There's plenty of space to explore, to backtrack, and to absorb the atmosphere of it all between all the screaming and running away.

But while most of my immediate memories of playing are of panic and things grabbing my face, overall one of the Remake's best strengths is knowing when to leave you alone. Kennedy, the European backwater you're scoping out in search of the President's kidnapped daughter is about five parts angry murder villager to one part rotten wooden shack. The village area which opens Resident Evil 4 Remake is fairly relentless. The result, particularly in the opening hours, is a procession of fingertip grasping, running on instinct and fumes fights to buy just a few feet of space to think. They encroach, they edge around the sides step into the vague corners of your eye, or lurch suddenly and drunkenly right up to your face. Here, it's more about dealing with the constant, ratcheting pressure of an enemy mob that's always shuffling closer. The previous Resident Evil remakes have, let's be honest, really been about ammo management, as you essentially countdown to trouble with each bullet fired - every shot taking you closer to an empty mag and the problems that ultimately brings.

I've emerged almost drained, exhausted and elated in equal measures, from flailing, skin of my teeth tussles with armies of pitchfork wielding villagers. There's a desperate, backed into a corner feel here that channels a far more visceral sense of fear than basic reflex jump scares and insides-on-the-outside monster ick. Within minutes I found myself scrambling to get through seemingly endless attacks by axe wielding hordes, and the Remake rarely lets up from there. Capcom has dialed in hard on the survival element of the Resident Evil 4 horror experience.

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