10 Video Game Entries That Drastically Changed The Formula

9. Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4
Capcom

Like Fallout, the Resident Evil franchise has gone through a few major changes. Some for the better and some for the Resident Evil 6. While there are a number of fundamental changes we could point to in the franchise’s history we’re going to go with a positive formula switch up and that came with Resident Evil 4. This entry is commonly accepted to be the perfect Resi game and while the subsequent games were anything but bad, Resi 4 had a special kind of magic.

This magic was generated through a specific blend that combined the best elements of survival horror, action, and adventure gaming.

While Resident Evil 7 would come along to shake things up all over again years later, you can’t discount the impact of Resi 4 dropping the old school isometric view and refocusing on epic setpieces and pivotal narrative moments while retaining the survival horror dread and intense feeling of vulnerability.

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Contributor

Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.