NOT a bait thread, but Why I Think This Game is (Partly) Woke

[ElfPrince1937]

Like the title says, NOT a trolling/baiting thread. All I ask--from both the moderators as well as everyone else on Steam--is the chance to make my case.

So, Resident Evil 4 Remake. Woke or not woke? Personally, my answer is, "Yes and no." For starters, I'll paraphrase Billy Crystal here:

"See, there's a difference between mostly woke and all woke. With mostly woke, there's still enough non-woke material to keep the game entertaining..."

And that's where I think this game is: much of it is very much entertaining in terms of combat and exploration. Other parts, however...not so much.

So, which parts do I think are woke?

My argument will be framed through the examination and analysis of two of the big baddies, specifically Jack Krauser and Osmund Saddler, and how their characters have been changed from the original 2005 game.

Let's get into it.

1. Jack Krauser

When Leon first "meets" Krauser in the original Resident Evil 4, we already know the two soldiers have a shared history. At that point in time, it's unclear what that history is, though their backstory is later revealed in the "Operation Javier" scenario of the rail shooter Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, released on the Nintendo Wii.

That's an important point, because after finally defeating Krauser in his Plaga form, after shot at, slashed/stabbed, nearly blown up and nearly kicked off a ledge, Leon has this to say upon examining Krauser's "corpse":

"Krauser...what happened to you? You used to be a good guy...

Clearly, Leon knows something about Krauser that we, the player, do not. He's literally reminiscing on a time when Krauser wasn't just an ally, but a fellow soldier, a brother-in-arms.

For those who, like myself, have played Darkside Chronicles, we see for ourselves the bond that these two guys formed as fellow soldiers in the field. Krauser was initially skeptical about Leon's experience--as well as whether Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W.s) even existed--but gradually comes to accept Leon as a competent partner. By the second-to-last chapter, Krauser outright pledges loyalty to Leon's cause of ridding the world of viruses, acknowledging that, "If your orders come from the President, then I'm on your side." This scenario perfectly sets the stage for Leon's shock and disappointment at what his old comrade has become two years later, during the events of the original Resident Evil 4.

Literally all of that gets erased with the Remake, and I mean ALL of it.

For starters, we see during the intro video that "Major" Krauser was actually Leon's training overseer after Leon was recruited by the U.S. Government, rather than his partner in the field. On top of that, what little we know of the Remake version of Operation Javier strongly implies that it, too, has been completely remade.

Gone is the bonding in the field between two brothers-in-arms.
Gone is Krauser's grudging admiration for Leon's skills.

Instead, we only get an incredibly vague mention of Krauser and his "unit" being left for dead by the United States Government, and now he's out for revenge and power because "if they have it, why can't I?"

So now, not only was Leon never even part of the mission, but neither do he and Krauser have nearly as much personal history as their original counterparts. In contrast to the more sympathetic OG-Krauser--who, we learn in Darkside Chronicles, sought out Wesker in order to have his arm healed after sustaining an injury during Operation Javier--Remake Krauser now comes across as a bitter and petty stand-in for everyone screwed over by the American government.

That's important to keep in mind, because of the next point:

2. Osmund Saddler

In the original Resident Evil 4, Saddler is exactly what he appears to be. Telling Leon in a clearly-European accent, "No longer will the United States think they can police the world forever," the very clearly Pagan cult leader outlines his plan to use Ashley, the First Daughter, to launch a terrorist attack on the United States of America.

And right here, a bit of context might help put all this in perspective.

The game takes place in Spain. All the villagers and cultists clearly speak Spanish.
There is also a note from Salazar very clearly designating Los Illuminados as a pre-Christian Pagan cult, even portraying their "oppression" at the hands of the pro-Christian Spanish Inquisition.

On top of all of that, we have two very revealing lines in the original game that show us exactly how Osmund Saddler feels about the United States of America:

Krauser: "I needed her [Ashley] to prove Saddler's trust in me. Like you [Leon], I'm an American."

Saddler: "Did you really think I'd trust an American?"

Clearly, the Euro-Pagan Saddler is prejudiced against Americans. But that's ok; it's consistent with his character, because, well...Saddler's the villain. Leon, the American agent, is the protagonist. It works.

And this is where another important piece of context becomes helpful:

The original Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005, just four years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001. Just in case you think it's a coincidence, consider also this exchange between Leon and Salazar:

Leon: "This is no ritual, it's terrorism!"
Salazar: "Isn't that a popular word these days?"

Clearly there's a pro-American theme going on there, and it's not entirely misplaced, given the context of "save the President's daughter from a mind-controlling parasite."

