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RE:4 RE:4 Environments

Yama

Owner
1996...
One of the things I'm most impressed with thus far is RE4's environments in the RE engine. RE4 always had an extremely interesting locale, but under a more grounded tone it really comes to life just how gritty and interesting it can be.

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Oh, Yama, this is an extremely good thread! The environment is essential for this series, because it is even a whole character that is no less important than the protagonist.

I had a wish about the remake so that the developers would explore the history of the region more deeply this time. The original game cut out most of the ruins of an ancient civilization under the castle, and the remaining textures there were mostly Sumerian-like and Mesoamerican-like reliefs. There was almost no substance in them, unfortunately, although I had fun speculating about it.

These days you can't just add a photo to make it work. You need to make a volume asset with a unique UV mapping. That is why in Resident Evil Village you had unique reliefs that could tell you the actual history of the region.

So when I watched the trailer for the first time, I noticed this symbol and fell in love with it:

Umbrella.png

Many people have already begun to theorize that this is another forerunner of Umbrella or something related to the crest from the cave that Spencer saw.

I can't say that I agree, although no one knows anything for sure yet. But I can share my perspective.

So, first of all, I highly doubt that Capcom will use something that relies heavily on another game. It's kind of obvious to me that the symbol has a direct connection with the narrative of the remake. And more than anything, it reminds me of the Plaga parasite:

Not-Umbrella.png

Like the Plaga parasite, the image has a body and four limbs. But why do these limbs look like human hands?

My buddy Evil Resident assumed that this is a metaphor for the laying on of hands, which is a very good point, since the parasite is considered sacred. And I also have my own version, which does not necessarily contradict his version.

"You will receive our most sacred body. It begins now."

After these words, Saddler approached someone who, most likely, is Leon, and allegedly spread the parasite through his hand:

Saddler.png

For those who don't know, this isn't the first time we've seen a reproduction of a parasite through the hand. For example, although it wasn't shown in the game itself, Salazar could do the same:

Salazar.jpg

Moreover, this is something that the Pursuer was also able to do in the recent remake:

Nemesis.png

And since we have official confirmation that the Nemesis parasite is an artificially created Plaga parasite that the company discovered in the wild, it doesn't look like a pure coincidence or even some kind of convergence.

Therefore, summarizing this analysis, I can assume that human hands, like rings, are symbols of reproduction and a repeating cycle.

The symbol may indeed remotely resemble the Umbrella logo, but I don't believe it's worth taking it further than that. In the same way, Saddler has the same initials as those of Spencer, and Mendez resembles a Tyrant. It's just homage, it seems to me.

But if we allow ourselves to dive in a bit, we can link this to the G-Virus. What do I mean by that?

Although not everyone agrees with this version, but infected with the G-Virus could inherit their method of reproduction from the Nemesis parasite. Since Dr. Birkin discovered the virus while examining Lisa Trevor's body, it's possible that she got something from the parasite she was infected with.

G-Birkin.png

And since the Nemesis parasite retroactively originates from the Plaga parasite, this habit may be related.
 
Yes. The environments are gorgeous. That's one positive thing about RE8 too. Personally, I think you can still have a scary game that has an unsettling mood in the daylight. But at night, they turn it up a notch.

It would be sad though if they ended up cutting out the lake and other venues from the original. We need a good range of locations to explore, and this is one thing the original RE4 did well. There was a lot of backtracking, so it was still in line with older RE entries. I feel like future RE games post 4, had more linear gameplay.

Just praying to the RE gods upstairs that they go all the way. People are concerned after the 2 and 3 remakes omitted so much content.

 
This is why I am excited for this remake. Purists who automatically dismiss it because they don’t want the story changed or scenes cut can just play the original, like Yama said they will always still be there to play.

I am a big fan of dark forest settings so seeing them double down on the foliage will be a real treat to traverse. I really want to know more about Plaga backstory which the original simply did not do that good of a job explaining besides a handful of brief notes.
 
Since I finally got my hands on HD Project, I would like to return to the topic of ruins once again.

