Highlights

  • Resident Evil 4 Remake's shooting galleries provided fun challenges that tested players' gunplay skills while rewarding them with tokens to get charm upgrades within the game.
  • The absence of dedicated shooting ranges in Resident Evil Village was a missed opportunity to expand the game's optional content and further connect it with Resident Evil 4 Remake.
  • Including shooting range obstacles in the upcoming Resident Evil 9 would be a good way to keep the series' momentum going and give players who enjoy these challenges another reason to look forward to the franchise's future.

Resident Evil has been at the forefront of the discussion around the survival horror genre in gaming as well as the industry at large for a couple of years at this point, and for good reason. After reshuffling the direction and design of the seminal series following a few lackluster and more poorly received previous titles, particularly RE5 and 6, developer Capcom completed a franchise course correction that saw great success, with the most recent release being 2023's Resident Evil 4 remake. The original 2005 RE4 was itself a landmark title, and Capcom achieved the near-impossible by updating the remake to both stay true to the original's core tenants while also tweaking some other aspects for a smoother modern gen experience.

Among some of the side activities that RE4 offered was a set of shooting galleries, which also made their way into the remake in reworked versions. These diversions challenged players with a series of timed and score-based scenarios, testing their gunplay, accuracy, and familiarity with various weapons. With another entry almost certainly on the way, and currently expected to be Resident Evil 9 (if the studio follows its previous pattern of release), Capcom has the opportunity to include more shooting ranges or similar courses in an upcoming title to continue to provide some fun, and sometimes difficult, trials.

Resident Evil 4 remake has shipped over 5 million copies since launch, and is currently sitting at a 93 Metacritic score.

Resident Evil 4 Remake All Shooting Range Locations and Tips for a High Score
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Resident Evil 4 Remake: All Shooting Range Locations and Tips for a High Score

Time to show off Leon's skill at shooting in the Resident Evil 4 remake shooting range and get those S ranks. Here's what's important to know.

Resident Evil 9 Should Keep One of RE4 Remake's Best Inclusions

Resident Evil 4 Remake's Shooting Galleries

During the course of Leon S. Kennedy and Ashley Graham's adventures in Resident Evil 4, players come across its famous cloaked merchant, who at certain spots will offer them the chance to try their hand at various shooting gallery setups. These start out fairly straightforward, but subsequently increase in complexity and difficulty as players unlock more by achieving the target scores within the time limit. This option both allows fans to take a breather and consider testing their skills and perhaps moving outside their comfort zone of preferred weapons and style, trying out some they might not have otherwise.

The ranges also offered tangible rewards beyond bragging rights, as hitting the denoted score tiers granted tokens which could be exchanged for Resident Evil 4 remake's charm upgrades for Leon's Attache Case, providing some extra buffs and bonuses that might assist in some of the tougher spots and encounters during RE4's main story. Each course is entirely optional, but does provide a nice aside and some extra assistance for completing, should players choose to engage with them, and adds replay value too.

The Evil Within series, directed by former Resident Evil lead Shinji Mikami, also included very similar shooting range challenges in its two releases.

Resident Evil 9 Should Include Shooting Ranges of Its Own

Preceding Resident Evil 4 remake was Resident Evil Village, and although both titles had other types of side missions, Village lacked dedicated shooting ranges. This was perhaps a missed opportunity, as REVillage's merchant, The Duke, was almost as equally quirky and comical as RE4's ubiquitous mysterious masked weapon monger, (the two were even implied to be good acquaintances) and having him extend players the occasion to tackle shooting gallery challenges would have connected the two in a cool way while also expanding its optional content a bit.

Though there is at present not much information or even confirmation about Resident Evil 9, fan theories and speculation abound as to where Capcom will take the new entry in terms of plot, characters, and gameplay innovation. With Resident Evil 4 remake's popularity and acclaim, and showing that it can iterate on and refresh one of the orginal's best items, having the next RE incorporate its own form of shooting range obstacles would be a good way to keep the series' momentum going strong and give players who enjoy these types of challenges one more reason to look forward to the franchise's future.