For avid Resident Evil 4 lovers who didn’t think that the game’s recent re-release, Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition, was high-definition enough, an on-going fan-made project titled “The Resident Evil 4 HD Project” may be for you.
Based on the Ultimate HD Edition of Resident Evil 4, the Resident Evil 4 HD Project is essentially an ultra high-definition texture mod led by 2 prominent modders of past releases of the game.
As previously mentioned, it is a lengthy, on-going project, which is unsurprising as it aims to retexture every in-game texture/asset. According to the project’s official website, they are doing so by scaling each texture up to 8x its original resolution and subsequently redrawing/remaking it from there. In some cases, the modders have found the real-world sources the game’s artists used, and utilized them in the process of retexturing (as seen in the image below).
So far, the project’s most recent release has been the retexture of Resident Evil 4‘s iconic village setpiece. The project’s first release simply retextured various items and objects, but with the release of “The Village,” it seems that the work-in-progress is indeed slowly, but surely progressing to its goal.
Read more on the Resident Evil HD Project after the break.
Resident Evil 4 HD Project “The Village” Released
As seen in the trailer above, significant improvements to the game’s texture work can be observed, with some textures being remade up to 16x their original, respective resolution.
The Resident Evil 4 HD Project team (Cris and Albert) had the following to say about their work:
“We’re two guys who love Resident Evil 4 and want to help create the definitive version of the game from a graphical perspective. Cris is from the midwest in the US, while Albert lives in Spain. Albert’s experience goes all the way back to the 2007 PC release of the game, for which he created one of the most definitive and well-received texture packs, while this is Cris’ first attempt.
…we absolutely love Resident Evil 4 and feel that we should have the most enhanced experience of the game as possible. We’ve all come across texture mods in the past, for both the PC and Dolphin versions of the game, but for some reason even the best ones don’t seem to actually update every single texture, or the creator makes what seem to be bad choices from an art perspective.
With the release of the Ultimate HD version, we have confirmation from screenshots that while some textures have been upgraded, many haven’t. It seems safe to say that an official 100% across-the-board HD revamp of the game isn’t coming anytime soon, so this is as good a time as any to do this.”
Keep in mind that the project is a work-in-progress led by 2 people, so its development time will be significantly longer (At the time of this writing, progress on environmental textures is reported to be at or above 30%). Regardless, if you’re interested in learning more about the Resident Evil 4 HD Project, you can visit its official website here.
What are your thoughts on the project reported on above? Is it unnecessary? Or is it a labor of love made by fans of RE4, for fans of RE4? Will you download the latest release (or the full release whenever that may be)?
Let us know in the comments section below! As always, stay tuned to Gamer Headlines for the latest in video game and technology news.