As you know, the Gothic castle originally belonged not to "some" Ramon Salazar, but to Oswell E. Spencer himself. Even in Resident Evil 4, we find exactly the same paintings that hang in the Spencer Mansion from the remake:

Family Castle (2).png

Jill.png

Respectively, it also explains their architectural parallels, the same paintings, the same chairs and so on. Many resources have been reused.

But they also have one more thing in common. Yeah, the ruins of an ancient underground civilization.

Initially, according to Noboru Sugimura's script, Lord Spencer's castle was built on the ruins of an ancient civilization, where the Progenitor Virus was discovered. Since such a connection with the mythology of the Biohazard series was severed, the place of the virus was taken by the Plaga parasite, which was used by an ancient cult called Los Iluminados.

Cult.png

We find this Mesoamerican-like drawing on the island and can see both the act of sacrifice, which the modern cult of Lord Saddler also practices, and the symbol of the Plaga parasite.

Before that, we visited underground ruins that had advanced technologies and Sumerian-like reliefs:

Ancient (1).png

Ancient (2).png

Ancient (3).png

Moreover, we see a painted cult symbol and a similar technology on the island, which gives us reason to believe that, among other things, Lord Saddler's cult inherited the idea of this technology too:

LI 1.png

LI 2.png

LI 3.png

Although someone can reasonably write that the Sumerian-like civilization and the Aztec-like civilization are not the same thing, it is much more likely for me that this is one fictional ancient civilization whose culture is formed from different references.

We know very little about these people, except that they were in a sect and used parasites. We don't know how ancient they are, nor do we know where they got such advanced technology from. Unlike the Progenitor Virus, the Plaga parasite is not an agent of evolution that could increase human intelligence. On the contrary, it is a life form that parasitizes the nervous system and causes a human to go berserk. So how are such technologies possible?

Everything can become clear when we visit the next numbered title. Thanks to it, we learned that no one refused Lord Spencer's castle and the ancient civilization where the Progenitor Virus was discovered.

More interestingly, we learn that the Ndipaya culture is inspired by Mesoamerica, and also that this tribe used the same technologies that are used in Resident Evil 4. Not to mention the fact that we find fossils of parasites there, which Umbrella could also find for its own parasite.

What conclusion can be drawn from these observations? Like TRICELL, which was established in Resident Evil 4 as Seashell, but this name was eventually retconned, it is possible that the ancient civilization from Resident Evil 4 has a direct relation to the Ndipaya. They could either be heretics, some of whom were executed by the tribe by feeding mutated animals, or followers of one of the immortal kings who vanished from history.

And the new remake, among other things, has a really good opportunity to link the history of the RE series together, even without resorting to some radical retcons. All the ideas are already there, they just didn't have the opportunity to be shaped.
 

Yama

Owner
1996...
Since I finally got my hands on HD Project, I would like to return to the topic of ruins once again.

As you know, the Gothic castle originally belonged not to "some" Ramon Salazar, but to Oswell E. Spencer himself. Even in Resident Evil 4, we find exactly the same paintings that hang in the Spencer Mansion from the remake:

View attachment 1778

View attachment 1779

Respectively, it also explains their architectural parallels, the same paintings, the same chairs and so on. Many resources have been reused.

But they also have one more thing in common. Yeah, the ruins of an ancient underground civilization.

Initially, according to Noboru Sugimura's script, Lord Spencer's castle was built on the ruins of an ancient civilization, where the Progenitor Virus was discovered. Since such a connection with the mythology of the Biohazard series was severed, the place of the virus was taken by the Plaga parasite, which was used by an ancient cult called Los Iluminados.

View attachment 1780

We find this Mesoamerican-like drawing on the island and can see both the act of sacrifice, which the modern cult of Lord Saddler also practices, and the symbol of the Plaga parasite.

Before that, we visited underground ruins that had advanced technologies and Sumerian-like reliefs:

View attachment 1781

View attachment 1782

View attachment 1783

Moreover, we see a painted cult symbol and a similar technology on the island, which gives us reason to believe that, among other things, Lord Saddler's cult inherited the idea of this technology too:

View attachment 1784

View attachment 1785

View attachment 1786

Although someone can reasonably write that the Sumerian-like civilization and the Aztec-like civilization are not the same thing, it is much more likely for me that this is one fictional ancient civilization whose culture is formed from different references.

