A horror that never dies.
I'm sure many agree that Resident Evil 4 is far and away the best game in the series, but diehard purists may always mark it as the point where Resident Evil strayed from its horror roots. And that's fair enough—for the most part, RE4 eschews the horror tropes in favour of tight, well-paced action.
That is, until you get to the island, and encounter the thing fears are made of.
In chapter 5-1, while exploring Lord Saddler's sinister research facility, you eventually enter a certain corridor. On your right: a room with the items you need to proceed. On your left: a window, looking upon a seemingly dead monstrosity. You learn in about one minute that this failed experiment is called a Regenerator, and it is definitely NOT dead.
I'll never forget that first Regenerator encounter. I unlock the room on the right, read the memo on the counter, and retrieve the freezer card key from a mutilated corpse. Suddenly, from across the hall—crashing noises, and then the most unsettling breathing imaginable. To date, I've completed RE4 three times, and that ragged, echoed breathing still chills me to the core. A second later, the door slides open and the Regenerator shuffles in, with its deformed maw grinning at me.
I did, of course, just read a memo explaining in detail the characteristics and weaknesses of this shambling horror, but all that information flies out the window immediately; all I can think to do is fill it with rounds from my riot shotgun. I blow up the Regenerator's head and begin shooting chunks out of its torso—sure enough, it keeps coming at me, body rejuvenating before my eyes. OK, I think, still relatively calm, I'll destroy the legs; they might grow back, but it will give me plenty of time to damage it while it's on the floor. So I take out the legs, believing I have figured this thing out...
...and then I almost leap out of my skin as the Regenerator, flailing around like a fish, launches itself across the room and starts tearing into me.
Ultimately, I survived this encounter, albeit with minimal health and even less ammunition. Sheer attrition and a hefty dose of dumb luck got me through. From this point onwards, however, the Regenerators and their relations, the terrifying, spine-covered Iron Maidens, served to make my time with Resident Evil 4 a living hell. To make matters worse, on this first playthrough, I somehow totally missed picking up the Infrared Scope. In fact, I didn't even have a sniper rifle at the time. And as anyone who has played the game knows, this is the only easy way to deal with them. Through a stupid blunder of my own volition, I made every last encounter with these foul creatures a grueling nightmare.
As I mentioned earlier, I've since completed the game two more times. I'm now able to dispatch the Regenerators with just a handful of bullets. But that first experience stuck with me. They still make my hairs stand on end. Even now, walking through those hallways, I'm hesitant to turn each corner, lest I stumble into a Regenerator.
And that breathing. Everywhere I go. Always the breathing...
