With a barrage of day-one DLC, Resident Evil 4 celebrates like it’s 2011

News Summary:

  • A quick read of RE4’s Microsoft Store page reveals a total of 13 different content packs, which may be available separately in addition to being bundled in the $70 Digital Deluxe edition. These packs mainly include cosmetic and costume options, in addition to the two new weapons and the aforementioned treasure map.

  • As reported by GamesRadar, keen-eyed users at ResetEra have noticed a Microsoft Store listing for “Resident Evil 4 Treasure Map Expansion,” which appears to be part of the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game. The content pack description reads: “Discover the hidden treasures that await you! With this map, additional treasures will be located throughout the game. Some of these treasures can only be obtained through notifications. through this method.”

We’ve lived in the age of the $70 Digital Deluxe Edition for a long time, but doesn’t this example make you feel special… obnoxious? I’m not exactly screaming that my $60 isn’t enough to buy me “romantic” or “casual” outfits for 21st century conspirators Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham, it’s just makes me feel tired and old. I go through all the first day DLC and cross-promotion armor we came across during the EA-owned BioWare peak productivity period. You know, your Blood Dragon Armor(s), Keep Keeper, Infernal Armor, Zaeed⁠—The Price of Vengeance: Pure and Unadulterated Content.

I also find myself with a particular distaste for these high-end weapons⁠ – the Sentinel Nine pistol, apparently based on Leon’s pistol from one of those Resident Evil CGI movies, and the gun Short Skull Shaker, a Winchester 1887 lever action rifle is certainly quite enchanting. Like any good Digital Deluxe weapons, you get them for free at the first save instead of organically matching them to the game progress and I’d say these freebies conflict with RE4’s perfectly calibrated pacing and inventory.

It’s not clear exactly what the much-vaunted Treasure Map expansion entails, but I guess selling it to my beloved Scottish Pirate Merchant in exchange for flaming dodgy weapon mods would be supplier rubbish. In most Confederate states outside of Texas, it is illegal to give a “spinel” to a strange masked man in exchange for a high-capacity magazine, and the RE4 is installed in the European Union. Europe, have the ability to resist guns!

But who am I kidding with all this grumbling, I’ll still buy Resident Evil 4 a fourth time when it comes out on March 23rd, even though I find that scroll of “premium content” annoying. No Digital Deluxe pistol on Earth can compete with my precious Red9.