Now, in contrast, let's take a look at Osmund Saddler in the Remake.

Gone completely is his clearly-audible European accent. Like, completely. Instead, Saddler speaks in what is unmistakeably a Southern-American accent better suited to a preacher of the Southern Baptist Convention.

For those of who think I'm making this up, I invite you to either play the game or watch a video of one of Remake-Saddler's appearances, during which you will also note his constant use of the term, "Sacrificial Lamb" in reference to Leon and/or Ashley. This is, again, an unmistakable reference to the Judeo-Christian religion(s).

"But wait Dark, I thought you said Saddler is a Pagan cult leader? And that's he supposed to be European? And that this game takes place in Spain?"

Yes. Yes, I did, which is what makes the Remake especially jarring and, dare I say it, even schizophrenic when you start examining it beneath the surface.

It's still very clearly based in Spain, which is of course in Europe. Los Illuminados is very much still an antagonistic cult. You even have Luis being obsessed with Don Quixote to remind us that the game takes place in Spain.

As stated above, the original Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005, and undoubtedly incorporated socio-political themes that were prevalent at its time; it's right up there with, say, 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.

Similarly, the Resident Evil 4 Remake definitely seems to be channeling certain socio-political themes that are now becoming more popular as of this writing, specifically an increasing anti-American sentiment.

This, once again, comes across as schizophrenic and jarring in the Remake for a couple of reasons:

1. Time/Setting

This is, quite frankly, something I've noticed with the original Resident Evil 2 versus that game's Remake, as well. For context, note that the original Resident Evil 2 was released in the exact same year that the game's events take place: 1998. Similarly, the original Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005 and was set in 2004.

The Remakes of both games, being released in 2019 (RE2) and 2023 (RE4), however, ultimately end up feeling less like staples of those eras (the 1990s-era grittiness is completely absent from the RE2 Remake) and more like someone's secondhand interpretation of what those time periods looked like.

2. Hero vs. Villain Roles

This is where the game really gets schizophrenic. Because if we take what I've noted above, we essentially have:

Leon, an American agent, fighting to save the U.S. President's daughter from a Southern-speaking religious leader who name-drops, "Sacrificial Lamb," a term commonly used throughout Western Christianity, while also reluctantly agreeing with his old army buddy, that "Yeah, what the U.S. Government did to you, Krauser, that was pretty bad."

It honestly gets to the point where it almost feels like Capcom--or, more specifically, the particular development team behind this game--forgot and then later remembered that Krauser and Saddler are meant to be the game's villains, but "well, we have to have an anti-American sentiment in there, so we'll just hope the players never notice the contradicting narratives."

I apologize about the length--kudos to anyone who actually bothered to read this all the way through--but I wanted to stress that this isn't just something I'm making up about the game.

And, sure--like I said at the very beginning, I wouldn't go so far as to say the game is entirely "woke."

But I do think a pretty big part of the narrative has been altered in a way that carries some pretty disturbing implications for future games in the series.

[Agentti Kiivi]

Already dead wrong on your first point about krauser.

0/10 bad jester bait.

[Samiel Hydeberg]

Fairly certain that Krauser openly states that he doesn't care about revenge and just wants power.

[lieutenantduran]

Originally posted by OnlyDads.com/Dabandz:

Honestly a pretty interesting read, i don't understand the hate or the individuals wasting the time out of their day to saying "idc" or its "Baiting". OP had an interesting perspective lmaoo. Just don't comment if you don't have anything useful to say.

like op, i've posted indepth about missing content, dialogue, character development, but all you get back is angry folks attacking your character. they seem to get peeved when you don't think exsactly like them, and they certainly don't like negative criticism of the game.

[Jalir]

who the ♥♥♥♥ is gonna read this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[ElfPrince1937]

Originally posted by Agentti Kiivi:

Already dead wrong on your first point about krauser.

Make your case; what did I get wrong about Krauser?

Because

Originally posted by Darkgamester301:

When Leon first "meets" Krauser in the original Resident Evil 4, we already know the two soldiers have a shared history. At that point in time, it's unclear what that history is, though their backstory is later revealed in the "Operation Javier" scenario of the rail shooter Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, released on the Nintendo Wii.

is very much accurate and factual; players didn't know Krauser's full history with Leon until Darkside Chronicles, but we were already being told that they had a history.

Ada even asks Leon about this herself: "You knew each other?"

