Resident Evil Village is just a week away, and so survival-horror fans don’t have to wait much longer to see what’s next for protagonist Ethan Winters. In the lead-up to Resident Evil Village’s release, Capcom has revealed more behind-the-scenes details about the game and its development. And one of the recent revelation about Resident Evil Village’s development cycle may come as a big surprise to fans of the franchise.
Speaking to IGN, Resident Evil Village director Morimasa Sato revealed that the game started development about six months before Resident Evil 7’s launch. Sato was instructed by his boss at Capcom to start planning the next Resident Evil game while Resident Evil 7 was still in development. When it was first conceived, it was unclear if Resident Evil Village would be a first-person game, as the developers didn’t know yet how Resident Evil 7 would be received by fans.
As explained by IGN, the plan to set Resident Evil Village in a rural European village was already nailed down, as was the choice to take inspiration from Resident Evil 4. However, it wasn’t yet clear if Resident Evil Village would retain the first-person perspective of RE7 or even feature any of the characters from that game. When Resident Evil 7 launched to rave reviews and strong sales, plans for Resident Evil Village became more concrete.
Resident Evil 7 was a huge success, both in terms of critic review scores and sales, which led to the decision to make Resident Evil Village a direct sequel. That’s likely when it was decided to make Ethan Winters the protagonist of Resident Evil Village, just as he was the focus of Resident Evil 7.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard of Resident Evil Village development starting early. Leaker AestheticGamer has alluded to as much in the past, and has suggested that Resident Evil 9 has already started development as well. With Capcom itself confirming that Resident Evil Village development started six months prior to Resident Evil 7’s launch, it makes it much easier to believe that Resident Evil 9 is also in active development, even with RE Village having yet to release.
Besides Resident Evil 9, leaks have also pointed to a couple of other Resident Evil video games being in active development. One is known by the codename Outrage, and is believed to be in development as a Nintendo Switch exclusive game. The other is said to be a Resident Evil 4 remake, but Capcom has yet to officially reveal either project.
Resident Evil Village launches May 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: IGN
