Resident Evil Requiemlooks great, but it’ll never live up to the series' biggest hits.RE9was announced at Summer Game Festto great fanfare, after a lot of teasing by Capcom. We have relatively little information to go off at this early stage, beyond its initial trailerand a brief preview, but most accounts are pretty positive. Some fans have already raised concerns about certain aspects ofRE9, including the potentially confusingability to switch between first- and third-person, and itsapparently greater focus on actionthan previous games in the series.
That said, I know I’ll be lining up to playRE9as soon as it’s released - I have a soft spot for the franchise, and I just eat up its particular brand of survival horror. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, but I worry that in its more recent attempts to hearken back toRE’s glory days,the franchise will never live up to its best entries- both the older classics and the newer innovations.RE9could still prove me wrong, but in its current state, I don’t think it’ll be the shakeup such a long-running franchise needs to keep things fresh.
Resident Evil 7’s Reveal & Release Raised The Bar High
A Monumental Shakeup
WhenResident Evil 7was first revealed,many fans had trouble believing it was even aResident Evilgame. Everything in its early trailers and first-hour demo seemed so monumentally different from anything the series had attempted before: its bayou setting, its new protagonist, its first-person perspective.RE7largely forewent the action-combat-oriented gameplay the series had been trending towards sinceRE4, in favor of a much simpler, more immersive found-footage horror experience. It made homages to classic slasher films - the DNA ofThe Texas Chain Saw MassacreandSaware absolutely everywhere inRE7.
And it worked.RE7was a huge critical and commercial success, and was praised for its bold new direction and fresh perspective on a stagnant series. Although I can’t say for sure,I’d wager that it was only due toRE7’s success thatResident Evilunderwent the full-scale revivalwe find ourselves in the midst of today. Since then, it’s been followed by three remakes, another mainline game, and now, we have another on the way.
Don’t get me wrong -I don’t wantResident Evil Requiemto be anotherRE7. It’s more the principle of the thing.RE7was a hit because of how completely and courageously it reinvented theResident Evilformula. From what we already know aboutResident Evil Requiem, it doesn’t seem like it’ll do similarly. The return of protagonist Leon Kennedy and a potential partial Raccoon City setting suggest more of a return to form, not a departure from it.
Resident Evil Remakes Are Fantastic, But Nothing New
Looking Back, Not Forwards
In between its mainline entries,Resident Evilhas focused on remaking its old classics. So far, 2,3, and4have been tapped for revival, withever-present rumors of aCode: Veronicaremakeon the way. And these remakes have largely been pretty great: although the originals still have their charm, the REmakes don’t abandon the original games' frustrating features, like typewriter saves and over-the-shoulder perspective, in favor of modern convenience. As a result, they manage to capture a significant amount of the original oppressive atmosphere.
But as much as I enjoy the REmakes, I don’t think they’re the franchise’s future, either. They’re effective and fun revivals of old classics, but that’s all they are. The problem is twofold: first, there’s the obvious issue thatCapcom is due to run out of source material fairly soon. The REmake effort has obviously stalled atResident Evil 5, but even if Capcom does turn its attention to spinoffs next, there are only a handful that are ripe for remaking. Once that’s all gone, what’s next? I doubt we’ll see aResident Evil 7remake any time soon.
Beyond that, though, there’s also the simple fact thattheResident Evilremakes don’t offer anything new. They’re rehashing the older hits by design; they don’t change too much about them, so as not to alienate long-time fans, and they’re better for it. A franchise can’t survive by remaking its greatest entries alone; eventually,Resident Evilwill have to try something new and innovative again.
Village Took Risks, But Didn’t Shock Like 7
More Of A Spiritual Successor
In a similar vein,Resident Evil Village(AKARE8) took a totally different approach fromRE7,going back to the series' roots instead of innovating on them. To use a moreFinal Fantasynaming convention, I like to think of it asResident Evil 4-2.The hallmarks are all there: the rural European setting, the more Gothic horror vibe, the vampire-like villains, and the greater focus on action gameplay compared to its immediate predecessors. For what it’s worth, both games pull this off exceptionally well. But by the time we got toRE8, we’d seen that all before.
RE8sometimes feels like it was engineered to succeed, instead of evolving organically from the series' past.
And much like the remakes,it doesn’t offer anything new. Everything aboutRE8is marketing gold - the Gothic horror visuals, Lady Dimitrescu herself.RE8sometimes feels like it was engineered to succeed, instead of evolving organically from the series' past. And it did succeed, to its credit, but it doesn’t quite hold up against the greatest and most groundbreaking games in the franchise.
I fear thatRE9could be repeating historyhere. Instead of taking cues fromResident Evil 4, though, it’s looking back at earlier entries in the series, taking on a more urban setting and bringing back Leon for (what I hope is) one last ride. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does suggest thatRE9will be significantly less original and innovative thanRE7, which is disappointing.
Has Resident Evil Peaked?
Only Time Will Tell
Ultimately, there’ll never be anotherResident Evil 7. That’s both a good and a bad thing: good in that Capcom shouldn’t try to imitate its past successes, and instead try to create something new, and bad in that such a monumental shakeup seems unlikely for the franchise any time soon. There’s an old adage that says, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s a philosophy Capcom appears to be abiding by, taking what’s worked forResident Evilin the past and rehashing it until it gets old, then reinventing itself once again. It’s been successful so far, but I don’t think it’s sustainable.
Still, Capcom could make me eat my words. My secret hope is that this next game is intended to be Leon’s swan song, and afterward, we’ll retire that arm of the franchise for good. There may be another game-changingREtitle in the works right now - I have no way of knowing. One thing’s for certain, though:Resident Evil Requiemis not it.
