The Resident Evil 4 remake seems to be exactly what the fans have been waiting for since Capcom started to release their classic games reimagined with the RE Engine. The Resident Evil 2 remake was amazing, but not completely faithful to the original, while the third one divided fans by bringing a thrilling action game but it still lacked content. It seems that Capcom finally listened to the community and made a remake perfectly, keeping almost everything that turned the 2005 game into an instant classic with very few cuts that don’t change players’ experience in any way.
One of the many things that the Resident Evil 4 remake kept from the blueprint is its bosses. Although one of them didn’t make the cut (I won’t miss you, U-3), all of the other ones are back, and even more terrifying than they were in the original. With that said, here are all of the main bosses that will cross your path in the Resident Evil 4 remake, ranked by how much they made me want to rage quit.
11. Del Lago
The monster that haunts the lake by the village is a massive amphibian infected by the Plaga parasite. In the original game, it was a blast to find out that you’re about to fight a boss in the water. Not many games did this type of battle as well as Resident Evil 4 back in 2005.
Even though the Del Lago monster looks and sounds scary, especially because most of the time you can’t see it, it’s still very easy to defeat it. Just hang on to your boat, attack the monster with harpoons when it’s visible, dodge when it comes in your direction and you’ll have Del Lago floating dead pretty quickly.
10. El Gigante Armored
After defeating the classic El Gigante in the village, you will find another of their kind in the castle. More furious and now armored, this creature may look a bit more intimidating but it’s fairly easy to put down.
You have to reach a checkpoint outside of the castle, but the monster won’t stop throwing boulders in your direction, this can be used to your benefit since he can also eliminate some enemies in your way. Hiding at the right times shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to finally get to the canon and blast off the armored El Gigante.
9. El Gigante
El Gigante is certainly one of the most memorable bosses in the original Resident Evil 4 and of course, he couldn’t be left out of the remake. Unlike the 2005 game, now we only fight him once in the village.
El Gigante looks very intimidating at first, but as soon as you learn his moves it gets pretty easy to take this big bad out. In this battle, we also have one of the most iconic scenes in the game, when the white dog you saved earlier comes to give you a hand against the monster.
8. El Gigante & El Gigante Armored
The El Gigante and his armored twin make a return together in the mines, just like in the original. But there’s a twist in the remake: there’s a duo on each side now, but to make everything easier, Luis Serra will help you out.
He distracts one of the El Gigante monsters, leaving you the unarmored twin to deal with. Instead of shooting and wasting your ammo, it’s best to bring him to the trap door and open it at the right time. For the El Gigante armored, Luis will stick dynamite to his back and it’s up to you to shoot it before it’s too late, but overall it’s not too hard to get done.
7. Osmund Saddler
The final showdown of the Resident Evil 4 remake is Lord Saddler, the man behind it all. You’d expect an incredibly hard face-to-face battle against him, but new players would be surprised to know it’s not much of a challenge to take out the leader of the Iluminados.
Saddler is the typical Resident Evil boss in its essence, with many eyes to shoot at and a variety of sharp combos that take most of your health bar – there’s also acid included. Aim for his eyes, dodge his attacks, knock his flying parasites, and run around the area to avoid close contact and he’ll get weak pretty quickly. Ada Wong will come up with a rocket launcher to help you get the fatal hit against the monstrosity Saddler has become.
6. Garrador
The Garrador was one of the fiercest enemies you would find in the original Resident Evil 4, both for his gruesome look and the fact that he can’t see you, but can hear any minor noise you make. Somehow the team behind the remake managed to make him look and sound as terrifying as ever, giving the fans one of the creepiest battles in the game.
If you want to get this over quickly and not waste your ammo, playing stealth is the best option here. You can use the chains in the room to mislead him with noises to get a view of his back and be able to shoot the parasite coming out of it. The Garrador remains a pretty intimidating boss but he’s not so hard to deal with after all.
5. Bitores Mendez
Things start to get a little bit more complicated in the top 5. Father Bitores Mendez is the priest who runs the church where Leon finds Ashley. In my opinion, he is the scariest-looking boss in both the original and remake. Mendez crosses your path multiple times before you get to fight him at the warehouse where he shows his true mutated form, which is a million times scarier.
The small space you have to fight plus the warehouse burning in flames makes things way more intense in this boss battle. Not only do you have to wait for Mendez to turn around so you can shoot the eye on his back, but you also need to dodge all of his attacks. In the second stage of his mutation, you need to react fast and shoot the explosive barrels he throws at you to stay alive.
4. Twin Garradors
If you thought there was too much tension with one Garrador, wait until you face two of them at once. This encounter will definitely be harder than the first one because, besides the two Garradors, there are some Ganados too, making it very difficult to be quiet.
Luckily the room is plenty bigger now giving you more space to run and mislead the enemies on the way, but that doesn’t take away from how hard this fight is. There are many Ganados that are behind you to avoid, all while trying to shoot the bells around the room to get the Garrados’ attention. This battle will take some time but it’s a huge relief to get it over with.
3. Ramon Salazar
The last member of the Salazar family is quite a peculiar character. He may not look like a threat at first but after Leon tries to kill him, Ramon Salazar shows his true horrendous form.
Salazar’s carnivorous-plant-like form can be pretty tough to beat due to his agility, he will move around the room trying to bite you all while vomiting a lethal acid that stuns Leon and causes great damage. You basically have to make use of the second floor to play hide and seek with him. It’s also difficult to get a good angle and shoot inside the monster’s mouth.
2. Verdugo
If you ever wondered how Ramon Salazar’s bodyguards looked under that red robe, you finally find out in this terrifying fight. The Verdugos are an experiment of human and insect DNA resulting in a tall terrifying agile figure that scares anyone.
The Verdugo owns one of the deadliest skill sets in the game: extremely strong tail attacks, sharp blade charges, and fast movement between the vents, making this boss battle quite intense. The good news is that you don’t actually have to kill him, but there’s plenty of anxiety while waiting for the elevator to come.
1. Jack Krauser
In the original game, it was implied that 2 years before the events of Resident Evil 4 the experienced soldier Jack Krauser fought alongside Leon in a mission for the U.S. government called ‘Operation Javier’. Things changed in the remake when Krauser is now shown as the man who actually trained our protagonist for the top-secret government program Leon was invited to. They fight each other for the first time in the mines where the master calls his old pupil for a knife duel, an introduction worthy of what’s to come.
Krauser remains the toughest boss in the remake and can also be considered the longest battle as it takes multiple steps to face his final form. This boss keeps you on edge as you constantly try to get parries to make him weaker, and if your knife breaks it’s all over for you. Just when you think things are finally over, Krauser mutates and gets his lethal-bladed arms, making it all the more difficult.
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