It looks as though the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake will be using Denuvo DRM software to prevent piracy, which could be a concern for a number of players. As one of the most anticipated horror games of this generation, up there with the remake of Dead Space, fans have been looking forward to a modern take on this classic RE installment. With a release date set for March 24, 2023, there are only a few months to wait until it finally hits digital storefronts, and it's already built up quite a lot of hype.
As for the DRM software, Denuvo is generally considered to be quite controversial. Although its purpose is to protect the intellectual property of the publisher, the anti-cheat / anti-piracy tool has often been the point of contention for players. Much of the issue stems from the fact that Denuvo has been known to cause performance issues in games. There was even an incident in which a fan managed to fix stuttering in the PC version of Resident Evil Village by circumventing DRM. Such is the controversy that some publishers have removed the offending software from their games post-release.
But now it looks as though Denuvo is not going anywhere. The Steam page for Resident Evil 4 does indeed show that this particular anti-piracy tool will come packaged with the remake. Despite how unpopular it is in the community, huge titles have utilized it in the past, including Dying Light 2, Back 4 Blood, and Deathloop. There's also been recent news that the Nintendo Switch will start using it soon. However, the fact that it's widely used in the gaming industry doesn't change the fact that many fans are not happy about their favorite titles coming with a piece of software that has been blamed for performance issues.
As for the game itself, more footage from the Resident Evil 4 remake was shown off recently, and it's only serving to whet appetites even more. Similar to both the RE2 and RE3 remakes, this one rebuilds the classic game from scratch using a more modern engine. It also looks a lot darker than the original, which suggests that it's likely to lean a bit more towards horror as well as action.
Considered by many to be the greatest Resident Evil game of all time, the fourth entry from 2005 helped change the formula that had been established in the previous games. It switched up the camera angles, going for a now iconic over-the-shoulder look, and put more emphasis on action rather than survival. Despite the new direction, it turned out to be one of the best decisions the studio could have made for the franchise at the time.
Resident Evil 4 launches March 24, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Steam