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leon is just like me for real (i am very awkward around women)

still the goat

Twenty years on and it's still one of the greatest action games of all time. Clearly inspired by horror films like Dagon, the Wicker Man, Alien and more, Leon and RE4 is an homage to and an example of a fantastic B-movie protagonist. Yeah the remake gets rid of QTEs and tank controls, but it's undeniably charming and goofy in a way successive entries were never really able to capture.

I played this game more than anything else! i had lots of amazing memories with it, i'll probably speed run it again on a winter rainy weekend!

B I N G O

my favourite game since i was little :) hardly recommended!!!

All this game needs is a Jill Sandwich.

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Let me get straight to the point; I didn't enjoy this game overall as much as I did the remake. Nonetheless, I am still very happy I decided to give it a try. It made me realize that I underestimated it for thinking it'd be a worse game just cause it was older. Proving me wrong, this game managed to charm me almost immediately with the atmosphere of it's game universe and cheesy but iconic dialogue. Something about the way characters interact with each other feels oddly more realistic and human despite their lines completely contradicting that.
I've also now learned that the remake completely upgraded Luis, giving him a lot more screen time, lore background and character, which could be the best story change they made in the transition. He is such a wasted character in the original that just dies suddenly without much impact. For that, I thank capcom for giving a character their deserved remake. However, they somehow managed to do the opposite for two characters, Ramón and Krauser, which are notably more memorable, funny and charming in the og version. A little gremlin and a level-headed soldier that are straight out of an anime. It felt like they completely lost what made them unique in the transition. I especially feel bad for Krauser, as I really enjoyed his backstory and interactions with Leon when I first learned about them. He went from a man with his own agenda and a cool composure (aura) to a simple power-hungry saddler lackey...
But let's finally talk about the elephant in the room. The gameply. It's a lot less fluid and responsive here, having to do things like standing still to reload and manually switching guns from your inventory, which made me feel like I was fighting the controls more often than I was the enemies. They definitely upgraded the gameplay fluidity and intensity in the remake, as well as the exploration which the og fell a bit behind on.
And last but not least, something I personally wished they kept in the remake, the quick time events. This one is a bit tricky cause you could argue that e.g. the more interactive first Krauser fight makes you feel more engaged in the story, but at the same time, the QTEs cutscene of it in the original was so absurd and cinematic that I've become undecided on which version I prefer. Maybe they felt that a "modern" game didn't need the QTEs, which is fair enough, but then at least put a cutscene viewer in the game. I was surprsed when I found out that the original let you watch all cutscenes (including QTE ones) on demand, which I cannot believe the remake doesn't, considering how good they look.
I came to this game expecting to ragequit a few times due to the original Ashley's behavior, but honestly it was quite fun. She didn't get in the way much, and it felt oddly wholesome seeing this game completely lean towards the "princess" stereotype by having to do things such as catching her on every ladder, which had to obviously be changed in the remake to fulfill the current standards of videogames more... But what I'm trying to say is that I was pleasantly surprised by how oddly fun it felt to babysit original Ashley throughout the journey.

This was a memorable experience that will live in my heart as something I wish I experienced sooner, even if I wouldn't have fond memories of the gameplay. Original Leon has a charm that I love, which had to inevitably go lost in the remake to make a more realistic character, but now I've concluded that I like them both equally.