Summary
IfResident Evil Villageis a fork in the road for the franchise,Resident Evil 9will have a lot of interesting choices to make. It seems as if Capcom has a plan for the future of the series in mind since it decided to definitively say that the so-called Winters saga had ended, which already infers a lot about what directionResident Evilis headed. There’s no telling whether that’ll be stuck to or not, but for the time being it seems safe to presume that alegacy mascot such as Chris Redfieldwill once again be the lead of a main installment unless something drastic likeResident Evil 7is in the works.
Resident Evilgames are great at being ambiguous about where they’ll be headed next, ending with as little of a hint as to where the series will be taken in subsequent entries. A legacy character’s prominence in the franchise also isn’t any indication of how long they’ll be kept around, or if they’ll ever be reprised. Chris coming back wasn’t expected inResident Evil 7, but his importance inResident EvilVillage—especially its ending cliffhanger—suggests he could be brought back for the fifth consecutive mainline game, even if that meansResident Evil 9’s storymight not be as unpredictable or novel.
Resident Evil’s Legacy Characters Come with Expectations and Baggage
Ethan Winters’ Fresh Face Meant Resident Evil Could Finally Have a Protagonist Plot Twist
Resident Evil Villagehad a lot on its plate and still managed to craft an incredible story for Ethan that revealed a well-thought-out plot twist in the end. Too often plot twists will rely on information that wasn’t even implicit let alone discernible, leading to a somewhat unsatisfying reveal.
Other times, plot twists can choose to say that events occurred off-screen, meaning they weren’t perceptible to begin with and therefore couldn’t have been predictable or gratifying to discover. Of course,Resident Evil Villageisn’t without its narrative hiccups. The plot twist forEthan actually having been ‘dead’ or part of the Mold hive mind since the beginning ofResident Evil7is fantastic, and Capcom went to the effort of explaining that thoroughly with receipts that are perfectly logical.
Ethan could glue himself back together with first aid meds, which was enough for players to suspend disbelief, but the reason why it worked was because he was Mold by the time he regained consciousness and was sitting for supper with the Bakers. However, the way thatVillagesets this twist reveal up is largely egregious, having Miranda suddenly insert herself into Ethan and Mia’s lives and having Chris coldly neglect to tell Ethan anything.
Resident Evil’s Legacy Characters Might Not Offer Authentic Intrigue Anymore
Not much was known about Ethan and Mia beforehand, either, but legacy characters such as Chris, Leon, and Jill are all relatively open books.Jill hasn’t been seen sinceResident Evil 5, at least not in the games’ canon, and if there was going to be a plot twist for her inResident Evil 9it would likely need to be explained away as something that happened to her between those games that players wouldn’t have seen.
The issue now with legacy characters is that unless something interesting happens to them in the narrative, they are all already fairly exhausted in terms of development that anything drastic might seem detrimentally random or obscure.
Replicating the significance and unpredictability of Ethan’s condition satisfyingly again might be quite impossible unless a new protagonist is introduced, whereasChris taking the lead inResident Evil 9would need to come with yet another arc for his character to go through. At this point, that’ll always be underwhelming unless Capcom can reinvent its legacy characters in fascinating and unique ways.
Resident Evil Village
WHERE TO PLAY
Ethan Winters finds himself in an entirely new nightmare in Capcom’s latest installment of the acclaimed Resident Evil franchise. Whether you’re defending against Lycans in the grim dwellings of the village or exploring the lavish Castle Dimitrescu, the meticulously designed environments immerse you in this eerie world, powered by Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine. Run from, hide or face off against a diverse cast of terrifying village inhabitants in dream-like - no, nightmarish - situations and fight your instincts to push through classic horror-based sequences. Also, be sure to check out “The Mercenaries” that unlocks once you’ve finished the campaign, a fast-paced and arcade-like game mode which challenges players to blast away enemies against the clock.
