Resident Evil 4 Remake Criticized on Steam for New DRM Causing Performance Issues

The Resident Evil 4 remake launched three years ago, so you’d expect its PC performance to be stable by now. However, Capcom recently replaced the game’s DRM with new anti-tamper software, and the horror shooter is experiencing noticeable performance issues as a result. A recent switch from Denuvo DRM to Enigma DRM was highlighted in a YouTube video by user ItalicMaze. The video uses a mod to revert the game to its previous version, showcasing a significant framerate drop from over 140 in the earlier version to the low 90s in the updated release, all while using similar settings. The performance hit was even more pronounced during intense action sequences with multiple enemies on screen. Digital Foundry revisited the issue and confirmed these findings, noting that the new DRM appears to be putting extra strain on the CPU. Richard Leadbetter pointed out that, in their tests, the new DRM was consuming an average of 1.9ms of CPU time, which is quite alarming. He observed that right after the intro, gameplay performance dropped by 20 percent. Leadbetter deemed this outcome “not acceptable” and raised concerns about how publishers often treat PC versions of games as “mutable testbeds,” making ongoing changes without considering their impact on user experience. The team emphasized that when DRM is implemented, its resource demands should be factored into the game’s performance targets from the outset, rather than being an afterthought that compromises the overall experience. Steam users have expressed their frustration on the game’s store page, leading to hundreds of negative reviews in the past week. While the Resident Evil 4 remake still holds a “Very Positive” rating, this backlash has caused its score to drop from a peak of 96 percent positive to 82 percent. If it slips a few more points, it could fall into the concerning “yellow” zone of Steam user ratings. With Resident Evil Requiem on the horizon, all eyes will be on whether this highly anticipated title can steer clear of the PC performance issues that plagued last year’s Capcom hit, Monster Hunter Wilds. That game has finally improved, but it took nearly a year to achieve decent framerates on anything less than high-end systems.