What just happened? Ahead of its highly anticipated release in a few weeks, Capcom has released a 'Chainsaw Demo' for the Resident Evil 4 remake. The free trial is available now on Steam and the PlayStation 4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. There's no time limit on the demo, so you can play it for as long and as many times as you like.

The demo takes place at the start of the game, just as Leon enters the remote European village where the las plagas parasitic organisms have been infecting locals. There's about 20 - 30 minutes of gameplay on offer, and it culminates in the attack in the village square where you'll take on the sack-wearing, chainsaw-wielding monstrosity and other Ganados.

The demo should not only give players a feel for the new Resident Evil 4, but also let them discover how their PCs handle the game. The system specs are pretty forgiving compared to many modern titles; it recommends an AMD Radeon RX 5700 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070, 16GB of RAM, and an Intel Core i7 8700 / Ryzen 5 3600. The minimum specs are an AMD Ryzen 3 1200 / Intel Core i5-7500, AMD RX 560 with 4GB VRAM / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, and 8GB of RAM.

Those specs are certainly less demanding than another remake on its way; Sony released details on the PC system specs and features for The Last of Us Part I this week, asking for 32GB to play it at 1440p or 4K at 60fps.

The Resident Evil 4 remake is one of our Most Anticipated Games of 2023. Fans of the original are hoping it will repeat the success of that other classic survival horror remake, Dead Space, which has received praise from critics and gamers alike since its arrival.

The update comes with plenty of modern features like support for 120fps, FSR, turning off motion blur and lens flare, etc. Capcom says there's also a reimagined storyline in the new version, though the company says it will "preserve the essence of the original game." The only concern is that it might be too similar to the 2005 title.

The Resident Evil 4 demo can be downloaded and played now. It will remain available even after the game launches on March 24.