Resident Evil Villageis just a week away, and so survival-horror fans don’t have to wait much longer to see what’s next forprotagonist Ethan Winters. In the lead-up toResident Evil Village’s release, Capcom has revealed more behind-the-scenes details about the game and its development. And one of the recent revelation aboutResident Evil Village’s development cycle may come as a big surprise to fans of the franchise.
Speaking to IGN,Resident Evil Villagedirector Morimasa Sato revealed that the game started development about six months beforeResident Evil 7’s launch. Sato was instructed by his boss at Capcom to start planning the nextResident Evilgame whileResident Evil 7was still in development. When it was first conceived, it was unclear ifResident Evil Villagewould be a first-person game, as the developers didn’t know yet howResident Evil 7would be received by fans.
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As explained by IGN, the plan to setResident Evil Villagein a rural European village was already nailed down, as was the choice totake inspiration fromResident Evil 4. However, it wasn’t yet clear ifResident Evil Villagewould retain the first-person perspective ofRE7or even feature any of the characters from that game. WhenResident Evil 7launched to rave reviews and strong sales, plans forResident Evil Villagebecame more concrete.
Resident Evil 7was a huge success, both in terms of critic review scores and sales, which led to the decision to makeResident Evil Villagea direct sequel. That’s likely when it was decided to make Ethan Winters the protagonist ofResident Evil Village, just as he was the focus ofResident Evil 7.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard ofResident Evil Villagedevelopment starting early. Leaker AestheticGamer has alluded to as much in the past, and has suggested thatResident Evil 9has already started developmentas well. With Capcom itself confirming thatResident Evil Villagedevelopment started six months prior toResident Evil 7’s launch, it makes it much easier to believe thatResident Evil 9is also in active development, even withRE Villagehaving yet to release.
BesidesResident Evil 9, leaks have also pointed to a couple of otherResident Evilvideo games being in active development. One isknown by the codenameOutrage, and is believed to be in development as a Nintendo Switch exclusive game. The other is said to be aResident Evil 4remake, but Capcom has yet to officially reveal either project.
Resident Evil Villagelaunches May 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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