Resident Evil 4

Last Updated: Apr 6, 2023
First Published: March 24, 2023
SDHQ BUILD SCORE: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star
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Review

Resident Evil 4 was provided by Capcom for review. Thank you!

6 years have passed since the Raccoon City incident and now, Leon S. Kennedy must dive back into a new hell to find and rescue the President's daughter. Resident Evil 4 is a complete remake of the original game, of the same name, released in 2005. Investigate a secluded European village where something horrible is happening. You will need to push through to unfold the the reimagined story with modernized gameplay and heavily updated visuals. This is the ultimate way to experience the game that redefined the survival horror genre.

Now...let me begin by saying this game is phenomenal. It brings back those awesome RE4 memories and gives them this beautiful polish that I more than welcome. The systems feel more refined, enemies are more responsive, and the story feels so far in-tact from what I remember from the original. Capcom has shown us how remakes should be done with RE2 and 3, so it's nice to see this trend continue with 4.

Now, after playing the entire game, I can easily say it is one of my favorite games that I have played this year so far. The gorgeous scenery, the re-imagining of the story, and the refined gameplay just feels fantastic. On top of that, Ashley is now a likable character that I didn't dread being around. I do wish some of the enemies had a little more significance in the story, like Krauser or Ramón, but overall I feel the game did a great job balancing and updating the game in ways I never expected. I highly recommend this game for any survival-horror fans and if you enjoyed the original, this will be a very worthwhile purchase. And this will definitely be one to enjoy on the Steam Deck.

Resident Evil 4 - Steam Deck Performance

After testing Resident Evil 4 throughout the story, I can happily say it plays significantly better than I had expected. I went ahead and created 3 groups of settings, testing each one at multiple points in the story to make sure it could perform. Each one has positives and negatives, but they all do the job well!

For my recommended build, I am going with the quality settings. Resident Evil 4 isn't a game I expected to save a ton of battery, so I decided to see how far I could push the settings with a 30 FPS cap and a TDP of 10. Not only can it handle medium graphics and a Quality FSR 2 setting, but I was also able to turn on Ambient Occlusion and Screen Space Reflection effects, which really add to the beauty of the world. I did keep resource-intensive settings on low, but with this and a slight resolution reduction to 1152x720, the game looks fantastic and plays near perfectly. There are some areas where loading in will cause a slight stutter, but this evens itself out quickly and didn't impact the gameplay.

Next, I created a setting list for 40 FPS. There are a lot of compromises here since I wanted to make every area be a stable 40 without destroying the battery, and I feel I did just that. This was the build I tested most, playing through the game with the settings for it. With a lower resolution and a combination of medium and low settings, this is achievable with a TDP limit of 10!

Then we have a battery saver build. My goal with this was a stable 30 and a TDP limit of 7. With a reduction in quality, and a 960x600 resolution, we can see this come to fruition. The 30 FPS cap helps significantly keeping battery drain down and allows for a 3+ hour playthrough with low temps!

Even though the resolutions for the two other builds are lower, the blurriness didn't actually affect the game as much. This could be due to FSR 2 and how it looks, but getting used to it was quite easy and definitely not nearly as bad as it seems.

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UMA Buffer and CU Tests

I did some extra tests with the UMA Buffer and a mix of CryoUtilities to see if there was any discernable change or improvement to performance in Resident Evil 4. I tested multiple heavier areas including parts of the village and Chapter 8, but I didn't find any improvements using either of these. It's possible there was slightly more stability with UMA Buffer of 4gb and CryoUtilities set to recommended, but it wasn't enough to see any real change to the overall experience. I think it is safe to say you will enjoy this game with or without these changes and not worry about missing out on anything.

Conclusion

Resident Evil 4 on the Steam Deck feels like a dream come true. The fact that this brand new, gorgeous version of a classic game is running so well is a testament to how optimized the RE engine is and Capcom's skill as a developer. As a fan of the series and the original game, this is a must-have that has improved on the core aspects of the game, while fixing up some of the issues that were part of the original. I do wish we saw more backstory of villains like Krauser, but I am overjoyed with what we got and that Ashley is now a likable character.

On the Steam Deck, the game is a beast and can handle the device and its offerings. With 3 different builds, there are ways to truly enjoy the game however you'd like to and play it through to the end with no big issues. There are some moments of stuttering here and there, but this doesn't last long enough to make an impact and you will be sucked back into the world near immediately. This is the ultimate RE4 experience and by far my favorite way to really enjoy the game.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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SDHQ's Build Score Breakdown

Resident Evil 4 is an incredible remake that recaptures and re-imagines the beauty of the original game. And with some tweaks, it will definitely be a great experience on the Steam Deck without draining your battery.

