Resident Evil 4 remake modder discovers a cut intro starring Ashley that eagle-eyed fans might recognize from certain pre-release trailers

One Resident Evil 4 modder has discovered a cut intro to the remake, which would have originally seen you play as Ashley in scenes that you might actually recognize, despite them being missing from the final game.

If you paid attention to Resident Evil 4's 2023 remake from reveal to release, you'll have seen a scene in the announcement trailer where Ashley Graham is wandering around the forest area that opens the game before presumably being captured by the Ganados and Lord Saddler. There was also a scene showing the cult performing a human sacrifice in the later story trailer. Except, when the game came out the next year, these scenes were nowhere to be seen in the game, presumably meaning that they were either made specifically for the trailer, or were remnants of cut content that never made it into the remake.

And three years later we have our answer, as YouTuber and modder Michael "Thekempy" Kemp has restored some of the Chapter 0 intro that would've opened the beloved remake (thanks, PC Gamer). The section would've seen Ashley walking down a path, before witnessing the sacrifice seen in the trailer. This would then send Ashley down a separate path that leads her towards the village found in the game's introduction.

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The ensuing segment would feature Ashley sneaking around the village while avoiding enemies, before culminating in a section that has her witness Luis' capture and subsequently go into a chase scene featuring a Ganado, which would in-turn lead her to the opening area of Leon's campaign she was seen running through in the original trailer.

Obviously, there's no info as to why Capcom decided to remove this from the game, but Thekempy theorizes that it would have slowed the game's otherwise-excellent pacing, with a slow stealth-focused chapter to start the game probably being a total drag for subsequent playthroughs (like the intro of Resident Evil 3 Remake and Village were).

Resident Evil 1 devs were so insistent on having action mechanics like charged attacks and sidesteps that director Shinji Mikami let them do a test run, but it just made killing zombies look silly and not scary.