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! 

Games: Ōkami: Oki, Warrior of the Oina

Hello everyone and welcome!

Recently, my boyfriend and I have been replaying Ōkami and only now have I realised I’ve omitted a notable character that appears in the game, who displays werewolf qualities. That character is Oki and he will be the subject of today’s article.

Concept art for Oki showing his human and wolf forms

Oki (short for Okikurumi, also spelled Okikurmi) is a character that appears in Capcom’s 2006 action-adventure video game Ōkami which tells the story of how the great Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu descends into the human world in the form of a wolf and embarks on a divine mission to rid the land of Nippon (Japan) of the corruption spread by the demonic Yamata no Orochi and his supporters.

The game is filled to the brim with characters taken from Japanese mythology and folklore and it is no different for Oki. He is based on the figure of an Ainu hero of lore, Okikurumi, with a couple of twists here and there. The Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan, who  originally inhabited Hokkaido and north-eastern Honshu, as well as parts of Russia (Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands). Okikurumi was a hero of mythology poems called oina, part of the Ainu creation myths. According to legend, Okikurumi was born when Pa Kor Kamui (the Pestilence God), while flying above the newly-created land, sat on a branch of an elm tree to rest. The goddess of the elm tree, Cikisani, became pregnant due to this and bore a son – Okikurumi. Because the Ainu people used the wood of elm trees to start fires, Okikurumi quickly became associated with the element of fire. He was also said to have taught the people of earth how to hunt and fish and when he became an adult, his mother, Cikisani, presented him with a magic sword with which he conquered demons and evil spirits of the world.

Amaterasu first encounters Oki in the land of Kamui (more about the significance of the land’s name below), a snowy region in the northern part of Nippon. He appears as a young man in purplish-blue clothes and a red sleeveless vest embroidered with white symbols, with long red-and-black hair, wearing a mask that resembles either a blue bear or a wolf, and wielding the sacred sword Kutone. At first, Oki attacks Amaterasu with his sword, but when the goddess defeats him in his human form, he transforms into a large dark-furred wolf with a red mane, the white symbols becoming a pattern on his back, his mask, pendant, and sword remaining as his accessories. As a wolf, Oki can still speak and he battles using not only his lupine features, but also his sword. After he is once again defeated by Amaterasu, Oki turns back into a human and commends her and acknowledges that she is not an ordinary wolf. He informs her that he is a warrior of the Oina tribe (a reference to the Ainu mythology poems in which his original counterpart featured) that inhabit Kamui and that he has stolen the sacred sword Kutone in order to vanquish demons that have caused a deadly blizzard to rage in the region. Subsequently, Oki accompanies Amaterasu on her journey to slay demons in hope of sating his sword’s thirst for demon blood and stopping the blizzard raging in Kamui.

Wolf form Oki and Amaterasu

One thing to note here is that if you look at the concept artwork for Oki or look at his sword during the game, you will notice that the hilt and scabbard resemble wood and both have totem-like carvings on their surface. The fact that Oki possesses a sword with a hilt that resembles a totem is no coincidence. The Ainu’s religion featured animism – a worldview that animals, plants, and some inanimate objects possess a spiritual essence. This spiritual essence, or divine spirit, was called “kamui” (or “kamuy”) – the same name as the land in which Oki and his tribe live and where Amaterasu first encounters him. From this, we can deduce that the totem-hilt of the sword (or the fang-shaped pendant Oki never parts with) acts as a conduit between Oki and the wolf spirit, similarly to how tribal shamans channel the spirits through their bodies, allowing him to transform into a wolf. It’s just a theory, though, since I don’t remember if we see Oki shapeshift again after he returns Kutone to his village’s shrine. I wasn’t able to find any mention of the legendary Okikurumi being able to turn into a wolf, so I am going to go out on a limb and say that Clover Studios, the developers of Ōkami, simply combined his character with elements of Ainu beliefs.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I’ll see you next time! As a bonus, here is a GIF of Oki transforming into his wolf form for the first time :)

Oki transforms into a wolf during his fight with Amaterasu

Since I am now part of Amazon’s Affiliate program, you can support me by purchasing a copy of your own of Ōkami from Amazon! Should my article spark your interest in the game (as it should, since Ōkami is an amazing game) – please consider buying it using the link provided below. Simply click on the cover of the game on the right-hand side and you will be sent to a page listing all the offers related to it! Thank you and enjoy!

Click here to shop for
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Sources:

Donald L. Philippi, Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans: The Epic Tradition of the Ainu, Princeton University Press, 1979

http://okami.wikia.com/wikia/Oki

http://kunnesiri.narod.ru/okikurumi.htm

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