We know very little about these people, except that they were in a sect and used parasites. We don't know how ancient they are, nor do we know where they got such advanced technology from. Unlike the Progenitor Virus, the Plaga parasite is not an agent of evolution that could increase human intelligence. On the contrary, it is a life form that parasitizes the nervous system and causes a human to go berserk. So how are such technologies possible?

Everything can become clear when we visit the next numbered title. Thanks to it, we learned that no one refused Lord Spencer's castle and the ancient civilization where the Progenitor Virus was discovered.

More interestingly, we learn that the Ndipaya culture is inspired by Mesoamerica, and also that this tribe used the same technologies that are used in Resident Evil 4. Not to mention the fact that we find fossils of parasites there, which Umbrella could also find for its own parasite.

What conclusion can be drawn from these observations? Like TRICELL, which was established in Resident Evil 4 as Seashell, but this name was eventually retconned, it is possible that the ancient civilization from Resident Evil 4 has a direct relation to the Ndipaya. They could either be heretics, some of whom were executed by the tribe by feeding mutated animals, or followers of one of the immortal kings who vanished from history.

And the new remake, among other things, has a really good opportunity to link the history of the RE series together, even without resorting to some radical retcons. All the ideas are already there, they just didn't have the opportunity to be shaped.
Fantastic post @russident , I've always noticed the REmake painting and it's likeness. HD Project did such an incredible job at keeping these pieces faithful. Like yourself, I'm hoping RE:4 adds more in terms of lore than it subtracts in other areas. It's a golden opportunity.
 
Obviously, Capcom will keep the RE content for the end of their showcase tonight.

Well, I am watching it now, feeling quite excited for what they have to show off! ;)
 
Although I'm not an expert on the Alien universe and watched only the first film, and not even the director's cut, I recently learned that there are cults there that worship Xenomorphs as gods. For example, for a member of the cult known as the Church of Immaculate Incubation, it is a great honor to breed for Xenomorphs. Not to mention that they find victims to forcibly breed too.

So this idea could be a reference for what we see in the remake. Lord Saddler's oviduct basically performs oral penetration to lay eggs. In a sense, it is similar to how Facehuggers release seminal substance for conception.

I think this idea was in the original too, but without these body horror bits.

The interesting part about Lord Saddler is that it's not so easy to tell what he is. His final form has been acknowledged as his true form, and there is more of a parasite in him, respectively. The very idea that he aspires to global power ominously coincides with the Plaga parasite's desire for a population. And then you start to think that maybe the assimilation of nervous structures has had a greater impact than it seemed before. It's as if the parasite itself has gained self-awareness to do what it wants.

I think in this sense the RE series has some progression. It began with a Tyrant who had intelligence, but hardly commensurate with that of a human. But then we saw the next step, when a genetically engineered parasite, Nemesis, assimilated the Tyrant's brain, thus becoming a life form capable of speaking, using weapons, and so on. The company even had to surgically intervene to limit the monster's intelligence. And with such steps we came to Miranda, whose moldy neocortex is different from what it was before, and she does not even have a centralized intelligence, so she can change the structure of the brain and body to several birds and other animals with their brains. That's because she's a colony of countless intracellular parasites that are coordinated by some abnormal sense of quorum. Each cell is a separate organism that wants to survive.

Step by step, the nature of the human begins to blur. From humanoid monsters to a little girl with awareness who wants to be loved.
 
No one seemed to bring it up but Salazar’s Castle is not one castle, there are multiple if you look outside near the trolly that takes Leon back and forth. So I wonder if they will be expanding on these other areas so we can get a better look at them from the outside/inside. Maybe there will be more castle lords other than Salazar we will have to deal with.

It would be nice for them to have a definite area where the Plaga fossils were found similar to the Progenitor Flower. In the OG, it was not really a specific area, only generic looking mine areas where we could maybe see some hints scattered about.

I am glad they are adding more colorful environments, alot of games were brown and grey back in the PS2/GC era, that in itself will be a relief to the eyes.
 
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