Resident Evil 4- Separate Ways Review: High on Heels, High on Action

Resident Evil 4- Separate Ways

Separate Ways is a thrilling survival-horror adventure starring Ada Wong. See the other side of the Resident Evil 4 story from her eyes as her mission, and fate, intertwines with Leon Kennedy's a second time.

Product Brand: Capcom

Product Currency: USD

Product Price: ‎$9.99

Product In-Stock: InStock

Editor's Rating:
9

Resident Evil 4’s 2023 remake managed not only to live up to its reputation of the 2005 original but surpassed it by introducing refined combat, traversal, and other quality-of-life changes in its level design and adversaries. It slowly sets its tone by welcoming you into its ominous woods and then surprises you by throwing a whole bunch of creepy villagers alongside a chainsaw. However, its Separate Ways DLC has no need for such tropes. It not only re-iterates the events of the main game quite effectively, but it manages to do so by wasting no time. It is a high-on-heels, high-on-action campaign without a single dull moment in it. It seems the team at Capcom has done it yet again.

Resident Evil 4- Separate Ways is a paid expansion for Resident Evil 4 (2023), that features an all-new campaign from the perspective of the covert operative Ada Wong. It was released for PC, PlayStation 4, 5, and Xbox Series S|X consoles on 21st September 2023. 

Less Leon, More Ada

Instead of drawing inspiration from 2005’s Separate Ways which highly intertwined Ada action’s with Leon’s, this remake of the original takes up a more fleshed-out account of Ada’s tale. It not only serves as a supportive backdrop to the main campaign, but it manages to create an identity of its own while doing so. While it is certainly recommended that you play this expansion after beating the base campaign of RE 4, you can also play it side by side with the original campaign to get a better look at things.

The overall premise of Separate Ways is rather simple. Ada has been tasked with retrieving a rather special artifact called ‘Amber’ from an ex-Umbrella researcher named Luis. In the midst of it all, she crosses paths with her old friend Leon Kennedy who has been tasked with retrieving Baby Eagle aka Ashley Graham, the daughter of the US president. But that’s barely the gist of it all. The actual story is a causation and consequences-driven narrative that will have you at the edge of your seat at all times.

It’s a 4-5 hour campaign featuring a side story that not only exemplifies the backdrop of the original but acts as a bridge to the future remakes of the series by hinting at the possible future. Previous boss fights have been fleshed out even more, making them more challenging and memorable. It’s a very linear and cohesive experience that checks all the required boxes and establishes Ada as her own self. Unlike the game’s launch consensus, the voice acting for Ada also seems to be great in this DLC and something that grows on you over time.

More Forward, Not Backward

While Leon’s tale is filled with numerous puzzles, lots of backtracking, and slower paths, Separate Ways takes a fast head-on approach. Thanks to the grapple hook and Ada’s augmented IRIS system, the traversal is fast and puzzles are less taxing. It never seems to slow down its momentum leaving little room for backtracking. This makes getting the collectibles and completing merchant requests a bit more missable. Thankfully there are no trophies tied to these this time so completionists can breathe easy.

Ada’s grappling hook not only acts as a great means of traversal making you fly across the map, and it greatly transforms the way she fights. It allows Ada to perform AoE attacks and move freely during combat. It also allows you to retreat to rooftops acting as a lifesaver during close encounters. To compensate for these advantages, Ada’s close-quarter kicks and melee attacks have toned down in comparison to Leon’s roundhouse kicks. Overall Ada’s abilities have been put to good use, especially during the boss battles. 

To deal with this effectively, Ada relies on keeping her distance and close up on adversaries from afar after stunning them with firepower. She can also backflip kicks which come in handy against armored enemies. The arsenal of weapons has been modified accordingly. From sawn-off shotguns to fire bolt crossbows, there are few weapons available exclusively for Ada. On the downside, there are no shooting range challenges for Ada. You instead have to buy the charms using in-game currency to gain an advantage over your foes.

Something New, Something Old

While Separate Ways largely feature the same maps as its base counterpart with a few new additions, the path varies significantly from Leon’s beaten path. Thanks to the grappling hook, you can literally glide through all of them, especially in the Castle Area in no time. It also gives you a new look at things from afar. However, there are numerous points of no return which may lock you out of exploring a few areas.

From a visual standpoint, it largely looks the same as the main campaign aside from the lighting in a few areas due to variations in the time of day. It runs at a steady 60 frames in the frame rate mode and takes a hit if you turn Ray tracing with Hair-strands. In my testing, it was better to leave Ray tracing turned off in some of the terrains that feature rain effects with hair strands turned on. Either way, the game plays great on the PS5 delivering a great performance thanks to the state-of-the-art RE Engine which never ceases to amaze.

Real Talk

Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways DLC surpasses its original counterpart in almost every regard by introducing a more cohesive and fleshed-out take on Ada’s side story. It leverages its linearity with its no-nonsense take on a bombastic campaign that not only compliments the events of Leon’s story but also hints at the series’ possible future paths. By introducing Ada’s grappling hook, it re-invents its combat and traversal in a non-tedious way but leaves little room for backtracking. It is easily the best downloadable content we’ve had in 2023.

FINAL RATING: 90/100