Resident Evil 4 Remake's Berserker mod is the best way to ramp up the action for a replay

In our last foray into the world of Resident Evil modding, I said that the best thing you can do is play Resident Evil 4 twice. Would you believe me that there's a third, even more over-the-top version to justify yet another run?

All you need is the RE4 Remake on Steam, the Separate Ways expansion, a little fiddling around and the tenacity to face down the most ridiculous battles Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wong have ever been plunged into.

Berserker, by Chinese modder RabbitTooneedIM, adds a remixed extra mode to the game, similar to RE3 Remake's Nightmare mode, RE7's Madhouse mode and Requiem's Insanity mode. Key items are relocated, combat is rebalanced, late-game enemies appear earlier and the intensity and enemy density are dialled way up—there are even some new weapons to help thin the herd. This is RE4 as a full-on shooter, horror be damned. Some minor bugs aside (cycle save slots, just to make sure), it's a surprisingly polished production, too.

Berserker goes as far as adding all of the monsters from the Separate Ways expansion into Leon's campaign and opening up some areas that were previously blocked off, complete with extra loot and battles. While some have called Berserker an impossible challenge mod for the ultra-hardcore, that only really applies to the higher difficulty modes, which are optional. I found it surprisingly manageable despite it throwing chainsaw guys at me constantly, and on Easy mode, you'll always have far more ammo than you know what to do with. Normal isn't much harder.

While not unfair, the mod does love to prank the player. And by that, I mean I have stepped on every rake it could possibly place for me. Expect rocket-equipped counter-snipers in the valley fight, new tripwire traps in obnoxious places and bear traps wherever they can serve as a punchline. Handy typewriter in the village chief's house? Don't mind if I d-AMMIT!

Installation for Berserker is remarkably simple:

• Make sure you've got RE4 Remake installed, along with Separate Ways
• Grab the Fluffy Mod Manager, follow its quick setup instructions & update it
• Download Berserker into your Mod Manager\Games\RE4R\Mods directory
• Run the mod manager, find Berserker in the mod list, toggle it on and play

The best part? There's more.

Valkyrie, Profiled

Berserker would be an impressive enough mod by itself, but you shouldn't skip on its second half, Valkyrie, which is even more transformative. Valkyrie greatly expands Ada's adventure with areas that previously were accessible only to Leon, adding a good 2-3 hours to her side of the game.

Installing Valkyrie is exactly the same as Berserker above. Grab it, drop it into the same directory as Berserker and go. The only limitation is that only one remix can be active at once, but the Fluffy Mod Manager lets you toggle between them easily.

You'll notice the difference almost immediately. Where Ada would normally head out onto the castle rooftops after the first tussle with Pesanta (the black-robed, bug-faced psychic stalker enemy), she now finds the exit locked. Cue battling through a whole new multi-phase encounter (immediately after a new safe room) within the castle to find the key.

From there things only expand further, with whole new zones being interwoven into Ada's campaign. For the most part they fit in naturally, although some of the new areas aren't as well lit as the rest of the game, and sometimes lack environmental effects like rain. Still, Ada gets to really stretch her legs this time, and there's even a (brief) segment where you get to play as Wesker!

As with Berserker, expect a lot more enemies (yes, double or triple chainsaw fights abound) and some nasty twists added to boss fights. Ada's grapple-assisted Gigante fight? She's got to fight two of them at once while a chanting cultist inside of the buildings psychically batters her. At least until you can convince one of the big guys to break the building open for you in just one of many clever new twists.

Once you've warmed up with these two mods, you might want to check out RabbitTooneedIM's latest, silliest work yet. Ever wanted to fight through thousands of enemies in a Resident Evil game? Now you can.

Oh, and pro tip: If you see two ornate vases right beside each other, shoot them from a safe distance. You'll thank me later.