Since its reveal, Capcom has made it clear that the main playable character in the upcoming Resident Evil 8 is none other than Ethan Winters, the protagonist of Resident Evil 7. The company has given no indication that any other characters will be playable in the new game, but according to recent rumors, it's possible that Resident Evil 8 will have a whopping three different playable characters over the course of the campaign.
These rumors stem from AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem, who was recently answering fan questions about Resident Evil 8 on Twitter. A proven Resident Evil franchise leaker, AestheticGamer said that players play as Chris Redfield during part of the new game. Chris Redfield has been heavily featured in the Resident Evil 8 promotional material so far, though it wasn't necessarily made clear that he would be playable.
This wouldn't be the first time that Chris Redfield has been playable in these first-person RE games. There was some Resident Evil 7 DLC called Not A Hero that made Chris playable, showing what happened in the immediate aftermath of the RE7 story. That DLC portrayed Chris as being far more capable than Ethan in terms of combat, which makes sense, and it will be interesting to see if that same contrast is present in Resident Evil 8.
The identity of the third playable character in Resident Evil 8 remains a mystery. AestheticGamer believes that the mysterious female character is still a playable part of Resident Evil 8, but conceded that they didn't know that "as a concrete fact." No clues were given as to her identity, but there are many different possibilities. The Resident Evil franchise is full of female playable characters for RE8 to choose from, plus the game could always invent a new character.
What's interesting is that the Resident Evil 8 Maiden demo seemingly features a female playable character, if the "Maiden" title of the demo is any indication. Maybe that person is the female playable character in Resident Evil 8, though the ending of the demo suggests that they meet a rather grisly fate. The door is also open to Capcom scrapping the character entirely, so fans should keep that in mind and standby for more information from Capcom.
The Resident Evil 8 release date is not too far off, with the game set to launch on May 7. Fans can expect plenty more information to be revealed between now and then, though it remains to be seen if Capcom will touch on any of the other playable characters besides Ethan.
Resident Evil 8 launches May 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.