Resident Evil 4 Remake guide: All difficulty settings explained

Resident Evil 4 Remake, the latest in Capcom's modern reinterpretation of some of the most beloved titles in the Resident Evil franchise, has finally been released. Much like the original Resident Evil 4 (released in 2005), the remake is being heralded by fans as one of the best survival-horror games of this generation.

Despite being a faithful reimagining of the original, Resident Evil 4 Remake features some key differences that not only bring it closer to modern survival-horror standards but also make it a fresh new experience for series veterans. Among the many new things in the game are the changes in the difficulty presets.

Resident Evil 4 Remake features four difficulty presets, each with its own set of balancing-related adjustments to cater to different demographics of players, including newcomers, casual players, and fans of the 2005 original.

Here's a look at all the difficulty presets available in Resident Evil 4 Remake.

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What to know about Assisted, Standard, Hardcore, and Professional difficulty settings in Resident Evil 4 Remake

Each of the four difficulty presets in Resident Evil 4 Remake is fine-tuned to deliver an enjoyable experience to players regardless of their skill and experience with survival-horror games.

Among the four difficulty presets, only three are available for players to pick at the start of the game. The fourth and final one is an additional difficulty preset that unlocks after players finish the game once.

Here are all the difficulty presets in Resident Evil 4 Remake:

• Assisted: The Assisted mode is the easiest difficulty in the game. The mode offers plenty of item pickups (ammunition and herbs) and has less aggressive enemies. It allows players to manually save their progress via the typewriters hidden across the levels, which is on top of the very generous autosave system. The Assisted mode also has auto health regeneration. It is best for newcomers, who might not be familiar with the survival-horror genre or don't want too much challenge in terms of gameplay and combat.
• Standard: Standard mode is the medium difficulty option, balanced towards players who are familiar with survival-horror games and don't mind the challenge of going up against enemies with limited resources. It is basically like the Assisted mode, but with increased enemy damage, slightly reduced item pickups, and no auto health regeneration.
• Hardcore: As the name might suggest, the Hardcore mode is for veterans of survival-horror and Resident Evil games, who want a challenging experience, akin to the classic franchise titles. The mode features significantly stronger enemies and bosses as well as reduced item pickups. There are also a few enemy placement alterations in the mode to keep the experience fresh for players who might attempt the difficulty in New Game+.
• Professional: The Professional mode is the hardest difficulty in the game, but one that isn't available from the get-go. To unlock this mode, players need to finish the game at least once on any other difficulty. The Professional mode is basically like the Hardcore mode, but with auto-saves disabled, and parries limited to only perfect parries.

All the difficulty presets in Resident Evil 4 Remake are handcrafted to deliver a tailored experience to players of different skill levels.

Although the difficulty preset defaults to Standard when players first boot up the game, it can be dropped to Assisted at any time. It should be noted that difficulty in the remake can only be switched from higher to lower presets, not the other way around.