Last week during Sony's anticipated PlayStation 5 reveal event, fans expected some sort of horror game reveal and sure enough, Capcom delivered. Following months long speculation, rumors, and leaks, Resident Evil Village was shown officially confirming a number of elements and features. Through the clever use of roman numerals, Capcom makes it clear that this is Resident Evil 8 even though the subtitle is actually Village.
After the debut trailer for Resident Evil Village, Capcom released a special message from producers Tsuyoshi Kanda and Pete Fabiano. Right off the bat, the pair address the big reason why the team choose to move away from just calling the game Resident Evil 8. The decision was intentional even if Village represents the 8th mainline game in the series and the team has been keeping that in mind as they develop it.
However, the big reason for the switch in subtitle is the location that the game takes place in. Capcom has designed the village to be a critical component of the experience, so much so that the team considers it its own character in addition to Chris, Ethan, and everyone else. As such, Capcom clearly wanted to stress how important this part of the experience is going to be by adding it in as the game's subtitle rather than simply attaching a number to it.
Kanda and Fabiano go on to highlight a few other facts from the game including the presence of Chris Redfield. While traditionally a heroic character in many of the earlier games, in Resident Evil 8, Chris is shown off as being darker and more brooding than ever before. This change was very much intentional as the producers even hint that his return isn't quite in the way that most players likely think. While they don't outright say it, rumors that Redfield is now some sort of antagonist or challenge for the players to overcome could be true.
Originally intended to be a cross-generation game, Capcom confirmed that it has since made Resident Evil Village a next-gen only game to take advantage of new technology. This includes features like no load times which will help keep players immersed as Ethan Winters. Surprisingly, the game also eases up on the horror style of past games to be a lot more action-oriented, something which may disappoint longtime fans of the franchise. Either way, fans won't have to wait too much longer to learn more as the team has additional announcements planned later this summer.
Resident Evil 8: Village is currently in development and is set to release to the PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X sometime in 2021.