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We're fast approaching Resident Evil 4 remake's release date, and one of the original game's lead designers has gone back to uncover new details about the classic.
Over the past few days, former Resident Evil 4 lead designer Masaki Yamanaka has taken to Twitter to do some reflecting on Capcom's classic action-horror game. Now a senior developer at PlatinumGames, Yamanaka has published an extensive tweet thread unearthing new details surrounding Resident Evil 4, reminiscing on his time making Resident Evil 4.
One interesting detail from Yamanaka's thread is that he intentionally designed Luis to resemble Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. Yamanaka writes in the tweet below that Peter Jackson's adaptations were incredibly popular back when Resident Evil 4 was in development, and as such, he wanted Luis to resemble Aragorn to rival Leon S. Kennedy for the title of 'the game's hottest guy.'
ルイス：レオンに匹敵するイケメンとして、当時人気だったLOTRのアラゴルンみたいな感じにしたくて描いた気がする。ラフみたいな適当なアートをモデラーの方に渡したら、とてもいい感じにしてくれた。February 17, 2023
It might've been Yamanaka who came up with this original direction, but it was a modeller at Capcom that saw the basic concept through to its final product, based on artwork produced by Yamanaka. The now-former Capcom developer doesn't name the modeller who took Yamanaka's inspiration and ran with it, but it's thanks to them that we've got the Luis we have today.
In fact, Luis has had a slight redesign for Resident Evil 4 remake, and when he was first unveiled last year, fans weren't sure what to make of the final creation. The character's now being compared to everyone from Uncharted to Wrestling characters, and some are just downright calling him "ugly."
Elsewhere in the exhaustive thread, Yamanaka reveals the villainous Saddler was actually created from a scrapped version of Albert Wesker. There were famously several versions of Resident Evil 4 that were scrapped at Capcom before we got the Shinji Mikami-led creation, and one of these featured a Wesker that basically looked exactly like Saddler.
Yamanaka's entire thread is an absolute gold mine for those with fond memories of Resident Evil 4. Speaking of, Yamanaka says that although creating the modern classic was tough work, he remains fond of the end result, and is really looking forward to seeing what Capcom can pull off with Resident Evil 4 remake, utilizing modern technology.
Considering Capcom is already ditching QTEs for Resident Evil 4 remake and adding entirely new side quests, we'd say Yamanaka's right to be intrigued by what the developer can create with today's tools. Resident Evil 4 remake launches next month on March 24 for PS5 and PS4.
Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look over all the other titles set to launch over the next few months.
