While the importance of ranged weapons in the Resident Evil franchise cannot be understated, one must not forget close-range options. When players fail to hit their targets and enemies close the distance, there is nothing better than a shotgun or a good punch to regain control of the situation. But out of all the close-range alternatives available, nothing compares to the versatility of the Combat Knife, which was especially important in the original Resident Evil 4.
Though its reach was short, players could use the knife in a variety of situations. The knife in the recent Resident Evil 4 remake extended gameplay trailer may look like the original weapon, but its abilities are far different from what players remember. Many have latched onto footage of parrying a chainsaw attack, but there's even more to see.
Resident Evil's Classic Knife Combat
The knife is the default melee weapon in 2005's Resident Evil 4, unbreakable and assigned its own button on the controller. Players can hurt, stun, and outright kill enemies with the knife thanks to its ability to do a considerable amount of damage on vital weak spots. This turns the knife into a viable option that players can use if they want to save on ammo. The knife is so popular that players looking for a challenge can use it by itself on some of the game's bosses (with the most popular knife boss battle being Krauser).
Aside from its primary function as a close-range weapon, the knife can also be used to open breakable boxes and crates that sometimes hide collectibles and supplies. With proper timing, players can even use the knife to block certain Ganado projectiles like crossbow bolts and hand-thrown axes or scythes. When the going gets rough and the ammunition is low, players can always count on the knife to get them out of sticky situations.
What's New With The Knife in Resident Evil 4 Remake?
In contrast to the original knife, the tool shown in the recent Resident Evil 4 remake extended gameplay trailer looks like it will share a lot in common with the knives found in the Resident Evil 2 remake. The knife is now breakable, as evidenced by a durability meter located on the heads-up display. This might allude to an unannounced gameplay element that requires players to find more knives throughout the world if it eventually breaks.
Actions that cause the knife to break were shown in the trailer. The knife can be used to quickly break out of an opponent's grapple and do a good amount of damage in the process, as opposed to breaking free in a way that causes Leon to lose more health and do less damage. Breaking out of an enemy grapple with a knife requires players to sacrifice some of its durability, but it looks like Leon gets to keep his knife after escaping an enemy's clutches. For reference, knives used to break out of grapples in the Resident Evil 2 remake were lodged in enemies until players defeated them and picked the knives from their corpses. The knife in the Resident Evil 4 remake can also be used to finish downed enemies with a quick button press (though it does not look like this action costs any durability).
Yet the most interesting feature of the new knife is that it lets Leon parry oncoming attacks; particularly those from a Chainsaw Ganado, which originally had unblockable swings that would kill players in a single hit. These attacks, when combined with their absurdly high health and stun resistance, made them one of the deadliest characters in the game. Though the extended gameplay trailer cuts to black soon after the parry, it can be inferred that blocking such an attack could drastically reduce the knife's durability or break it after a single attack. With this new feature present, it may be possible for Leon to parry other lethal attackss (the aforementioned crossbow bolts and thrown projectiles come to mind).
Though the knife may not be exactly the same as it was in the original game, it looks like it will still be a versatile tool for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake. Its damage potential is still there, and the ability to break out of tough spots via counters and parries may make it stronger than ever. Players definitely need to keep an eye out for more of these items (or an unbreakable variant) when the game comes out if they want to increase their chances of surviving Leon's second encounter with a nightmare virus.
Resident Evil 4 releases on March 24, 2023, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.