Okay so, the game is good. Really good. This is the kind of gameplay you would remember after playing the original and trying to upscale the graphics in your head. I totally stand by that comment.
The game feels...fresh....both for someone who experienced the previous remakes and/or the series as a whole, RE4R takes the series in a more action-oriented direction.

The game most definitely feels more like a 1:1 remake of the original rather than a re-imagining of the whole game. Some map layouts are identical to the original game, and some are changed. There are also instances where you have to go through a map backwards - comparing it to the original. So additionally some areas are flipped to keep the old gamers feeling confused as to where they have to go.

Safe to say that the cast did a phenomenal job. All characters feel alive in the game. If I were to be a picky eater, I would probably find some issues with the voice of Salazar and Ada, the latter of two actually having a bit of a controversy when it comes to voice acting at the time of the games release. Personally, I really enjoy the new Ada's voice. The older games (RE2R included) tried to portray Ada as a seductive agent who tries to get into Leons head. Here, in the remake of RE4 she sounds much more as a experienced field operator who is almost tired with the things she has to do, additionally trying to keep up the facade of a fem fatale to Leon. I really dig that.

Now, the gameplay. Yeah it's fun, for the most part. In this game, there's a big emphasis on the parrying mechanic with Leon's knife, which could save you from some nasty trouble. I personally am NOT a fan of those type of mechanics. Especially in the type of games which DO. NOT. NEED. this mechanic. I'm fine with a parrying mechanic being in a medieval game, or something more akin to a melee-orientated games. The Jedi game series (Fallen Order, Survior) come to mind. But in a game where most of the time you'd spend trying to desperately shoot some zombies, a tiny indicator which tells you when to press the parry button is not a good mechanic to put in-game. My advice would be to:
-make the opening window for a successful parry bigger
-make the indicator more visible as supposed to a tiny button in a corner of your hud
-be able to select different types of the parrying mechanic ON TOP of the games difficulty

I'm not saying that the game doesn't necessarily reward you for hitting the parry at the right time. It does, stunning your enemy for a brief second. But in my opinion it's really not worth it to try and get it "in the perfect time". You'll end up equipping and un-equipping your knife, making Leon jump up and down as if he's having an intense beatbox battle.

I just remembered something. In the original game, to get to the castle you had to fight the big preacher guy to get his glass eye and take it to some gate for it to open. That segment, along with a few more were cut out from the remake. I actually appreciate that because it felt kind of overdone in the first place. You CAN however still get the glass eye after your fight with him and sell it to the merchant.

That's the neat thing about the merchant. After using some items that are required for the story to progress, you can sell them for coins. It's a nice addition to get something out of items you no longer need.

Now, my other point. Ammo management. I personally had to kill the final boss, Sadler, with grenades and sniper rifle ammo because I ran out of bullets moments before. Now to be frank, this was the only moment in the whole game where I had to rely on some wacky weapon I wouldn't typically use to progress the story. BUT, that being said, I wouldn't call having to constantly watch out for your ammo IN A BOSS BATTLE as a good game decision.

"uUh bUt IT's A sUrViVal HorRor GamE" yeah, I know. I know that one of the games appeals is inventory management. I really have no issue with that. It's just that in some areas you might find yourself out of luck with nothing but a flash grenade to your name. And if you do...you better clutch that.

I won't speak much on the games optimisation. It's definitely made for the newer generation of consoles, so I can't say that the game is bad because it ran badly on my pc. However...the game presents you with multiple graphical presets meant to help the player with settings. In my mind, when a game tells you "you can and will run the game in this mode, but the models will be kind of wonky" I expect that the settings it's giving me WILL make the game run at a solid framerate, taking away from the visual aspect of the game.

For the most part, I ran the game on the "Performance" and "Ultra Performance" modes. Even then, in some chapters, I could get roughly 9 fps for a good bit. This is the thing I have a problem with.

Now I could ramble on about how the game gives you the minimal requirements to run it on the games store page, but "a minimal requirement" and an in-game graphical mode are two different things in my opinion. Minimum MEANS minimum. So no matter how crappy the game will run, it. will. run. The same can't be said for the presets in-game.

As for the story...
Well, it wasn't changed much. Most of the main story beats stay the same. I haven't played the original RE4 in a good while so I can't exactly compare it directly, but there are some changes like WHEN in the story Leon and Ashley get stuff out of their system. That being said, the main change in the games story I COULD feel was how Ashley got seemingly kidnapped over and over again. Let me reiterate that the same thing COULD have been in the original game, but here it seems like the story follows this plan:
-Leon fights enemies
-Leon finds Ashley
-Both go on about their mission
-Ashley gets kidnapped by a miniboss
-Leon rescues Ashley
rinse and repeat

Resident Evil games have this sort of appeal to it, that it drags you into the game with the first act of it. The setting, the atmosphere, the characters relationship. Like for RE2 you have the RPD with just you and a single wounded police officer in it. In RE8 you have the beginning village and the tall vampire lady stalking you. In RE4 you obviously have the village (again) with just you, Hunnigan and the feeling of loneliness in the middle of this remote place in ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, Nowhere. When you finally get comfortable in your surroundings, the game flips the switch on you for better or for worse, changing the whole games dynamic. In RE2, suddenly you're in the Umbrellas Labs with Ada and/or Sherry by your side. In RE8 you're running around this complex of multiple locations just getting from checkpoint to checkpoint for....actually I don't remember that. I'll have to play through that game at some point. In RE4, you're in the castle and later on, the island with Ashley, Luis and Ada. The whole mystery about the area you found yourself in is now gone for the sake of shooting zombies. I don't have the problem with RE games being action-packed (RE5 and RE6 come to mind) but I would like a game of this calibre to have one persistent theme throughout it. RE2 sort of achieved that, making you feel like you're helpless throughout the whole game, no matter how hard you fight back. I think RE7 takes a similar approach, but I know the least amount of things about that game, so I won't speak on it.

My verdict is that Resident Evil 4: Remake is a solid adaptation of the original game. It polishes the experience and builds onto it, creating a much more pleasant version of the game which fits in the newly, more serious tone of the games. I recommend it for people to play AFTER experiencing the original from 2005. I really like it.