Editing Resident Evil (section)

==Resident Evil 4==
This game tells Leon's fate after the Raccoon City incident. The US government picked him and Sherry up not long after the city got nuked and he's been roped into becoming a governmental secret agent, partially out of duty, but also to protect Sherry. His current mission is being sent into not-Spain to rescue the US president's daughter, Ashley Graham, who was kidnapped.

Its later revealed that she was kidnapped by "Los Illuminados", a psychotic cult that worships ancient parasites called the "Las Plagas" that induce mutations and mind control, both of which Leon and Ashley were infected with. The cult's plan is to infect Ashley with a plaga, send her back to the US, then have her do the cult's bidding once the plaga inside her fully matures. Of course this does beg the following questions:

#  Why are the cultists hellbent on killing both Leon AND Ashley, if the latter is so instrumental to their plans?
#  Why did they need Ashley to be kidnapped and sent to not-Spain in the first place? Its been shown in-game that plaga infection is relatively simple (be injected with one by a syringe). There was never a need to kidnap Ashley, infect her, then draw attention to it. Especially since the Las Plagas were largely unknown to the outside world until Saddler drew attention to them by involving the US in a rescue mission, so he would have had the total element of surprise once he used his trump card.

Glaring plotholes aside, these cultists are led by three people: Bitores Mendez, a not-Tyrant; Ramon Salazar, a kinda-Spanish aristocrat with a Napoleon complex and two not-Xenomorph bodyguards; and last of all, the cult's supreme head-honcho Osmund Saddler, a charismatic man who may or may not have [[/d/|a long, bladed tentacle as a dick that he uses to impale people]] (it doesn't help it comes from under his robes and between his legs). He also faces off against Jack Krauser, [[derp|whom is described as one of Leon's closest old agency friends, but his character and history wouldn't be explored until a few years later in a separate game]], so everyone at the time was just confused when Leon acts like he's a big deal and we should be feeling some remorse for his death. 

Predictably, this isn't taken seriously in the slightest. Hell even Saddler sort-of breaks the fourth wall and mentions how cliche this entire thing is. The B-movie atmosphere and deliberately campy writing blend together to make for an entry that is generally considered the most memorable in the franchise, and actively played into it in a way that gave it an edge over the next couple of entries.

Now, Leon and Ashley must find a way out of not-Spain, fight through the Los Illuminados cult and their many experimental creatures, and get rid of the plagas infesting them. Like in the previous game, Leon is still being aided by his not-love interest Ada Wong, who is once again impractically dressed for a spy mission. The post-Gamecube/Wii versions of the game even added a short secondary campaign that lets you play as Ada during her adventures in the region.

If RE3 is arguably the first Action Horror game in the franchise, then RE4 is the first ''unchallenged'' Action Horror title. Aside from the new over-the-shoulder camera angle allowing Leon to precisely target foes and the loss of the restrictive tank controls, Leon no longer needed to sacrifice a precious inventory slot to carry a knife or deliberately equip it. Furthermore, this was the game that added "context sensitive melee"; stunning an enemy by shooting them in the right spot (usually the head or the leg/knee) would temporarily daze them, and the player could then deliver a melee attack by getting in close and pressing the Action button. This mechanic would be ported into the Revelations games and the subsequent RE5 and RE6.

===2023 RE4Make===

After the colossal success of the RE2 remake and the reasonable success of RE3make, it was all but inevitable that 4 would also be remade, though Capcom made us wait a few years for this one. Early impressions have been mixed: the remake seems to be going for a more brooding, horror-focused tone as opposed to the self-aware midnight-movie camp of the original, which has some fans concerned that the game will lose what made it special. That said, the RE Engine-powered graphics are gorgeous, Ashley's cute now, Ada is sensibly dressed for once, and the first trailer confirmed that Saddler, Mendez, and Luis Sera will all be returning.

Notable changes after release: the U3 boss is gone, Ramon Salazar's boss fight got totally redesigned, as did the Verdugo, and Luis Sera gets a much bigger starring role, even actively fighting alongside Leon in several parts of the game.