Sound designer Hiroshi Tamura and composer Kota Suzuki talked about their work on Resident Evil 4 Remake.
The specialists have the latest technology, however, they did not want to make the overall sound of the game too realistic, so as not to lose the essence of the original. What is really brought closer to reality is the sounds of the environment and some "random tones" like creaking in houses, screaming animals or falling stones.
The noise of the wind with the sounds of shots was not bypassed. In the first case, if the player is indoors, then the sound of the wind will seem louder at the window or door, and if he is outdoors, then the speed and direction of the wind will be calculated using the GPU in real time.
As for gunshots, nearby sounds will feel louder, "cold and mechanical"—in other words, not very pleasant.
The sound effects for the enemies have been recreated from scratch, with some sounds carried over to the remake from the original - after arrangement or other changes. Tamura and Suzuki noted that everything, including the new elements, was made with love for the source material. According to Tamura, a lot of effort went into creating the right sounds for Del Lago.
As for the soundtrack, the remake will not feature any of the songs from the original in standard form. About 30% of the tracks contain a familiar melodic line or phrasing. The remaining 70% are new tracks, some of which retain the concept of the original RE 4. Whether it's using noises during the battle with Ganado, changing the rhythm, or adding an eerie sound that resembles a voice.
Other tracks, on the contrary, changed their direction. As a result, instead of terrifying music, you can hear a more dramatic composition, and so on.
The Resident Evil 4 remake will also inspire fear through the sounds emitted by "invisible" sources. For example, there may be a Ganado behind the wall, which is graphically “turned off”, but which will still continue to remind of its presence.
In addition, the developers have included in the game a feature called the “room portal”. It allows natural stimulation of sound occlusion and diffraction. An example was given of a scenario where the player is in a small room with one open door slightly ahead. From this door, the sound made by the enemy will be heard, while the enemy himself may be behind the wall somewhere to the right, and not directly in front of the player.
In other cases, the sound coming from behind the walls will be adjusted according to the thickness or density of those walls.
In the past, the room portal was partly used in Resident Evil Village. In the RE 4 remake, he was used throughout the game.
At the end of the interview, Tamura and Suzuki shared their favorite sounds in the gaming industry and beyond. Tamura really likes the general sounds in Battlefield and Call of Duty, and the sounds of gunfire in The Division Ubisoft. Suzuki is usually inspired by music from movies and TV shows. He noted music from Tenet, Darkness, and Star Wars.