[Griever]

Originally posted by Jin:

A lot of it has to do with the western market. They would have input by their Western branches in Europe and North America to make it more "marketable" to the west without resorting what they did before and have western developers make the games for them (I.E what happen to games like Silent Hill Home Coming, Lost Planet 3, Castlevania in its attempt to appeal to the west).

That was the trend back then and now the trend is inclusion. Basically they're being fed by the western heads that this is what gamers want regardless if we actually do or not.

A lot of companies "westernize" games so it would "fit" the western consumer base. Amazon with Lost Ark was a prime example, having Korean characters being completely replaced by new ones despite Korean population is smaller world wide.

Makes sense. Good explanation.
Very annoying that they constantly adapt the product to this nebulous "Western Market" and modify original product which is often great to begin with.

On a side topic, I remember back in the old days when many Japanese games had release like:
- American release
- European release
- Japanese release
And each release had unique cultural features. I think RE games did this.

[Ignosius]

Originally posted by Griever:

I was very surprised when Wo Long (Team Ninja game) for example, had the ability to basically be transgender and add pronouns to character. Such a woke setting felt byzarre from a Japanese studio like TeamNinja.

That's one of the things that's always really stood out to me in this recent trend. It's a perfect example of "inclusion" that doesn't actually make sense.

How many transgender players actually want to make a transgender character? Why would they not just pick the gender they identify as?

Of the people actually selecting these options, how many actually identify that way vs. how many just think a big burly man going by "she" is funny?

I think we were already doing perfectly fine on the inclusion front by doing things like having hairstyles be unisex and letting people equip whatever gear they want. This pronoun thing just seems ridiculous.

[Crunchy[Daz]]

I'm gonna do you a huge favor OP, this is gonna save you alot of time.

You don't know what woke is or means, stop using it, stop wasting your time trying to understand it.

[BandoSan]

Originally posted by lieutenantduran:

Originally posted by OnlyDads.com/Dabandz:

Honestly a pretty interesting read, i don't understand the hate or the individuals wasting the time out of their day to saying "idc" or its "Baiting". OP had an interesting perspective lmaoo. Just don't comment if you don't have anything useful to say.

like op, i've posted indepth about missing content, dialogue, character development, but all you get back is angry folks attacking your character. they seem to get peeved when you don't think exsactly like them, and they certainly don't like negative criticism of the game.

Agreed, just a bunch of simple minded individuals. Also nothing wrong with being simple minded, just stfu that's all. Those useless, uninformative comments just clutter up the space. If you cant grasp that this is all just in depth talk about the game just don't say anything at all.

[ElfPrince1937]

Originally posted by Jin:

So its considered woke because it criticized the U.S in anyway slightly and that they retcon dark chronical?

Not at all; many video games criticize the U.S. and especially its government in their stories, and they do it well. Heck, the entire plot twist of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 involved General Shepherd betraying your team and forcing you to become an outlaw against America.

And to be fair, I do acknowledge the ambiguity of the term "woke," as (rightly) brought up here:

Originally posted by Nirvash:

The issue with talking about this is literally the meme "define woke". Because the word means completely different things depending on who you ask.

So to clarify, I would say the way in which I personally am applying the term "woke" to the Resident Evil 4 Remake is more along the lines of what else Nirvash said:

Originally posted by Nirvash:

Woke is meant to be used to describe a thing negatively, because of the way the thing in question uses current political issues to flavor the way a thing is made, but in a bad way.

Specifically, the part of my OP that I'm talking about is:

Originally posted by Darkgamester301:

Leon, an American agent, fighting to save the U.S. President's daughter from a Southern-speaking religious leader who name-drops, "Sacrificial Lamb," a term commonly used throughout Western Christianity, while also reluctantly agreeing with his old army buddy, that "Yeah, what the U.S. Government did to you, Krauser, that was pretty bad."

It honestly gets to the point where it almost feels like Capcom--or, more specifically, the particular development team behind this game--forgot and then later remembered that Krauser and Saddler are meant to be the game's villains, but "well, we have to have an anti-American sentiment in there, so we'll just hope the players never notice the contradicting narratives."

To simplify it even further:

We literally have a game in which you play as an American federal agent serving your country by saving the daughter of your president...while simultaneously the villains either get to go on a rant against the U.S. Government (Krauser) or are portrayed as a literal stereotype of a particularly well-known religious organization in said country (Saddler).

Which, again, is contradictory because Saddler's not a Southern Baptist. He's a Pagan.

It's literally like trying to make Grigori Rasputin into Billy Graham.

[ElfPrince1937]

Originally posted by CrunchyDaz:

I'm gonna do you a huge favor OP, this is gonna save you alot of time.

