Resident Evil 4 Features an Obscure Nod to the Unreleased RE 3.5

gamerant.com:

Much like the other entries in the series, the remake of Resident Evil 4 is not above putting in a few references and Easter eggs that pay tribute to Capcom's horror franchise, and there's one that offers a small nod to an unreleased project. Over the course of more than two and a half decades, there have been a lot of Resident Evil games released over the years. Along with the mainline installments, there have also been a few obscure ones that have passed by a few fans.

One such example was dubbed «Resident Evil 3.5.» Existing as an earlier version of what would eventually become the official fourth entry, this scrapped game seemed like it too would deviate from the first three entries. With this Resident Evil game set to feature the infamous Hook Man, a ghost-like enemy that would attack Leon by jumping out of paintings, it's possible it may have kept more of the horror aspects that were largely given a backseat in the final version of RE4 that released in 2005.

Ashley’s Heavy Breathing in Resident Evil 4 Was Too Much for One Modder

This abandoned project has not been forgotten about though, as it looks like Capcom has put in a reference to it in the Resident Evil 4 remake. As spotted by The Gamer, Reddit user KingKerog has posted a side-by-side image from both RE4 and the E3 2003 build of the scrapped RE game. In the first image, Ashley Graham approaches a hanging deer head down a dark hallway, which falls to the ground when she gets near to it. A similar thing happens in the 3.5 screenshot, in which Leon is startled in a similar way, only much bloodier. As the Reddit user says, this reference shows that the recent remake was not afraid to go back to the horror the series is known for.

Since releasing on March 24,