Ada Wong is back and she’s starring in her own story which runs parallel to Leon’s in Resident Evil 4.

Meanwhile, as she at times helps Leon, at times opposes him, the looming shadow of Albert Wesker creeps into the picture opening up some fascinating possibilities for what Capcom will do next with Resident Evil.

Separate Ways is a great compliment to the fantastic remake Resident Evil 4 got earlier this year and probably the closest we’ve ever got to the enigmatic contractor, her motivations and ambitions.

How to Play

Once purchased and installed, Separate Ways appears on the main menu screen of Resident Evil 4 and is immediately playable, regardless of whether you’ve finished Resident Evil 4 or not. You will get a prompt to ask if you’re sure you want to play as there are HEAVY Resident Evil 4 spoilers in the DLC, but that’s entirely up to your own discretion. 

On that note, this review may contain some slight spoilers for RE4 so please be advised.

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Much like RE4, Separate Ways is something of a remake in its own right. Based on the original Separate Ways post-launch campaign you got in the original RE4 after beating the game, this is now a more fleshed-out, developed piece of content.

The essence of the plot remains the same, as do some of the key story beats, but there’s a lot of poetic license in this DLC to really fill it out and make it feel like a more natural accompaniment to the remake.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Separate Ways, though, is it actually includes some of the content that got taken out of RE4 for the Remake in the first place, like the infamous laser room. But rather than Leon doing fancy stunts, it’s Ada’s turn to show us what she can do.

Honestly, these are really inspired ideas right off the bat. Ada is a naturally athletic character and is plenty up to the task. But it’s more than that as it manages to freshen up things players have come to expect from this game and series but also incorporate the fan favorite moments players felt were missing or had associated with their own playthroughs.

That’s not the only familiar moment players will recognize going through Separate Ways either, but this game isn’t just a retread of what we’ve seen before either. Over its seven chapters, Ada will meet up with Leon at all the relevant key points in the Remake story, as we saw in the game, but very much has her own mission and reason for being on that island.

For those who’ve played the original Separate Ways or even if you’ve beaten RE4, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what that is. But across the course of the DLC you’ll also see Ada meet up with Luiz, with Ashley and, of course, Wesker.

The content plays out largely the same way as RE4, with familiar enemies coming into the mix with parasitic heads, those ferocious pig things, gross insects, and even the Chainsaw crew.

However, there are some marked differences that arguably make Ada better equipped for this island, such as a grappling gun that lets her cover large distances and is like a speed-runner dream. Finding the right spot, you can easily cut out large swathes of path and really whizz around the map which is as satisfying as it is surprising.

This also works great in combat, particularly in some sections when you’re getting rockets, cannon balls and everything else launched at you. Ada can even use the grappling gun to position herself directly underneath an enemy, then launch upward into an automatic athletic attack. It looks great in execution.

Of course this also opens up finding obscure secret areas and there’s lots of jewels and treasures to find which you can, of course, exchange with the Merchant. He even throws a fun line into the mix, saying he is offering Ada things that ‘the other guy doesn’t know about’.

The other new mechanic Ada introduces is in her eye. Thanks to some fancy technology, she can identify a trail and use that to trace where someone – or something – has gone. This is used to great effect, both to move along the story but also to help with puzzle solving.

For instance, you can see where someone has left their fingerprints on a keypad to tell you what a combination might be or trace a pathway to see where there might be hidden objects in a room. The all-seeing eye is a really cool feature and really leans into this idea that Ada Wong may actually be some form of Crimson Batwoman.

Speaking of, there’s a really gruesome, grizzly death animation introduced into this DLC that feels highly targeted to poor Ada’s very cool gadget. But it yet again shows the cool details Capcom have added into Separate Ways to make each journey feel a little different.

That said, Separate Ways definitely feels a little more sped up from the base game of Resident Evil 4. There’s only a few puzzles here that actually require a bit of looking around and using some lateral thinking. Others can kind of be blazed through. But nothing really ever feels like it’s holding you back from where you’re supposed to be. That is, except the boss battles.

Just because she’s not the star of Resident Evil 4, does not mean Capcom haven’t given Ada some suitably rock solid battles and suitably cool moments to make her feel like one. Without delving too deeply into spoilers, Ada is pursued throughout the content by a hooded figure and the way that boss is presented across the chapters does a wonderful job of blending a bit of RE 2 and 3 in with 4.

While not quite as ferocious as Nemesis or Tyrant, it does lead to a brilliant encounter where you’ll have to use all your tricks and agility in order to come out the other side.

And we also see some interesting takes on familiar scenes from Resident Evil 4, which really broaden our perspective of what actually happened on that island and how both characters managed their respective escapes.

Separate Ways feels like a fantastic whistlestop tour of all the best bits of RE 4, then. A really good reminder of the individual mechanics, of the pivotal scenes that made up the story, all while spicing things up a bit with new bosses, mechanics, and things to see and do.

The DLC doesn’t really stop for breath and that’s probably its strongest suit. Where the Resident Evil 4 Remake really builds the player into the experience, this assumes you’re already very familiar and gets right to the point.

As such, you can whizz through it in a day, but equally there’s enough of a challenge here that you could take some time to get through its higher difficulties.

Most importantly, it does a great job of adding some context to the Resident Evil 4 story and further strengthening the bridge as to what could be coming next. And it really lets Ada Wong step into the spotlight in the most personal, ambitious, enjoyable way we’ve ever seen her in a Resident Evil game.

In fact, it’s only added to my desire for her to finally get her own main-line game where she’s the lead.

Unlike the Shadows of Rose DLC that released for Resident Evil Village, which felt a little bit safe and too close to the core experience we’ve already played, Separate Ways does just enough to ensure Ada feels like a star, that her abilities matter right from the get-go and not only did she have reasons to being there, her story is almost certainly heavily connected to the future of the franchise.

That, and the action is so enjoyable and unrelenting that it’s a reminder of just how good the Resident Evil 4 Remake is and that perhaps, even though I’d finished the game aleady, I wasn’t necessarily done with it.

Verdict

Separate Ways is a well-designed piece of content that provides a non-stop, action-packed tour of what we’ve already played while adding in some clever ways to traverse familiar terrain, seeing it from alternative perspectives. Ada’s abilities only add to the experience, freshening up the core loop just enough to keep you interested but her story also dovetails brilliantly with what we’ve already played while setting things up for the future. Whatever that might be. Capcom have expertly weaved in previously cut content and even added in a few surprises that you may not catch on just one playthrough. While it doesn’t massively change the formula from the game you’ve already played and standard enemy variety – beyond bosses – isn’t overly different, it’s a healthy length with great variety and an essential component of the wider RE4 story that you simply must check out.

Pros

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