Are Resident Evil Villages Vampires and Werewolves the Future of the Franchise? – Den of Geek

What weve seen of Village so far only supports that theory. In fact, theres very little of the classic zombie archetype to be found in Villages wolves and vampires. The footsoldier wolves seem to have the ability to summon nearby friends so that they can attack Ethan as a pack (they appear to function similar to RE4s villagers in that respect), and some of them can even ride horses and wield weapons. Similarly, Lady Dimitrescus castle is populated by flying gargoyle/vampire-like creatures as well as Dimitrescus previously revealed daughters who utilize a series of almost supernatural abilities to hunt Ethan. Nearly every enemy we see in the game relies on some kind of skill that goes beyond snarling, shambling, biting, andwell, other zombie-like tactics.

In fact, the closest thing weve seen to a zombie thus far in Resident Evil Village are these hooded servants who again will undoubtedly again remind some of the villagers in Resident Evil 4. Even then, those servants have access to melee weapons and will sometimes even hide in pools of water and other areas in order to get the jump on Ethan, which suggests a level of intelligence we dont typically associate with the average zombie in this series.

So are there zombies in Resident Evil Village? Theres always a chance there are some lurking around later in the game, but based on what weve seen so far, it appears the answer is no. To be honest, Im starting to think thats a good thing.

Resident Evil has always featured a variety of monsters, but for over 20 years, the shambling undead was the franchises default enemy type. Zombies remained relevant in horror culture throughout much of that time (increasingly so by the time the mid-2000s rolled around), so their presence usually went unquestioned. Actually, there was a time when the idea of having a Resident Evil game without a zombie was like having a Super Mario platformer without a Goomba. Sure, we can dispatch them rather easily, but its really about the ritual.

Now, though, Im not so sure that the Resident Evil team should feel quite so obligated to bring zombies back into the fold. As we saw in the preview for Zack Snyders Army of the Dead, which featured zombie war councils and hints at zombie love, the idea of the zombie has evolved quite a bit over the years. George Romeros zombies walked so that 28 Days Laters zombies could run so that modern zombies could be pretty much whatever their creators want them to be.

As basic enemies, though, zombies in Resident Evil games are starting to feel increasinglywellbasic. As weve seen by the reaction to Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil fans seem to bethirsty for unique character designs, and the games creators seem to enjoy diving deeper into horror history to come up with those new designs. Sure, they could design zombies that are a little more modern and capable, but if youre going to do that, then why not just throw zombies out entirely and pursue something that we maybe havent seen so much of before?

Movies like One Cut of the Dead show that there are certainly unique zombie stories left to tell, and The Walking Deads absurd popularity over the years seems to prove that those predictions of zombie burnout weve heard before havent come true quite yet. Maybe the Resident Evil franchise has one great zombie game left in it, but I feel like that game would need to be specifically designed to account for the unique opportunities presented by a zombie threat (such as needing to hold up in a fixed location surrounded by undead) rather than try to force zombies into the experience as the default enemy type.

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Are Resident Evil Villages Vampires and Werewolves the Future of the Franchise? - Den of Geek