Is it worth spending 79 yuan to “rebuy your ticket” for Resident Evil 4 Remake? A veteran player’s thoughts

8 out of 10. Not because it’s on sale, but because I would’ve bought it at full price while cursing anyway.

In Capcom’s spring sale this time, the most eye‑catching deal is Resident Evil 4 Remake at its lowest‑ever 40% off. It’s only 79.2 RMB in the Steam China region, which is honestly a bit more consumer‑friendly than buying a pirated PS2 disc back in the day. As soon as the discount hit, it shot straight back up to #2 on Steam’s global top sellers and #1 on the China paid chart, proving that while players’ wallets hold grudges, they’re not heartless toward good games. More importantly, it’s not riding launch hype; it climbed back a year after release, which really says something.

Facts first, commentary later. Resident Evil 4 Remake launched on March 24, 2023, and by January 2026 it had sold more than 12.255 million copies, which puts it among the top performers in the series. The original RE4 once made a whole bunch of action games look bad in comparison, and with numbers like these, calling the remake pure nostalgia bait isn’t really fair. If it were just nostalgia, those “only upgraded textures” HD collections would be breaking ten million too. The base game’s quality is clearly carrying its weight.

As an old player who’s been around since the PS1 era with the over‑the‑shoulder camera in RE1, I’ve always been extremely wary about remakes. RE3 Remake gutted the content piece by piece, cleaner than Leon’s melee moves, and that left me with a pretty bad impression of Capcom’s remake projects. That said, RE2 Remake and RE4 Remake have basically redeemed both face and substance. Just compare this spring sale: RE3 is slashed and slashed again down to 90% off, RE2 is 25% off, RE7 is 40% off, and only RE4 Remake dares to sit at 40% off and still charge to the top of the charts. That’s the reputation gap in a nutshell.

In terms of gameplay, Resident Evil 4 Remake is not a copy‑and‑paste of the original, but more like RE2 Remake back then: using the original as a design blueprint and rewriting everything around it. The pacing is tighter, the controls feel more modern, and even the most criticized sections from back then have been pruned and optimized. If you ask me whether it feels good to play, I can only say this: after finishing the remake and going back to the original, the control gap feels about the same as jumping from Devil May Cry 5 straight back to the early DMC titles. Times really have changed. What once felt like a “god‑tier” original now looks more like a historical document—worthy of respect, but not necessarily something you’d actually want to replay.

To put it bluntly, Capcom discounting it now is like issuing a final ultimatum to old players still on the fence. 79.2 RMB for a well‑reviewed, million‑seller remade action‑horror game, in an era where AAA titles casually cost 400–500 RMB, and saying it’s “not worth it” is just being pretentious. If you’re only into the pure puzzle‑horror vibe of the early games, RE7 at 40% off is also worth considering; it’s closer to that PS1‑era feel. If you want a modern, action‑heavy experience, RE2 Remake and RE4 Remake make a good older‑and‑younger pair—story and gameplay link up nicely. Pick either one and you’ll understand how this series is still alive today.

Finally, some buying advice. If you’ve never picked up Resident Evil 4 Remake and your hardware can handle it, just stop hesitating. Waiting longer at this price might save you nothing more than a night’s worth of internet café fees; you’re better off playing it sooner and finishing complaining sooner. If you’ve already bought it once on console, it depends on whether you’re the tinkering type who’ll buy another copy just for higher frame rates and MODs. If not, don’t force it. As for those hoping to “wait for the day it gets added to some big giveaway for free,” let me just remind you: a game that can jump to global #2 with a 40% discount in 2026 has about the same chance of going free anytime soon as you have of seeing a proper new Onimusha sequel.