Resident Evil Village contains a shout-out to the scene in Resident Evil 5 where that game's protagonist, Chris Redfield, punches a boulder. Although Chris takes on a backseat role for most of Resident Evil Village, only becoming playable toward the end of the game, his most legendary achievement is directly referenced by the villainous Karl Heisenberg.
In his boss battle, Heisenberg explicitly describes Chris as a "boulder punching [expletive]," promising to kill him as soon as Ethan is dead. Gamers who played Resident Evil 5 may recall that the boulder in question was much larger than Chris, who is not a small man, and question where Heisenberg's confidence comes from. Resident Evil characters have been known to perform superhuman feats of strength and speed, but the boulder punching incident was so iconic--and notorious--that it went down in video gaming history.
For many fans, this was the scene that marked the Resident Evil franchise's transformation from survival horror to cheesy action. The decision to include a reference to it in the follow-up game to Resident Evil 7, which was a deliberate attempt to bring the series back to its terrifying roots, is an interesting one. There are many things to love and hate about Resident Evil Village, but its determination to connect the franchise's past and future may earn players' respect.
Despite the differences in tone, Resident Evil Village draws heavily on previous games in the series for inspiration, such as basing Lady Dimitrescu's stalking mechanics off of Mr. X, whose relentless pursuit is itself inspired by Nemesis in the original Resident Evil 3. Some players may find the execution of her character and boss fight a bit lackluster, but it's clear what the developers intended to invoke with her following Ethan through the castle. Compared to that, Heisenberg's reference to Chris's past exploits is a much more minor nod to the series' past.
Resident Evil Village had the series' biggest launch on Twitch, so this reference may well have been the meme's first exposure to gamers who missed Resident Evil 5. These new fans may wonder how Chris managed to move that rock with a body that's supposedly only baseline human. In the years since Resident Evil 5's release, Capcom has made it clear that this moment was not a hint that Chris has picked up enhancements or lost his humanity during his decades-long fight against the B.O.W. threat--it was only ever meant to give Chris, and thus players, a chance to be an action hero. For better or worse, the scene succeeded so well that long-time fans got the reference immediately.
Resident Evil Village is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.