You don't know what woke is or means, stop using it, stop wasting your time trying to understand it.

Would you like to do me a bigger favor and by educating me on what "woke" is, then?

I'm not adverse to being humbled; I welcome open discussion and the opportunity to learn. So if I'm wrong, go ahead.

Make your case.

[Hogarth]

The original lines about terrorism and U.S. world police feel dated. They remind me of Bush and "Mission Accomplished." Saddler and Mendez being obvious religious fanatics fits the characters and story better.

[KarlThorsten89]

I kind of agree. Saddler's presence is in a way much stronger, as he's shown influencing the minds of everyone that has the Plaga.
But this remake also, as stated, takes away some of his 'charm' and more personal presense by removing so much of his personal interaction with Leon, namely the Church. I was quite disappointed not seeing him go full supervillain monologue. He has far too little screentime, and reshaped into a full-blown religious cult fanatic and leader.
I prefer the original more, being more a classic villain wanting a little bit of world domination, it gave him mystery, but made him a bit more complex.

The remake is very simplified in my view. It feels like he's only got one side of him to show, and nothing else.
Overall, the story is still excellent, the game is great, but no game is without flaws, and this is the biggest one for me. I miss him being an absolute ham of a villain and just calmly smirking at Leon as his cultists rush into the church in the original.

But I do also like that he's MORE present in the way that he appears in their minds.
It's a mix of good and bad changes. It's a new version that's still pretty great, but he is indeed more a shadow of what he is in the original. You just can't beat that more personal touch.

[MrQun]

I don't really have much to add as I've never played The Darkside Chronicles and I don't really remember the og that well as I've only played it once.

Regardless, I just wanted to say that I enjoy reading your post and I wish that there were a lot more like it on the discussion thread.

Steam discussion exists so that players can "discuss" the game, or to make inquiries of the game or to have constructive mature debates. But all you'll mostly see are a bunch of people most of which who lack nuance beating their chest and slinging insults like petulant children.

[Shao]

It doesn't take much to know that despite all politics that the world is evolving, culture trend changes and you have to oblige to those if you want to make the cut.

Those who see and act upon the blend and inclusive view that most media adopt are usually those who are stuck in the past or haven't grown past to see the world for what it truly becomes.

Conservatives, it's in the name, will always abide for older views or how things were because it was their peak back in the day and seeing that change for something that adopts the modern views whether be positive or not will boast very aggressive criticism like their life is endangered. Wanting to not fix what ain't broken is a valid way to go by but is definitely not the only one. Thus for anything that ever gets changed for the good or bad, it will be seen as woke because it attacks their views. For example, people felt like Dead Space was woke because of unified bathrooms and more variety in the races while in it's setting it is more than logical to have it as such regardless if the original didn't account for it.

Liberals, while also in the name will advocate for progression that will ensure everything get a piece of the cake and thus changing much of the habits in a way that is more suitable for everyone which goes by some of the farthest extremes that could be considered concerning and awful. Most of this can just be attributed to the whole entire view of "you can be what you want and everyone should respect it", this mentally is extremely flawed and needs to be kept in check to avoid the extreme cases that often occur in the known LGBT community, not fully having written the alphabet soup alone could yield me autistic screeching for the end of my days and I couldn't give anymore of a care for it because it pushes my limits and will to tolerate, progression is something that takes time and especially for those with conservative views. Much of the points that Liberal views have are valid to the evolution of society in general, however some of those just take too much of the pie and reaches that point where just like conservatives, it's a us against them which is definitely not how to do it.

With those two perspectives set down, most games that have been claimed to be woke lately are truly "yes but also no", more so all of the woke claims come from the same place in mind where the people who say you should be who you feel like you are and never listen to anyone tell you what to do. We live in a society and somethings DO need changing while some others don't, personally I miss the women line from Leon but it doesn't kill it off because I can understand where it's coming from, besides nothing stops me from using the "Women moment" and "Women defeated" lines over and over for myself, perhaps even overtime normalise it in society terms, because let's be honest. Women does the same to men and it's just fun banter in the end, being able to criticise genders in between each other is just normal, normal really is viewed often as bad but it's something that needs to be brought up more often.

Normal is the way of making things great again. Saying racist slurs used to be normal back then, can be seen in movies. It could be normal again given it wasn't used to often as ammo towards aggression. Much of the woke culture is based around that, people attack trans individuals like they can't be part of the normal which to some extend I can see where they are coming from but believe me, if you help them see through the delusions apart of what they can truly be, you do a better place for everyone because truly both sides are really egocentric rather than working for the greater good.