In this modern era of video games, in which studios and publishes wish to keep pushing forward with new technologies, there’s space for the clock to be turned back a few years. With current remakes looking to bring old games into this generation, there are fans out there who are looking to do the opposite, in the shape of “demakes.”. With there already being a demake of Elden Ring, there’s a desire from the community, it seems, to take something modern and reimagine it as a retro game. And that’s exactly what this one Resident Evil fan has done.
Uploading a video of the project recently, user the-robins-nest has taken one notable aspect from Resident Evil Village and turned it into a 2.5D animation, not too dissimilar from a classic RPG from a bygone era. In particular, the moment in question refers to the first time protagonist Ethan Winters encounters Lady Dimistrescu. The scene uses the audio from the game itself, but reimagines it in a pixelated, almost cutesy, manner. The best thing is, is that it’s possible to download the demo.
Many in the comments have lavished praises upon the animation’s creator, with one person wishing they could play the whole game like this, while another saying it reminds them of the JRPG Wild Arms 2. It’s also not the first time someone has imagined the RE title as a much older game. A while back, one modder decided to make a Castlevania-style demake of Resident Evil Village, which, again, incorporated the image of Lady Dimitrescu in pixel form.
The 9ft antagonist was very much the center of the game’s marketing campaign before release. With fans cosplaying as her, and even a mod adding Lady Dimitrescu to Skyrim, she was likely responsible for the game being as popular as it was upon launching. That’s not to say that the game itself wasn’t likely to do well, coming off the back of the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 7, but her first appearance in the media caused something of a stir across the internet.
Although it’s not the highest-selling Resident Evil game, at the time of writing, VIllage continue where the previous left off, in that it rebooted the franchise into something that took it back to its original survival horror roots, whereas previous iterations had taken it down a more action-oriented path. While one of the most praise-worthy aspects of the latest installments is their graphical quality, it’s interesting to see people like the-robins-nest see what would happen if that was downgraded to look more like something that came out twenty or so years ago.
Resident Evil Village is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Itch.io (download page)
