Resident Evil 4 Remake's Mercenaries mode is available to play now

Capcom's Resident Evil 4 remake was generally well-received, but one of the main criticisms directed toward it was that it launched without the original game's beloved Mercenaries mode, which repackaged Resi 4's tense, dynamic combat into frantic score-attack scenarios. Capcom reassured everyone that the Remake would get its own version of The Mercenaries – we'd just have to wait for it a little while longer.

Much like the remake of the main game, Capcom describes The Mercenaries as being "reimagined", rather than an exact redux of the 2005 game's spinoff mode. As is clear from the trailer, it's still broadly the same in structure. As you battle waves of hostile ganados, killing enemies increases both your score and the amount of time on the clock. But the Remake's version of The Mercenaries adds a new feature called "Mayhem mode", granting special abilities to your character once you've filled a meter at the bottom of the screen. These abilities differ depending on the character you're playing as. Leon's Mayhem mode lends him increased power and speed, for example, while Krauser can temporarily transform into his monster form.

Alongside Leon and Krauser, the remake's nu-Mercenaries also let players battle ganados as Luis and Hunk. Currently, it doesn't allow you to fight as Ada or Wesker. But there's every chance Capcom will add these characters later, especially if the studio is planning to follow-up Mercenaries with a remade version of the Separate Ways DLC, as is rumoured.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.