Resident Evil Village is the first mainline RE game that isn't a remake or remaster since 2017's release of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. The game takes place a few years after the events of its predecessor and as such, more story events have built up over time. Ethan Winters is no longer the wooden character he was before and both his personality and combat techniques got big improvements.
Ethan needs all the training he can get as the events of Village unfold. The game builds a lot on Resident Evil 7 but is full of little references and story beats related to previous titles. Many people might overlook these references because they might not have played the older games, or they're just missed entirely. While many of these story-related easter eggs could be considered as overdone fan service, longtime fans will surely appreciate the references.
10 George Trevor's Book
Fans that played Resident Evil or Resident Evil Remake will remember the name, George Trevor. He's the architect who constructed the Arklay Mansion under the strict orders of Umbrella founder Ozwell E. Spencer in 1967. The mansion was the setting for the first Resident Evil game and still holds a special place in the hearts of many fans.
Years later in 2021, fans can discover a bookshelf in Ethan Winters' home with a book titled, "A Historical look into the Architecture of Eastern European Castles and Keeps." The author is none other than George Trevor, the man who built the Arklay Mansion and eventually died inside of it. His daughter Lisa became one of the most terrifying and important monsters in the series. Fans were happy to see Trevor outside the confines of the mansion though and appreciated the callback to the story of the original game.
9 Ethan's Strange Bobblehead
Another story reference that's easily missed in Ethan's home is the oddly familiar bobblehead sitting atop a shelf on the second floor. The purple and white-uniformed football player will be extremely familiar to any fans that played Resident Evil 7. These same bobbleheads were part of Jack Baker's personal collection and acted as the breakable collectible in RE7.
It's unclear why Ethan keeps one of these things around, as he probably isn't doing it out of any fond memories of Jack Baker. Ethan even tells himself that he should throw the bobblehead away and that even he is unsure of why he keeps it lying around. Perhaps part of him is still trapped in Dulvey, Louisiana and the bobblehead is a marker of his dark past with Mia and the Bakers.
8 Joseph Kendo's Book
Fans will remember Robert Kendo from Resident Evil 2. Robert ran the Kendo Gun Shop and was a close friend to Barry Burton and the other members of S.T.A.R.S. During the events of Resident Evil 2, Robert Kendo eventually dies and the Kendo Gun Shop is obliterated in the missile strike on Raccoon City.
Many fans forget that Robert had a brother--Joseph Kendo. Joseph was also part of the gun business and actually finalized the design for the now fan-favorite "Samurai Edge" handgun used by S.T.A.R.S. Joseph runs a gun shop out of the west coast of the United States and designed Leon S. Kennedy's starting pistol in Resident Evil 4.
He's also an author, and one of his books can be found in Ethan's house titled, "Gun Survivalist: A Heavy Firearms Manual for Field Combat Situations." The book probably helped Ethan with the military training he received from Chris Redfield.
7 The Mold Cave And Chris's Workstation
After defeating Moreau and getting the crank, players can go through the Northern gate by the altar and find a drawbridge. The drawbridge can be lowered and a small river with a boat can be accessed. Following the river, all the way downstream will lead to a small dock where players can choose to go left or right. To their right is a cave filled with moving mounds of mold and a workstation set up by Chris Redfield and the Wolfpack squad.
Reading the workstation computer, players will discover that the mold in the village has a nearly identical structure to the mold encountered in the Baker Estate. Chris and his team theorize that Mia's old organization known only as "The Connections" probably gathered mold from this very area in order to fuel their research and development of Eveline.
6 The Duke's Relationship With The RE4 Merchant
It's no secret that Resident Evil Village took a lot of inspiration from the all-time classic Resident Evil 4. Everything from the setting to the story beats shows that Village is wearing its RE4 badge proudly. Village's merchant is simply called, "The Duke" and he has much more dialogue than the previous merchant.
The Duke will aid Ethan throughout the game in more ways than just selling him items. Yet, his primary purpose still seems to be making money and being a businessman. In these transactions, there is a chance that the Duke will say, "What're ya buying? Haha, just something an old friend used to say."
As many fans know, the old merchant would always say, "What're ya buyin?" whenever Leon was purchasing items. This line implies that the Duke knows the old merchant and offers an interesting story link between Resident Evil Village and RE4.
