Leon’s day goes from bad to worse upon entering the rural countryside of Spain in an effort to retrieve the President’s daughter. While Leon didn’t quite know what to expect, it’s clear that he was given this assignment due to his knowledge, experience, and capabilities displayed during the Raccoon City fiasco.
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WhileResident Evil 4 Remakeendeavors to bring the story forward to a new generation of fans, the developers couldn’t help being a tad self-referential throwing in Easter eggs that referenced the original adventure as well as other inspirations for the game. Additionally, there are subtle details that are simply too easy to miss in your average first-time playthrough.
8The Cache Charms Feature The Original Characters
The Merchant is back spouting his famous banter from the original game once again. He also has a gun range that lets you test your mettle.
In the gun range, you’ll have to shoot moving targets with increasing difficulty. After successfully completing a round at the range, you’llearn tokens to purchase randomized charmsfor your inventory.
Equipping these charms offers Leon certain buffs depending on the charm and its rarity. But what’s visually a treat for fans is that each of the charms is a character or item model design from the original Resident Evil 4. It’s a neat detail and cool series of references to the original title.
7Ringing The Village Church Bell
If you’ve played the game, you undoubtedly are familiar with one of the most iconic sequences that occur right at the very beginning of the game in which Leon is assaulted by an endless mob of maniacal villagers.
Here you must survive pitchfork-wielding farmers, hatchet-throwing workers, and a Jason Voorhees-like chainsaw man as you dodge your way around the small settlement. Of course, the terror ends when the church bell tolls luring all the assailants away from Leon.
But what if you could skip that whole horrific affair altogether, or at the very least end it early? Well, you actually can.
In the distance, you can see the bell tower. If you can get a vantage point on the roof, you can shoot the bell to bring an end to the hostilities before they even pick up steam. It’s a bit hard to hit with your pistol but might be easier with scoped weaponry in a second playthrough.
6"The Master Of Unlocking"
The Resident Evil series hasn’t always been on point with its dialogue. But, perhaps, some of the campiness is intentional. Still, even in a modern remake, Leon is seen spouting one-liners fit for an ’80s action film. But nothing is quite as painful as retreading the dialogue of the original Resident Evil on PlayStation.
In the Resident Evil 4 remake, Ashley actually makes a reference to one of the silliest lines of dialogue in the original Resident Evil. Barry Burton offers Jill Valentine a lock-pick when inside the mysterious mansion in the Arklay mountains.
He tells her, “It might be handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you.” At one point in the remake, when Ashley crawls through a passageway to unlock a door for you she says, “I’m pretty much a master of unlocking.”
5Shooting The Lake
The Ganados weren’t the only thing Leon had to worry about in the original Resident Evil 4 adventure. He also had to watch out for a gigantic lake monster that’d threaten to swallow him whole.
In the original 2004 release, you can shoot the lake from a dock before encountering the monster in a boss fight later. If you shoot the lake enough times, the monster will jump out of the lake and eat Leon.
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The Resident Evil 4 remake actually recreated this shocking detail. The process is the same, just approach the lake on a dock and shoot into the water. Pretty soon a quick cinematic will play of the monster lunging at the screen.
4The Knife
Fans of the original Resident Evil 4 might notice that Leon’s primary knife isn’t designed the same way as the one he carried in the 2004 version of the game. That’s because the development team added a slick reference to Leon’s dark first day on the job in Raccoon City.
If you take a quick look at the description of the knife in your inventory, you’ll see that it references the RPD as the location he obtained it.
Well, in Resident Evil 2, Marvin, the dying police officer gifts this blade to Leon. It’s the exact same design.
It stands to reason that Leon would keep that knife close after all these years since it carried him through the Raccoon City nightmare. He’s going to need it again to slash throughvillagers barking death threatsat him.
3Kendo
The knife might not be Leon’s only keepsake from Raccoon City. Do you remember Robert Kendo - the gun store owner? Chronologically, Jill Valentine first encounters the tortured soul in the Resident Evil 3 remake.
He’s grieving over the infection of his wife and daughter. The next night, Leon and Ada enter Robert’s store where they see his daughter on the verge of becoming a zombie.
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It’s likely a memory that stuck with Leon after departing from Raccoon City. Robert Kendo’s plight was representative of what happened to an entire town. If you examine Leon’s SG-09 R custom handgun, you’ll see “Kendo” engraved on its side. It’s a cool reference to a poignant moment in the Raccoon City disaster.
2Throwing Eggs At People
Have you ever gotten sick and tired of an NPC and wished you could smack them around a little? Well, there’s no need for that unchecked violence, but you can take out your frustrations on them if you so desire (and are totally okay with depleting health resources).
Grab an egg from your inventory and lob it at Ashley’s face. She’ll get frustrated over the move, and it will look quite silly. Don’t like the merchant’s prices? Throw an egg in his face. That’ll show him.
1Leon The Professional
Sometime during Chapter 8, you can obtain Matilda from the Merchant. You might be wondering why a gun is given the odd name of Matilda. Well, there are clearly a few parallels to a famous Luc Besson-directed film that some of you may have heard of: Leon the Professional.
This film is about an Italian contract killer named Leon who ultimately takes on a child protégé after her family is murdered by a criminal kingpin. The gun, Matilda, is named after this young girl who was portrayed on screen by actress Natalie Portman.
To further Resident Evil 4’s references to this film, a difficulty setting has been designated as “Professional.” At this stage, Leon is, indeed, a professional. Just earn thosecat ears so you’re able to fire this puppy without regard for your ammo supply.
