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While we could be cynical about Capcom’s insistence on remaking every Resident Evil game to get us to play (and buy) it again, they usually have at least some ambition when they do it. For the Resident Evil 4 remake, they not only gave us updated visuals and a revamped story, but they also nearly turned Ashley into a playable character through a new opening mission. That mission was sadly cut from the final version of the game, but some industrious modders have unearthed it so we can see what it would have looked like.

For those of you who don’t know, Ashley was strictly a companion character in the original Resident Evil 4, with Leon Kennedy being sent to protect her. This meant much of the game was a big escort mission to keep Ashley safe, but Capcom nearly switched things up by making Ashley a playable character in a new opening level called Chapter 0.

In this reimagined opening to Resident Evil 4 Remake, players would guide Ashley through enemy territory before she is eventually captured by brainwashed ganados. Interestingly, she would witness Luis being captured and dragged off, presumably to where Leon would find him later in the game. 

Modder Michael “Thekempy” Kemp posted a video of this proposed opening sequence after it was found, because you can’t keep anything hidden from the Internet for long. Capcom hasn’t commented on why the sequence was cut, but we’re kind of glad it did. By now, everyone knows that Ashley is the damsel-in-distress of Resident Evil 4, so the level ends the only way it possibly could – with Ashley being captured. It doesn’t add anything narratively or set up any of the changes to the story that Capcom made. It just delays us getting to the bit we’re excited for, which is playing as the aggressively sexy Leon Kennedy.

Never get between us and our man, is what we’re saying.

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