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.

Well, that wait is over. Like a crafty ganado, The Mercenaries sneaked onto Steam last night as a free DLC update to owners of the original game. Capcom also released a trailer for The Mercanaries to coincide with the release. You can view that above.

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.