Hard Mode, Enemy AI & No More I-Frames (Mini Review)

[Leonesaurus]

Has anyone tried beating the hidden hard difficulty mode yet?

I'm in the process of trying to beat it myself, and irregardless of this post, I will beat this before the main game releases. However, two things became very clear to me about this remake that I didn't notice on my first and subsequent normal playthroughs. The enemy AI is very, very, very aggressive and they have little to no downtime in between attacks. I think part of this may have to do with the new knife mechanics and the fact you can move and shoot now, among other factors.

It doesn't feel fair and balanced like the original game was in that regard for a few reasons. I want to hold judgement until I beat the main game and 100% it, but I'm just wondering what others feel after playing the demo overall, specifically after playing the hard mode several times? Does everyone else feel it's pretty much perfectly tuned, or does anyone else feel the AI is a little ridiculous in the fact you can get hit, then while you're in the recovery animation get immediately hit by another melee attack?

Normal difficulty is much better tuned to perfection for the game's mechanics and overall flow, since you can at least land a shot or two to trigger melee attacks, but on the harder difficulty, it'll sometimes take 4-5 shots just to trigger the same thing on one enemy all the while dealing with an encroaching swarm surrounding you that is simultaneously throwing out attacks, grabs and weapon throws.

I understand the main game will help with this by giving you more weapons and the ability to upgrade them with ammo crafting, but it seems over-tuned on the harder difficulty. If the knife had no durability mechanic, this would help more with enemies using weapons, but bare-handed enemies would still highlight this issue since you can't parry a grapple attack or a punch. You can stab them if you want, but wouldn't a bullet just be better in that scenario?

I've seen one particular Ganado punch me in the head while running diagonal to him, and then immediately trigger a grab attack right after connecting his punch. This is problematic especially when other Ganado can now chase from behind and tag-team with grapples resulting in you getting impaled as you're being held. Chainsaw is an instant-kill in this scenario, per usual.

Again, I'm creating this post just to highlight some potential issues with the game that I've noticed after my time with the demo. Curious if anyone else feels anything similar after tackling hard mode.

The part that blew my mind is that when you climb ladders now, you can be attacked and will fail the climb animation. I'm not kidding. Leon feeling so slow when all the Ganado feel like they equally keep up with him makes this worse. By the time you reach a ladder or a window to interact with to escape, there's a swarm building up around you.

A quarter into the climbing animation any hit that connects with you from an enemy will deal damage and make you fall down. On professional, you're finished. Taking ladders now is not the safe move as it was in prior games. And trust me, I remember a lot of ladders being in this game. Mercenaries in particular is going to be a lot harder if this enemy AI stays this jacked in the future content coming our way.

This game on professional is going to be rough, but again, at least in the main game you'll have more weapons and upgrades like you would in the original RE4. I just don't know how fun and balanced it's going to be when it feels like BS right now in the early-game with this demo exclusive difficulty. But again, this difficulty is still using the main games rules, mechanics and AI.

I've just never seen any mainline or spin-off RE game introduce these new rules, whereas before it used to be a safe series of I-frame animations that bought you some time to get away from the enemy and re-engage. We'll see how the full release handles this, but it's a little worrying seeing how it's handled in the demo. The normal difficulty experience felt amazing in comparison and didn't bother me at all. That's why I came here to see what others thought.

Anyway, back to hard mode.

[Nikki]

I mean, everything you're describing is exactly how it seems to be intended. It's literally described as an "Extreme Difficulty Mode". I think this is even above what we can expect on Professional, honestly, and is just for masochists.

I just learned about the ladder thing, myself, as I tried to climb a ladder to safety only to be knocked off and instant killed by the mad chainsaw man. Was a real treat. I would have tried again but I'm tired at the moment of restarting again and again to get the mode to pop up.

[Leonesaurus]

Originally posted by Nikki:

I mean, everything you're describing is exactly how it seems to be intended. It's literally described as an "Extreme Difficulty Mode". I think this is even above what we can expect on Professional, honestly, and is just for masochists.

I just learned about the ladder thing, myself, as I tried to climb a ladder to safety only to be knocked off and instant killed by the mad chainsaw man. Was a real treat. I would have tried again but I'm tired at the moment of restarting again and again to get the mode to pop up.

Gotcha. You're not wrong about the masochistic part.

It's just very difficult getting the bell to ring since I think you have to either wait a certain amount of time, which feels longer in this mode, or you have to kill X amount of enemies, which usually starts around 19 and averages around 22-24 kills for it to end. It takes a lot of practice to get as many enemies killed as possible via the environment and gun kills before running out of ammo. Going into some dead-end buildings is suicide for an extra ammo pack it feels like.

[Pizza_Force]

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up by trying to parry the chainsaw dude with dash from damn WoLong and ended my almost finished run.

I do get what you're saying. Yes 5 headshots for a melee is a pain in the ass and knife durability with the aggressive enemies is an issue, but they did specify this difficulty to be exclusive to the demo only.

I'm sure the main game's pro mode will be a lot more balanced, the mode now is more about managing your gear for a single enemy. Knife durability will probably not be an issue because it can be repaired and upgraded.

As for i frames, they'll definitely be missed, but everything is slow enough not to be a problem imo, especially with parry.

My only issue is Leon's sprint is a light jog, feels like I'm wading in water. Also you can parry punches for sure, I may have parried a grab too not sure though.

[ItalicMaze]

1. The lack of I-frames is a major issue when performing parries and melee. There's moments where you can get attacked during the start and end of the animation, with no time to recover.

