Resident Evil 4 Remake is home to an abundance of horrifying enemies, each one carefully crafted to send chills down the player's spine. But while Resident Evil 4 enemies like Salazar's stalking Verdugo henchman, Dr. Salvador, the chainsaw man, and the creeping Novistador bugs are all iconic foes, it's Resident Evil 4 Remake's Ganados that will likely stick around in the player's head long after they roll credits.
Introduced expertly during Resident Evil 4's opening sequence, where main protagonist Leon is ambushed by a village full of crazed residents, the Ganados appear throughout Resident Evil 4 Remake, and they never stop being intimidating. As far as infected enemies types go, the Ganados don't immediately terrify in the same way that some other iconic horror enemies do, but they remain one of the most memorable parts of the game.
How Resident Evil 4's Ganados Compare to Other Horror Gaming Enemies
The Ganados have one big defining feature that sets them apart from other iconic horror gaming enemies, and that's their unassuming appearance. When Leon first gets to the village, at least in the 2005 original version of Resident Evil 4, the villagers are certainly a little off, but they look fairly normal. It's only when the player approaches them that they suddenly turn hostile, pointing menacingly and slowly walking toward the player with ill intent. It's this slow and intimidating walk toward the player that keeps the Ganados such an oddly terrifying enemy throughout Resident Evil 4's runtime, and their ability to hit surprisingly hard makes that slow chase all the more intense.
The Ganados are essentially Resident Evil 4 Remake's version of the standard zombie enemy type found in the rest of the franchise, albeit a bit more dangerous. While Resident Evil 2 and 3 Remake's zombies can take a huge chunk of the player's health off if they get too close, they can also be duped quite easily, especially with Resident Evil 3's dodge mechanic. But the Ganados are a little harder to take down, requiring the player to land accurate shots on either their head or legs to stop them in their tracks. The Ganados also use a variety of tools, including hard-hitting melee weapons, and throwable sticks of dynamite, keeping the player on their toes during every encounter.
Resident Evil 4 Remake's Ganados might even be tougher than The Last of Us' main infected types. The Last of Us' Runners, the standard zombies that players will encounter throughout the series, might be faster than the average Ganado, but they don't hit quite as hard, and they can be taken down in just one shot. Clickers, though much more formidable and dangerous than Runners, can still go down in just two headshots, while the Ganados can often take a good five shots to the face without even stumbling. Even The Last of Us' most dreaded foe, the Bloater, doesn't last as long as just one of Resident Evil 4 Remake's chainsaw-wielding Ganados.
One iconic horror enemy that's a little closer to Resident Evil's Ganados is Dead Space's mutating Necromorphs. Putting up more of a fight than the average Last of Us Runner, Necromorphs often shakily stumble their way toward the player in a similar vein to the Ganados, and they usually take just as much damage. Also like Resident Evil's Ganados, Necromorphs can't be so easily killed, requiring careful body targeting to be dispatched. Both the Necromorphs and the Ganados are best dealt with by targeting the legs, arms, and head, and blowing them to bits.
Resident Evil 4 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
