‘Resident Evil’ Showcase Recap: Release Dates, New Games & Surprises

Thursday night’s Resident Evil Showcase from Capcom settled several debates about the upcoming game Resident Evil Village and made an unexpected, for better or worse, new game announcement.

The 17-minute presentation opened with an extended trailer showing more of the gothic mansion already hinted at in previous trailers for Resident Evil Village. Initial rumors that the pale woman prominently shown in last year’s announcement trailer might be giant-sized also appear true since she can be seen crouching to walk through a doorway. It also seems main character Ethan Winters has more of a connection to this small village than he is letting on.

Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village Producer Peter Fabiano announced that the game will be coming to Playstation 4 day-in-day with the previously announced Playstation 5 version of the game. 

With the disastrous Playstation 4 and Xbox One launches of Cyberpunk 2077 fresh in the mind of many gamers, all eyes will be on Capcom to see if they can make the visually stunning RE Village run on the more than seven-year old hardware.

Fabiano announced, also, a surprisingly early release date for Resident Evil Village on May 7, 2021. Playstation 5 players can download a free demo starting today.

In now standard fashion, there are several different ‘editions’ of Resident Evil Village including various goodies like a steel book case and, as Fabiano calls it, a “striking” statuette of character Chris Redfield. There is also a bundle that will include both Resident Evil Village as well as Resident Evil VII in one package for those who may have missed the earlier chapter in the story. While they were not mentioned in the showcase, prices for the several versions of the game vary from $60 for the standard edition to $80 for the bundle with Resident Evil VII. The “striking” Chris Redfield Statuette collector’s edition has not been priced.

Fabiano then guided viewers through a gameplay demo showing that many elements from the first-person Resident Evil VII will remain in this new entry. The producer highlighted that enemies have individual behaviors, and that combat will be a thoughtful mix of offense and defense. A crafting system and inventory management from previous games is also making a return.

25th Anniversary of Resident Evil

The showcase then led into various celebrations related to the 25th anniversary of the Resident Evil series. With techno music blaring, Capcom Producer Tsuyoshi Kanda announced a new multiplayer Resident Evil game called RE:VERSE where players seemingly duel against their friends in various Resident Evil settings from the series. Same as Resident Evil Resistance, which came packed free with the Resident Evil 3 remake last April, RE:VERSE will be packed in with every purchase of Resident Evil Village.

The presentation then closed off by announcing Resident Evil cosmetic items for the Ubisoft game The Division 2 and showing a very short clip of a new CGI Resident Evil movie.

While Resident Evil Village does look very promising, many were expecting a more monumental release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Resident Evil. Being that it is still early in the year, there may still be more announcements to commemorate the series’ history in the future.