*Warning: while this article doesn’t contain narrative spoilers for Resident Evil 4 Remake, it does contain gameplay spoilers. If you still haven’t played it, you may want to read with caution. Cool? Cool. Let’s get started.*
I’m gonna be real with you guys: I never liked Krauser in RE4. He was always the part I least enjoyed. The stupid QTE cutscene isn’t cool or fun, it’s just frustrating. The actual boss fight is just a puzzle that shoots at you, then you hit him with the knife until he dies. It sucks and I hate it.
And now, we’ve got not just one cool Krauser, but two! Madlads at Capcom didn’t just fix him, they did it twice!
The first Krauser fight is a replacement for the infamous QTE knife fight. Only know, Capcom cut out the QTE and just made it a knife fight. You’re literally not allowed to use any of your other weapons; if you can’t beat Krauser in a knife duel, you don’t get to finish the game.
Believe me. I tried. Infinite ammo rocket launcher didn’t mean jack shit.
Simple as it is, this first fight is a ton of fun! Knife combat in RE4 Remake is always fun, and this battle highlights it perfectly! It’s a true test of your stabbing and parry abilities. Short, sweet, and challenging, it’s one of the best parts of the game!
Then there’s the second fight. Hope you guys like the first Predator movie. Because it’s just that.
At first, the fight is just like the original. With Krauser shooting/slashing at you, you’ve got to get a locked door open to progress. Once that’s done, however, things take a different darker turn.
Like, literally darker. In tight, dark corridors, you’ve got to sneak around his traps while he takes occasional shots at you. You’ve got to be on your guard, however; at any point, Krauser could slip behind you and attack you physically.
This is great. No puzzles, no dumb statue pieces to unlock the next door, no nonsense time limit. Just a tense game of cat and mouse.
Finally, you reach the fight proper. Krauser transforms and all the chips are on the table. No more sneaking, no more knife dueling. It’s time to put him down once and for all.
Unlike the original, however, you can’t just knife Krauser to death for an easy win. Oh, you can still knife fight him. But I doubt you can parry his ‘climb the mountain than jump back onto the platform with a huge shockwave’ attack.
The edge is the most dangerous place to be in this battle. If Krauser knocks you off, you’ll enter a struggle state. If you have health to spare, or a knife on hand, this isn’t a big deal. You’ll be back up before you know.
However, if you fall when your health is in the red, it’s game over. So… don’t fall.
Don’t stick too close to Krauser, either. If you do, he can grab you with his gross monster hand to do a ton of damage. Managing the distance between Leon and Krauser is the main challenge of the fight; stay too close, he’ll grab you. Stay too far, he’ll use his arm like a shield to block your bullets.
All that being said, I personally didn’t find the fight particularly challenging. Even on my first playthrough, he went down surprisingly quickly. Sure, six magnum rounds directly in the back is gonna hurt. But still. For a badass turned bio-weapon, he sure died fast.
Defeating Krauser doesn’t just let you progress. Kill him and you get to take his iconic knife as spoils! The very knife that killed countless players countless times in that original QTE battle is now yours for the taking! Oh, the throats you’ll stab with it…
…in new game plus. You’re so near the end at this point that you probably won’t use it much unless you really try.
Both of these fights are some of the best parts of the game. The knife duel, the cat-and-mouse chase, and the final confrontation, it’s incredible stuff! Both battles put all the best mechanics of this game front and center!
If only the lake monster fight had gotten the same treatment. But nope. That one is just the original fight, again.
I’m sure that makes someone happy, but someone isn’t me.
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