The only real miss is Ashley. In the original game, she personified essentially every problem with videogames and female characters â if not a helpless, shrieking damsel, she was an obedient robot that we shouted orders at, or otherwise, when climbing a ladder or crawling under a desk, a sex object. The remake improves on Ashley, no doubt, but still patronises and condescends to the idea that a woman â a woman! â could be of some use to the player.
In one sequence, she hands Leon a map, where sheâs circled a possible route for their escape. âYou did this?â Leon asks, incredulous. âWow, keep this up and Iâll be out of the job!â Thereâs also a moment where she has to turn a valve â just turn a valve â and she chirpily exclaims âleave it to me, Iâm good at this stuff.â Itâs as if Resident Evil 4 wants you to know that itâs thought about and tried to change Ashley, but at the same time, still doesnât really give her anything to do or to be except a thing for us to protect.