Resident Evil is a franchise known for showing plenty of different witnesses to the same event. Whether it’s the multiple routes on Re2 or the Resident Evil 7 DLCs Capcom has never been strangers to allowing players to see new perspectives of their games and Resident Evils 4’s remake is now getting in on the tradition. Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways is a DLC expansion covering what Ada Wong was doing during the main story of the game. The DLC is a remake of the original Separate ways from the original RE4.
Separate Ways starts strong with a short but fun intro chapter teaching the player how to use Ada’s new grappling hook. It has a really strong optional stealth segment that contrasts from the main story with slower-paced yet still action-packed gameplay. The grappling hook is really fun giving more mobility options, especially in the boss fights, in one fight you are put up against a giant and you can swing around him like you’re in an episode of Attack On Titan. The grappling hook also remedies a problem I had with the main story’s gameplay, when you would be fighting villagers you would be presented with a prompt to melee when you are too far away to do it, but with the grappling hook that makes the problem totally void because you can zip onto enemies to use and attack from far away. It makes the gameplay feel much faster than it already is. You can also purchase the ability to grapple shields away which means you never have to deal with the biggest nightmare the game has… The metal shield guys. A bit of advice I would give to someone who hasn’t played separate ways yet is to Play on hardcore mode or harder, playing separate ways on normal or lower is a cakewalk. I died a total of 4 times throughout the entire DLC.
The Music also gets a new twist with some familiar tracks having a spy movie twist, which makes it feel like you’re James Bond in a horror movie. Some of Ada’s voice acting can be kind of questionable, I honestly don’t think that the audio was properly mixed which made her voice actor sound almost amateurish despite sounding good in the main game. Personally, I just like thinking the iffy voice acting is just a throwback to the original Resident Evil game so I don’t go crazy every time Ada makes a quip.
With the release of separate ways also comes with a free update to the mercenaries arcade mode. It adds Pinstripe Leon, 2 versions of Ada Wong, and My personal favorite Albert Wesker. The goal of mercenaries is to Defeat 150 enemies without dying or running out of time while keeping a combo. The auditions of all the new characters are very welcoming at the formerly empty feeling mode and makes it feel more fleshed out. I would once consider Mercenaries nothing more than a waste of time but now it is well worth the time to fight for the high score and get the best score you can get.
Overall Resident Evil 4 remake’s DLC: Separate Ways is well worth playing. For a mere $9.99 you can get one of the best expansions to a game I’ve ever played for one of the best games I’ve ever played I cannot recommend Separate Ways enough.
