Is Ada’s story worth telling?
Separate Ways tells the story of Ada Wong and her parallel journey through the events of Resident Evil 4, filling in unanswered questions from the main story. The full story will be revealed as you view both sides of events from both Ada and Leon’s viewpoints.
I reviewed the Resident Evil 4 Remake back in March, giving it a perfect score of 10/10. Something I rarely do, but it deserved it by providing a fresh take on the original RE4 and cementing it as one of the best remakes I’ve come across. I did wonder if the Remake would get Ada Wong’s side-story as DLC and luckily it came to be, albeit for a price of £7.99.
Honestly though, I was so impressed with the quality of Separate Ways that I would have happily paid double for what we got here and I’m not just talking about simping over Ada, although I do admit in being slightly guilty there. The story fills in the blanks between the times that Leon sees Ada and how she got involved in this whole mess. The cutscenes are impressive and the opening sequence with Luis dancing in his cell is pure brilliance.
Ada controls much like Leon but with some differences, she has a hookshot she can use at specific points to pull herself towards or up to certain areas. She can also use it in combat as a melee attack and even upgrade it to remove shields from enemies later in the game. She’ll come across the Merchant and be able to buy/upgrade her weapons, as well as accepting and completing requests like Leon did. Rewards for these can be used for gems, treasure maps and the aforementioned shield remove ability.
As Ada, you’ll come across all familiar characters in the DLC such as the Village Chief, Luis and Saddler. You’ll also see a lot more of Wesker as he is desperate to get hold of the “Amber” from the island. You’ll play through right until Ada leaves with the Amber, which took me around 5-6 hours but that was on Normal. Trophy hunters will need to beat it on Hardcore or above and a few other tricky jobs to nab that 100%.
Separate Ways is definitely much more linear and straightforward than the main game, but it definitely hits all the right notes to make it a must have for any Resi fan. I think that the ending is setting up at a potential Resident Evil 5 Remake, setting for a very different tone than the original, so I can’t see Chris punching boulders at the end of it. But whether/whenever that happens is unclear at the time of writing.
The Verdict
Ada’s story is definitely welcome for Resident Evil 4 fans. It starts strong and doesn’t relent until the credits roll. It may not be the longest DLC out there, but it’s damn good value and it looks incredible from start to finish. Plus, it’s Ada…need I say more?