Resident Evil 4 remake was nearly headed by original director Shinji Mikami

techradar.com:

An official remake of Resident Evil 4 is reportedly in the works and set to be revealed later this year. While it will make significant changes to the original game, the remake was nearly headed by original director Shinji Mikami.

According to a report by Fanbyte, the upcoming Resident 4 remake was first being developed at M-Two (a studio formed primarily of former PlatinumGames developers) under the auspices of Capcom. By agreeing to the project, Capcom had hoped to entice Mikami to join the game and work alongside PlatinumGames founder Tatsuya Minami.

Although Mikami reportedly considered the offer, he ultimately declined, believing his own studio, Tango Gameworks (which he founded in 2010 and is currently developing Ghostwire: Tokyo) would collapse if he were to leave.

Consequently, work on the Resident Evil 4 remake continued without Mikami and moved over to Capcom’s internal development team after Resident Evil 3 Remake, which M-Two also assisted on, received a mixed critical reception.

Fanbyte claims Capcom is making substantial changes to the original game, leaning into its horror elements. Several segments of the game will be altered, with much of the game now taking place at night, including the much-loved introductory sequence in which protagonist Leon S. Kennedy fights his way through the infected Ganado village.

Drawing from early demos of the original game that were left on the cutting room floor, the development team is aiming to draw on their supernatural ideas to establish a spookier tone for the remake.

It will also restyle some of the original game’s side content, combining the Assignment: Ada and Separate Ways expansions into a single package. Side characters, such as Ada Wong, will also be given “bigger