Resident Evil Village is currently making waves across the internet, with fans finally getting to experience the next mainline iteration of the seminal horror franchise. It seems the excitement for the follow-up has managed to draw one of the franchise's biggest audiences yet, with the sequel setting a record for the most peak players Resident Evil has ever achieved on Steam.
Measured by Steam Database, the game managed to reach a total of 101,726 players earlier today, surpassing the peak player count of every other Resident Evil game currently available on the digital PC marketplace. The previous holder of the record was Resident Evil 2's 2019 remake, which managed to score a total of 74,227 peak players back when it launched.
Other entries in the series to achieve high peak player counts on Steam were Resident Evil 3, which capped out at over 60,000 players, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which achieved over 20,000 players, and Resident Evil 6, which hosted over 11,000 players. The full release has also blown Resident Evil Village's recent gameplay demo out of the water, with its all-time peak sitting at 18,263 players.
It appears the fanbase is ready to get drawn into Ethan Winters' latest adventure, which sees him forced to embark on a perilous journey through Village's titular setting in search of his daughter, Rose. Along the way, he'll have to go head to head with a roster of ominous lords, including the vampiric Lady Dimitrescu and her mysterious brother, Heisenberg.
They won't be the only antagonistic forces standing in Ethan's way, as he'll also have to contend with Chris Redfield, who appears to have a sinister plan of his own. Village has garnered great reviews since its embargo lifted a few days ago, with Game Rant awarding the game a 4 / 5, stating that the long-awaited follow-up "is packed with replay value [and] rarely has a dull moment."
It'll be interesting to see if its upcoming multiplayer component manages to conjure the same reactions when it launches later this year. Titled Resident Evil RE:Verse, the game sees players duke it out across a range of arenas, playing as heroes like Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, and Jill Valentine. The catch is that dying in RE:Verse sees combatants transform into one of the series' iconic villains, allowing them to step into the shoes of terrifying monsters like Nemesis, Mr. X, and Jack Baker. It's a concept that's sure to make for an interesting online experience.
Resident Evil Village is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: SteamDB