Skip to main content

You won’t have to wait long to play Resident Evil 4: The Mercenaries

Capcom has revealed when it will add The Mercenaries to its remake of Resident Evil 4. Fortunately, the wait isn’t that long, as the free DLC will drop on April 7.

We learned that The Mercenaries was coming in two weeks thanks to a tease at the end of the Resident Evil 4 remake’s launch trailer. It doesn’t show any new gameplay or give more details about the mode, simply showing a piece of key art with the free DLC’s release date. The mode was first teased at the end of Resident Evil 4’s trailer during the February State of Play.

Resident Evil 4: The Mercenaries key art.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This remade version of The Mercenaries hasn’t been seen in action yet, but we know how it worked in the original. Unlocked after beating Resident Evil 4’s main campaign for the first time, The Mercenaries challenged players to earn as many points as possible in just a couple of minutes by killing enemies. The mode focused on Resident Evil 4’s third-person action gameplay, which was pretty groundbreaking at the time of release, encouraging players to do well and rack up combos by killing enemies in quick succession. It also allowed players to unlock and play as other characters not playable in the main story, including Ada Wong and Jack Krauser.

Recommended Videos

While we don’t know exactly what form this mode will take in the remake, Digital Trends’ Giovanni Colantonio did say Resident Evil 4’s combat “has been entirely revamped for the better,” in his four-and-a-half star review, so that should have a positive impact on The Mercenaries.

The remake of Resident Evil 4 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The Mercenaries will be added as free DLC on April 7.

Tomas Franzese
As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding barely miss a step on iPhone and iPad
El Gigante raises its foot over Leon in Resident Evil 4.

Just two months ago, I had my mind blown when I saw Resident Evil Village running on an iPad. While I expected a very compromised experience, I was shocked when I saw how the horror game barely lost a step on the device. I pushed its settings to their limits and still came out with a fairly smooth experience capable of hitting high frame rates. Suddenly, the idea of playing a console quality game entirely on a mobile device didn’t seem like a far-fetched idea.

That was an impressive feat, but Resident Evil Village was built for the PS4 generation. The bigger test would come from more technically ambitious games that are either exclusive to new consoles or rebuilt with them in mind. I wouldn’t have to wait long to see that in action. At a recent Apple gaming showcase, I went hands-on with both Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and Resident Evil 4 running on a bevy of Apple devices, from the iPhone 15 Pro to a Mac Mini.

Read more
Why do we love horror games? Psychologists explain our morbid curiosity
Leon facing El Gigante in Resident Evil 4 Remake.

True horror is something no human wants to experience. Few would actively want to throw themselves in a powerless position against some life-threatening situation or fearsome creature. Isn’t it much easier to watch these things through the TV screen with scary movies or auditory creepypastas? It's through that outside curiosity that humanity has created so many ways to witness nightmares without having to really put ourselves through actual hell. And one of those ways is through video games, one of the most interactive and immersive ways to take terror trips in a much safer way.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Ada Wong DLC Separate Ways Official Reveal Trailer

Read more
Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways leaves me hopeful for a Resident Evil 6 remake
Ada Wong holds a gun in Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways.

This year’s Resident Evil 4 remake was an important victory for the horror series. Not only did it successfully reimagine a beloved classic, but it finally concocted the perfect action formula for the series at large. That’s an important milestone considering that Resident Evil has historically run into trouble when fully dropping survival horror in favor of blockbuster action (see the misunderstood, but undeniably sloppy Resident Evil 6). The remake paves the way for Capcom to once again evolve its series, taking another crack at the third-person shooter genre it struggled to nail.

In that sense, Resident Evil 4’s new Separate Ways DLC feels like a taste of what’s to come. Capcom uses Ada Wong’s solo chapter to push its action formula even further, weaving in some exciting new tricks that are already leaving me hungry for a true spinoff. It’s not the series’ finest DLC, playing more as an asset-reusing victory lap, but it gives me hope that Resident Evil’s second decent into pure action will be much more successful this time.
Grappling forward
Separate Ways follows Ada Wong, the anti-hero mercenary on a quest to retrieve a Plaga sample for Albert Wesker during the main game. The lengthy bonus episode is a remake in itself, but it's perhaps even more radical than the base game’s reinvention. Right from its completely new opening scene, it's clear that Separate Ways is diverting pretty far from the original DLC. That’s a sensible decision considering how much the new version of Resident Evil 4 reworks Ada Wong. She’s no longer a careless hired gun, but a nuanced character struggling to balance her professional responsibilities with her moral ones.

Read more