5 Heisenberg's Reference To Chris Redfield
During the final fight with Karl Heisenberg, there's a lot going on. Ethan and the players are reeling from Chris just explaining Mia's death wasn't actually Mia dying--instead, it was Mother Miranda. Next, players are thrown into a little tank-like device that Heisenberg built and suddenly they're face to face with the mutated Lord himself. A lot happens at once, so much that it's easy to miss Heisenberg's jab at Chris Redfield.
In the middle of the fight, a large explosion destroys Heisenberg's factory. Heisenberg looks over and screams in anger at losing his, "Metal army." He seems to know that Chris is the one who planted the explosives as he then goes on to say that he's going to, "Murder that boulder-punching a**hole."
This line is either total and blatant 4th wall-breaking fan service or it implies that Heisenberg somehow knows about Chris punching boulders to save Sheva in his final battle with Albert Wesker. Is Chris's feat of comical strength know to a lot of people in the RE universe or was Capcom just throwing the fans a boulder-sized bone?
4 The Opening Attack Sequence's Mirrored Events
Ethan is thrown right into the action early on in the events of Village. He's forced to survive a seemingly endless attack of lycans as he runs from house to house, defending himself with everything he has. The sequence is quite difficult and players definitely won't be paying too much attention to the actual events as they struggle to survive.
Yet, this opening is a near-perfect mirror of the opening village sequence in Resident Evil 4. Leon is forced to survive waves of Ganado as he runs around the village searching desperately for items to aid in his fight. Years and years later, Ethan Winters finds himself in nearly the same shoes, except the Ganado are now vicious animalistic lycans.
The attack ends with the ringing of a church bell and the retreat of the lycans, leaving an injured and confused Ethan behind. The only thing missing to complete the mirrored sequence would be Ethan spouting a one-liner about the lycans going to Bingo.
3 The BSAA Possibly Using J'avo
Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine were some of the original founders of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) years and years before the events of Resident Evil Village. Originally, the BSAA was an organization totally against bioterrorism and any bioweapon was an enemy of the BSAA.
After Chris and Jill separated themselves from the BSAA, the organization seemed to fall apart. Among corporate struggles and general corruption, it was unclear where the BSAA would go or what they were doing. Chris used his connections with the BSAA to keep Ethan and Mia safe while they were being moved around.
It seems Chris left the BSAA entirely though, and this may have been the final straw. Near the end of Resident Evil Village, a BSAA corpse is recovered by a member of the Wolfpack squad. He shows it to Chris and says that the BSAA are using bioweapons as soldiers. Concerned, Chris orders his crew to fly to the HQ of the BSAA Europe branch. The bioweapon seems to represent a J'avo from Resident Evil 6 which would mean that the BSAA is possibly using the C-Virus to do their bidding.
2 Ada Wong's Cut Role
Players that purchased the deluxe editions of Resident Evil Village got access to more concept art pieces. Among these pieces of art were unused scenes and drawings of the fan-favorite femme fatale, Ada Wong.
Ada Wong is usually dressed in sleek Bond-Esque dresses or uniforms, but her artwork shows a very different image for her role in Village. Wong would've forgone the red dress for a plague doctor outfit, perhaps for better concealment inside the strange village.
She was originally set to be running her own investigation of the village and she was supposed to save Ethan when he first gets captured by Heisenberg. Ultimately, her role was cut from the story but fans are hopeful for an Ada DLC somewhere in the future.
1 Chris's RE1 Callback
Fans who have played the original Resident Evil will surely remember the hokey live-action intro. There wasn't a CG opening like in Resident Evil Remake and instead, there was a B-Horror-like intro with Chris, Jill, Barry, and the rest of S.T.A.R.S running into the Arklay Mansion.
Each of the main cast was then given their own action movie intro. Chris Redfield is seen lighting a cigarette and smoking. He's never smoked in any of the other games, and it was almost a forgotten piece of his character.
Yet, in the section where players take control of Chris in Resident Evil Village Chris lights a cigarette up before embarking on his mission. It's a nice callback to a story beat that many players won't even know about as many newer fans haven't touched the older RE games.