Resident Evil Village: How The Franchise is Changing Gears From Zombie Horror To Something More Surreal

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    Resident Evil Village

    The Resident Evil fans were quite thrilled and excited when the trailer for the new Resident Evil: Village dropped during the Sony PS5 launch event. The excitement level was tenfold during the launch, as they were being teased by various leaks about the game weeks before the trailer was out. Fans are amazed by the next-gen graphics of the game they got to see in the trailer and cannot wait to play it. However, another interesting factor of the game is its storyline which has hyped fans around the world.

    Resident Evil – Shifting Tides

    Resident Evil Village
    Resident Evil Village Poster

    Since the Resident Evil franchise started back in 1996, its main focus for more than a decade had been three essential factors: A multi-billion dollar conglomerate, a virus outbreak, and the resultant Zombies. They expanded and continued their basic story-line on zombies in the games that followed in the franchise. Resident Evil is one of the most successful franchises in the survival horror genre of gaming.

    However, it appears that the developers at Capcom decided to shift the focus of the game from killing/being chased by zombies and bio-weapon experiments to ghosts and monsters. That’s quite different from Resident Evil 3 Remake, which just came out earlier this year. To completely understand how the plot and gameplay of Resident Evil Village are different from all other games of the franchise, we need to understand the point from which it all started to change.

    Resident Evil 7 – Back To Real Survival Horror

    In 2017, the successful Capcom franchise released its seventh installment in the series, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and shifted the focus of the gameplay from killing zombies to being hunted by ghosts. Throughout the game, there were many jump-scare instances and the entire game is set in what appeared to be a haunted house.

    Resident Evil 7 Biohazard

    Another big change in this game was, the developers appeared to have abandoned the beloved previous characters from the series like Chris Redfield, Leon Kenndy, etc. and introduced a whole set of new characters with the main protagonist being Ethan Winters. However, Capcom did not completely abandon the previous characters as we saw the fan-favorite Chris Redfield making a cameo at the end of the game. There was also a separate DLC released which featured Chris’s adventures in the aftermath of the main storyline.

    We also see references to the Umbrella Corporation in the game. All of these pieces of evidence suggest that Capcom plans to link the previous series to this new plot-line which they started in 2017. Furthermore, by the looks of the Resident Evil Village trailer, I think they have succeeded in doing it.

    What To Expect From Resident Evil Village

    Resident Evil Village is going to be the latest installment in the famous horror-survival franchise and it is a sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. It follows in the footsteps of its predecessor and focuses on the supernatural horror genre. The trailer revealed plenty of details about the types of enemies fans can expect. From Witches to Vampires (it’s just the start) there is a wide variety of villains. The monster which excited fans the most were Werewolves (yeah you heard it right). So, it appears that there is plenty of supernatural elements in the upcoming game.

    Resident Evil Village
    A preview of Resident Evil Village villains

    The entire game is set in a snow-covered village, where the protagonist, Ethan Winters comes back and fights off these villains with the help of our beloved Chris Redfield. It seems that Chris is going to one of the main characters in the game along with Ethan. Thus, finally linking the two-story arcs.

    One more thing that makes this game unique is that it does not have any numeral that would suggest that it’s a sequel to the main franchise. However, the developers have used a clever way to hide this detail. At the end of the trailer, we notice that a ‘VIll’ of the name village is shown first before reveal the entire name of the game. That was quite cheeky from Capcom’s side, playing into the reveal of RE7.

    However, the game is not being called Resident Evil 8 officially. The producers of the game, Tsuyoshi Kanda and Peter Fabiano spoke about it in an interview. When asked about the name of the game, they said that they see the village as a protagonist of its own and they want the players to clearly understand that. They went ahead to stress on how important the village actually is and how they would like if the players remembered that.

    Latest Developments – Possible Name Change?

    After the launch of the trailer, we have seen some interesting developments about the game. Just a few days ago, Capcom officially confirmed that the upcoming game would be a conclusion of the on-going series. In the same interview mentioned above, Tsuyoshi and Peter officially confirmed this rumor. Translated by Twitterati Alex Aniel, the pair said, “Village is a sequel to Resident Evil: Biohazard and serves as a conclusion to its story.”

    The news is indeed a shock to the fans who enjoyed this new supernatural horror approach to their favorite gaming franchise.

    Resident Evil Village
    New Werewolf zombie in Resident Evil Village

    Moreover, Capcom has provided a survey asking the feedback of the franchise fans. The most interesting question in there, however, is when they ask what do fans think about the name of the game and what that name represents to the fans. This clearly proves that Capcom is concerned about how the fans are taking this upcoming game and especially how they feel about its name.

    Fans around the world are eagerly expecting more news and developments about the sequel and are daying for short demo gameplay. No official release date has been provided by Capcom (although there is a leaked date) but the game is expected to release in 2021 with the new upcoming PS5.

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