These are the two cheap horror games we recommend most, they cost roughly the same, and people constantly buy the wrong one first. Resident Evil 2 is the 2019 remake: a tight, resource-starved survival nightmare in one dark police station. Resident Evil 4 is the original 2005 landmark on PS4: an armed, propulsive, twenty-hour action-horror adventure that reinvented how third-person games are made.
Same series, same price bracket, completely different evenings. Below is the honest head-to-head on tension, length, combat and value, with a clear call at the end. Both sit on our cheap horror games list, and both are PS4 discs that play on PS5.
The head-to-head
How scared you will be
Resident Evil 2 is the more frightening game, deliberately. Ammunition is scarce, the map folds back on itself, and an unkillable pursuer turns a familiar corridor into a problem. RE4 is tense rather than terrifying — it hands you a decent arsenal and a merchant to buy upgrades from, then keeps the set-pieces coming. If you want dread, buy RE2. If you want adrenaline, buy RE4.
Length and replay
RE4 is the longer game by a wide margin: sixteen to twenty hours for a single run, plus unlockable modes. RE2 runs eight to ten hours, but ships two campaigns — Leon and Claire — that overlap and differ, so a full look at it is a similar total. On raw hours-per-dollar, RE4 edges it. On "how much do I want to play this again," both are strong; RE2 in particular is built for speedrunning and rank-chasing.
How they feel to play
RE2 is a modern game and controls like one — smooth aiming, comfortable movement, no adjustment period. RE4 is twenty years old and takes about an hour to settle into: you stand still to shoot, and the camera is of its era. That hour is the single biggest reason to buy RE2 first if you are new to the series or to older games generally.
Price and edition
They trade close to each other, usually a few dollars apart. The important distinction is not price but version: the RE4 pick here is the originalgame's PS4 release, not the 2023 remake, which sells for far more. Both are complete games with nothing essential locked behind extra purchases.
The verdict: which should you buy first?
Buy Resident Evil 2first if you want to be scared, if you are new to horror, or if modern controls matter to you — it is the cleaner introduction and the more purely frightening game. Buy Resident Evil 4 first if you want the most game for the money, prefer action to dread, or already know you get on with older releases. At these prices most people who like one end up owning both, and that is a perfectly reasonable plan.
