now been “crippled out of nowhere by the Enigma Protector DRM that replaced Denuvo.”

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

Despite the influx of negative reviews since the performance hit, the overall impact has been minimal so far. At the time of writing, the game’s overall reviews remain “Overwhelmingly Positive,” and recent reviews have only dropped to “Very Positive.” However, if this backlash continues over the coming days, this could change to reflect the more negative sentiment of late. It would be a shame to see one of the best Resident Evil games ever experience a shift in reception so long after its release, especially given its massive popularity before that. Capcom has yet to comment on the performance issues that players are experiencing with the new Enigma DRM, or whether it plans to revert to Denuvo in the future.

DRM in general is a tricky topic for publishers to navigate. Even Denuvo is extremely unpopular among gamers, and its inclusion in a game is usually considered controversial. The popularity of the DRM-free storefront GOG on PC is an example of how gamers are looking to avoid DRM wherever possible.

The Resident Evil franchise has plenty for fans to look forward to right now. Later this month, Capcom is releasing Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline game in the series, with Leon Kennedy returning alongside new protagonist Grace Ashcroft, and a return to Raccoon City on the horizon. There was also a recent ESRB leak indicating a Resident Evil 5 remake is just around the corner. Given the critical and commercial success of the previous Resident Evil remakes, taking another stab at the fifth game in the series feels like a no-brainer for Capcom.