Resident Evil 4 HD's remaster mod is due out this July
The ultimate mutation
Resident Evil 4 is one of those games I'm happy to call a classic. It was probably my single most played thing on the Gamecube back in the day, and I've re-bought it since for both Wii and PC. While its mechanics may hold up great, it's hard to deny that some of its textures are little more than blurry splotches of colour, owing to RAM and storage limits of the era. This July, everything gets pulled into focus as the fan-made HD mod is due for its next major launch, re-texturing every single map in the game and giving the lighting system a significant overhaul too.
The HD remastering process has been a long, painstaking labour of love. While some changes have been necessary, every attempt has been made to maintain the art style of the original textures, up to and including tracking down the original source photography that was used to create the originals. It's not just a texture project, either. The lighting has been given a significant overhaul, with shadows now cast relative to the many new light-sources in the game, as you can see in the trailer below, and the UI was given a fresh lick of paint recently as well.
While the version of the mod due out in July does look astounding, it's apparently not quite the final cut. While the vast majority of the game is now enhanced to pin-sharp HD standards, there's still a few things to tune up, including character models for both players and enemies. Still, the international two-man duo (one in America, one in Spain) behind the mod reckon that those don't require tuning up quite as urgently, and are happy to let us run wild with this almost-complete version while they're buffing out the last of the scuffs.
The mod is out this July 13th, and requires the more recent HD version of the game, rather than the original 2007 launch.