Resident Evil Village - What We Know So Far

Hello everyone and welcome once again!

The fact that I was gone for such a long time doesn't mean that I haven't been keeping my ears open and my nose pointed towards the wind. The backlog of werewolf-related things to talk about has been building, I'll admit. When I came back, I thought I'd take a look at good old Werewolf Theory's posts section - and the amount of drafts that I left genuinely surprised me. Most of them still require quite a bit of research and work to be ready to publish, though, so I can't say when I'll be able to go through them all. But I sure as heck can try!

In the meantime, however, there is a more pressing matter I'd like to talk about. And that is the upcoming newest instalment in Capcom's Resident Evil series - Resident Evil Village that is scheduled to release on May 7th this year for PC and both the current and the older generation of consoles. It's already way overdue that we talk about this one, so let's get to it!

The official cover artwork for Capcom's upcoming release.
Click on the image to view version for different platforms and to pre-order/purchase the game from Amazon using Werewolf Theory's affiliate link

The image above speaks for itself as to the reason why I am writing about the game here on Werewolf Theory. Ladies and gentlemen, we now have werewolves in Resident Evil. Let's take a look at what we know so far.

Resident Evil Village (also known as Resident Evil 8, since the roman numerals are incorporated into the title), originally titled Biohazard: Village in Japanese, was first announced during Sony's Playstation showcase event in June 2020. I remember being completely taken aback when the announcement trailer showed enemies that looked very much like werewolves. I was shocked at the reveal of the official cover artwork as well, which features one of the characters' face on one side and a (were)wolf's snout on the other. Because Resident Evil has always been predominantly about zombies, mutants and what have you, I was more than surprised to see the newest instalment in the series going in a completely different direction. If someone had told me that the new game was going to replace zombies as primary enemies with something else, I don't think I would have guessed that werewolves and vampires (yes, vampires) would take their place.

But, as it turned out as more of the game was shown, it was a perfect match for the setting of the game's story. Since the announcement last year, two more trailers, a developers' insight video, a gameplay showcase and a playable demo have been released, giving us more details about what's going to happen as well as a better look at the game world itself. The game's director, Morimasa Sato, said in the developer insights video that he thinks of the Resident Evil series "as horror movies with the player in the starring role". By the looks of the upcoming release, I would say they're on the right track.

A look at the village's graveyard, with Castle Dimitrescu in the background

Resident Evil Village takes place a few years after the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and continues the story of the previous game's protagonist, Ethan Winters, who is shown living what seems to be a regular, normal life with his wife. At some point, however, he is called on by Chris Redfield (a character that has been part of the series since the original Resident Evil) who, for as of this moment unknown reason, murders Ethan's wife before kidnapping him and transporting him to a remote village somewhere in Europe. We don't get a precise location, but from the way it looks (and the fact that the nearby castle is called Castle Dimitrescu) I would say it's pretty safe to assume it's in Romania, or close. It has a very Van Helsing-esque, gloomy feel to it, with a sinister-looking castle towering over it in the distance. As can be expected, something wicked is going on in the village - as the player-controlled Ethan explores it and solves various puzzles, he is confronted by a woman who seems to be either a witch or a cult member (for yes, there seems to be some sort of cult present) and attacked by what appear to be ghouls, as well as werewolves.

And then there are the vampires, a female coven of whom are the main antagonists of the game. From what has been revealed so far, Lady Dimitrescu, the leader of this coven, is also the lady of the aforementioned castle. Ethan's mission is to brave the dangers in the village and reach the castle, where he is to rescue a girl who is being held captive by the vampires, a plot-line very reminiscent of the earlier Resident Evil 4. And so far that is about it when it comes to what we know of the story. Why did Chris murder Ethan's wife and bring him all the way to a European village full of all kinds of supernatural beings? Is Chris a werewolf, like the cover art would suggest? If so, how did he become a werewolf? Is he part of the village cult? Are the werewolves controlled by the castle's vampires? Who is Lady Dimitrescu and what is her motivation? Who is the girl Ethan's meant to rescue and why was she captured in the first place? It seems that we will have to wait a while longer to get all the answers.

What looks to be a glabro werewolf, as seen in one of the trailers

I can't say I've ever been a fan of the Resident Evil series (hear me out here), because I've never really played through any of the games myself. I've made several attempts over the years to finish the first one, but I never managed to do so. But I've enjoyed seeing other people play them, because their stories were always interesting to me, since I like pretty much everything horror. Maybe this time I'll give it a shot, since the newest part has werewolves in it and I really like the art style.

Anyhow, there's still quite some time before the release. Who knows what new information will be made public before then? If there is anything of interest (read: anything werewolf-related) in whatever is released next, I will make sure to update this post. In the meantime, you can view all of the Resident Evil Village content released thus far on the official Resident Evil YouTube channel. You can also visit the game's website at https://www.residentevil.com/village. And if you happen to be planning on pre-ordering or buying the game when it releases from Amazon, I would be grateful if you used my affiliate link by clicking on the first picture in this post or by using the link provided in the Support Me section at the top 😀

So, what do you think about the newest Resident Evil game? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time!