Build Score

Performance: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star
VISUALS: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star
Stability: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star
Controls: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarFull Star
Battery: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarNo StarNo Star
Noah Kupetsky
A lover of gaming since 4, Noah has grown up with a love and passion for the industry. From there, he started to travel a lot and develop a joy for handheld and PC gaming. When the Steam Deck released, it just all clicked.
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Community Rating

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Let us know what level of playability you consider Resident Evil 4 to be. Help our community determine the viability of playing this game on Steam Deck!
Steam Deck Compatibility
Current Price: 
$39.99
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Proton DB Rating

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Other Builds
40 FPS Build
SteamOS

Limit

40

Refresh Rate

40

HRS

NO

TDP Limit

10

Scaling Filter

FSR Sharpness 0

GPU Clock

Disabled

Proton Version

Proton Experimental

Game Settings

Screen Resolution: 864x486

Vertical Synchronization: Off

Cinematics Resolution: Full HD

FidelityFX Super Resolution 2: Balanced

Texture Quality: High (1 gb)

Texture Filtering: High (ANISO x2)

Mesh Quality: Mid

Shadow Quality: Mid

Shadow Cache: On

Contact Shadows: On

Ambient Occlusion: Off

Volumetric Lighting: Low

Particle Lighting Quality: Low

Bloom: On

Screen Space Reflections: Off

Subsurface Scattering: Off

Graphic Dismemberment: On

Persistent Corpses: Few

Motion Blur: Off

Lens Flare: Off

Lens Distortion: On (+chromatic aberration)

Depth of Field: On

Resource-Intense Lighting Quality: Low

Resource-Intense Effects Quality: Low

Projected Battery Usage and Temperature

13W - 18W

67c - 74c

2 - 2.5 hours

Battery Saver Build
SteamOS

Limit

30

Refresh Rate

60

HRS

NO

TDP Limit

7

Scaling Filter

FSR Sharpness 0

GPU Clock

Disabled

Proton Version

Proton Experimental

Game Settings

Screen Resolution: 960x600

Vertical Synchronization: Off

Cinematics Resolution: Full HD

FidelityFX Super Resolution 2: Performance

Texture Quality: High (1 gb)

Texture Filtering: High (ANISO x2)

Mesh Quality: Mid

Shadow Quality: Low

Shadow Cache: On

Contact Shadows: Off

Ambient Occlusion: Off

Volumetric Lighting: Min

Particle Lighting Quality: Low

Bloom: On

Screen Space Reflections: Off

Subsurface Scattering: Off

Graphic Dismemberment: On

Persistent Corpses: Few

Motion Blur: Off

Lens Flare: Off

Lens Distortion: On (+chromatic aberration)

Depth of Field: On

Resource-Intense Lighting Quality: Low

Resource-Intense Effects Quality: Low

Projected Battery Usage and Temperature

10W - 14W

55c - 62c

3 - 3.5 hours

related Settings

18 comments on “Resident Evil 4”

  1. Why do you use FSR 2 and not Interlaced? The implementation of FSR in this game is just awful. I can barely see the laser sight.

    1. With the shader cache now built, we are going back through the game and verifying our settings and checking performance again. I will check out those settings you mentioned though.

  2. I'm playing with geometry and textures-related settings on Medium, with most lighting-related effects set to low the FidelityFX set to quality, a 30 FPS cap and I get very reasonalble performance with about 2,5 hours of battery life. Not too much of a battery life, but at least the game looks like a decent remake comparable to what you get on current-gen consoles (given the Deck screen size).

  3. 3 hours gaming experiences: with graphics settings on recommended, proton experimental, steam limit of 30 fps and FidelityFX Super Resolution 2: quality, I was able to play very smoothly with very rare frame drops from 1 to 2 places only crowded and with a lot of detail on the screen, these dips lasted just a handful of seconds. all before the release of a bug fix patch or steamdeck optimization patch. forgive me for my bad english.

      1. this configuration is not battery friendly, especially since a steamdeck optimization patch has not yet been released. last time it lasted 1 hour from 85% down to 5%. finally i would like to say that my steamdeck has steamos 3.5 with kernel version 6.1.12-valve2-2-neptune-61, vram 4g, and cryoutilities on recommended. I am confident that with future updates we will be able to play with the same details at a stable 40-45 FPS

        1. 1 hour having an 80% battery drop? That's not good. The fastest I have seen a battery drain is around 1.5 hours. I wouldn't place bets on specific patches for the Steam Deck though, it isn't a guarantee they will do it.

          1. In fact, the battery life is very little, by doing a further test from 100% until the steamdeck is turned off, I managed to get to 90 minutes of play. unfortunately this is the compromise to play at a better graphic quality.

  4. hi, I'm very interested in a configuration that is not based on energy saving since I always use the steamdeck connected to the power outlet. maybe a configuration that points to quality but with at least 30 fps fixed.

    1. You got it! We are working on one for our full review. It will take a little, since we are still at PAX, but it will be one of our builds in the full review!

      1. Nothing to do with this thread. I just wanted to say how awesome you guys are. I use your site all the time and love how you guys put the time in to make the rest of our lives a little easier dealing with settings. Keep up the good work

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