2. I'm not a big fan of how the enemies can spam the grab attack. Nor am I a fan of the instant damage.

3. For some reason Leon isn't able to vault over walls and stuff if the camera isn't facing forward.

4. The flinch mechanic is inconsistent. This can lead to BS moments, where you can't punish certain animations because the enemies don't respond to your gun or knife.

5. Another gripe of mine is how long it takes for Leon to pull up his gun. It feels unusually slow.

I see a lot of potential, but I'm not sure if these things will be altered before or after release. At the very least, I hope the hardest difficult in the full game doesn't further decrease the consistency of flinch animations, since it's a core mechanic.

[Kinetika]

Hard difficulty working as intended, it's meant to be a challenge, not balanced in your favor

[Leonesaurus]

Originally posted by Pizza_Force:

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up by trying to parry the chainsaw dude with dash from damn WoLong and ended my almost finished run.

I do get what you're saying. Yes 5 headshots for a melee is a pain in the ass and knife durability with the aggressive enemies is an issue, but they did specify this difficulty to be exclusive to the demo only.

I'm sure the main game's pro mode will be a lot more balanced, the mode now is more about managing your gear for a single enemy. Knife durability will probably not be an issue because it can be repaired and upgraded.

As for i frames, they'll definitely be missed, but everything is slow enough not to be a problem imo, especially with parry.

My only issue is Leon's sprint is a light jog, feels like I'm wading in water. Also you can parry punches for sure, I may have parried a grab too not sure though.

Yeah, you're right. I just saw footage of someone parrying a punch on Twitter.

I still think you have to either duck or run away from a grab to avoid it, which I saw in that same footage, which can be tough under pressure when you're surrounded. I think I mistakenly thought you couldn't after trying it once and failing, but that may have been a grab I tried it on?

I saw you can also stab a guy in the back for minimal knife degradation, but on extreme mode I have a feeling it's gonna take more than a stab or two to trigger the same effect. I haven't tried yet.

[Leonesaurus]

Originally posted by Kinetika:

Hard difficulty working as intended, it's meant to be a challenge, not balanced in your favor

Don't worry, I intend on beating it irregardless. But you just admitted it's not balanced in the player's favor, so we both agree on that.

[AHRI ENJOYER]

how do you get hard-mode in demo or did i missed it ?

[Leonesaurus]

Originally posted by TheCaptainGhost:

how do you get hard-mode in demo or did i missed it ?

You have to keep starting a new demo run and quitting and starting a new demo run again and quitting until a rare popup occurs called Extreme Difficulty Chainsaw Boogaloo 2: Salvador's Revenge Party. At that point, you hit accept and proceed to suffer for the next several hours trying to beat it.

I can tell you for a fact, after trying for hours to beat it, that it's not time-based to trigger the bell ringing. If it is, it's WAY longer of a timer. I think I ran around the village 7 times kiting the entire population of Europe before dying.

I 100% believe it's kill-based and the target number is 19 kills minimum. I don't know if the kills count before the village or only at the village for the bell to ring. I just know you do not have enough ammo or breathing room to gather it all, unless you get stupid lucky with AI RNG and dodges, etc.

[ImHelping]

It is always fascinating to see games where the player has reduced protections against awkward chain hits, when you just KNOW people will turn around and cry "But enemy name here NEEDS training wheels because hitting them extra times in a row would be unfair!"

Can you imagine living in a world where enemies had to deal with even half the things people claim "If you don't like it, you are a casual!"?

Imagine how wild it would be if ganados were stuck with """realistic""" axe mechanics? "Oh, look at this call of duty baby that needs infinite throwing axes. skill issues."

[Leonesaurus]

Originally posted by ImHelping:

It is always fascinating to see games where the player has reduced protections against awkward chain hits, when you just KNOW people will turn around and cry "But enemy name here NEEDS training wheels because hitting them extra times in a row would be unfair!"

Hi, Dr. Salvador! How's the weather in Europe today?

[AHRI ENJOYER]

Originally posted by Leonesaurus:

Originally posted by TheCaptainGhost:

how do you get hard-mode in demo or did i missed it ?

You have to keep starting a new demo run and quitting and starting a new demo run again and quitting until a rare popup occurs called Extreme Difficulty Chainsaw Boogaloo 2: Salvador's Revenge Party. At that point, you hit accept and proceed to suffer for the next several hours trying to beat it.

I can tell you for a fact, after trying for hours to beat it, that it's not time-based to trigger the bell ringing. If it is, it's WAY longer of a timer. I think I ran around the village 7 times kiting the entire population of Europe before dying.

I 100% believe it's kill-based and the target number is 19 kills minimum. I don't know if the kills count before the village or only at the village for the bell to ring. I just know you do not have enough ammo or breathing room to gather it all, unless you get stupid lucky with AI RNG and dodges, etc.

dam know i have to try it

[ZiggyPanda]

i regret now trying it and no doubt coming back in an hour and ranting with you lol but i am going to so lets just get this done haha

[AHRI ENJOYER]

lol started demo and first try got hard mode challenge jesus i am never this lucky

[Leonesaurus]

Originally posted by ZiggyPanda:

i regret now trying it and no doubt coming back in an hour and ranting with you lol but i am going to so lets just get this done haha

I cheated a little a finally decided to watch a Youtube video showing a clear. What you have to do is kill the chainsaw guy using 3 grenades, all your shotgun shells, and light him up with your handgun/TMP. The important thing to take away here is after you do successfully kill him you HAVE TO pick up his dropped item, which is money, for the bell to chime.

You don't have to kill anyone else besides him. 1 grenade is on a ledge to your right when you first enter the village, behind that house. The second is past the cow shack, inside a bedroom you can jump into. The 3rd grenade is upstairs next to the shotgun. I don't think any other grenades are on the map, but I could be wrong. RNG may play into what items you get also sometimes.