Resident Evil Village, the eight mainline game in Capcom’s long-running horror franchise, has a lot of similarities and connections to the franchise’s most acclaimed title, Resident Evil 4. The franchise first started in 1996 with Resident Evil on the original PlayStation, a game that helped define the survival horror genre as well as revivify a long history of zombies in the video game industry. The franchise now consists of over a dozen games, with seven numbered titles and a myriad of other spinoffs.
To build up hype for Resident Evil Village, Capcom unanticipatedly launched a new gameplay trailer alongside a new PlayStation 5 exclusive demo. The demo, called The Maiden, puts fans in the shoes of the titular Maiden as they look for a way out of a scary castle. The demo doesn’t contain any combat, rather focusing more on horror and atmosphere, but another demo featuring combat will be launched for all platforms in the near future.
The new Resident Evil Village gameplay trailer revealed a couple of features and similarities that have been borrowed from Resident Evil 4. The forthcoming game’s focus on direct combat, as compared to Resident Evil 7’s harsher focus on survival, is identical to the fourth installment’s reimagination of the franchise as a third-person shooter action romp.
Resident Evil 4’s most iconic character, Merchant, who emerges frequently to sell the player guns and ammo, will also get a successor in the form of a new character The Duke. Both games are also set in frightening European towns featuring a castle as a significant landmark.
In addition to the single-player horror experience provided in Resident Evil Village, the development team has also revealed a new multiplayer game called Resident Evil RE: Verse. The multiplayer game will allow PvP combat between four to six players, with various characters and locations from across the series’ horrifying bioweapons including Resident Evil 3’s Nemesis.
The multiplayer game will be available for free to those who buy Resident Evil Village, making it a fun bonus incentive for fans of the title and a big mark of how the franchise has changed since Resident Evil 4.
Resident Evil 7 was considered a return to form for a franchise that promoted survival horror but gradually transitioned into an action-packed shooting series. With Resident Evil Village, Capcom appears to be sticking to what the past game did well, while also consistently pushing the envelope to deliver what players want.