sisslethecat
A few days ago we were introduced to the latest Resident Evil title, Project REsistance (working title) with a spiffy looking pre-rendered trailer. We were left to more or less try to piece together what was going on in said trailer until we got more information, which we’ve finally gotten today! A new gameplay overview trailer explains that yes, this is indeed 4v1 multiplayer, and also is set in Raccoon City during the outbreak. Four survivors have been lured into a sinister experiment being conducted by Umbrella (or someone with access to their stuff) and will be forced to fight for their lives as they try to escape. Capcom has also provided a bunch of further details on Project REsistance as well, including information about an upcoming closed Beta!
Today at Tokyo Game Show (TGS), Capcom unveiled a new type of survival horror set in the Resident Evil universe, Project Resistance (working title). This asymmetric online five-person multiplayer game combines both cooperative and competitive dynamics, with the opportunity for players to create their own survival horror experience. Four Survivors must work together to escape an insidious experiment and outsmart the twisted Mastermind behind the scenes. Capcom is developing Project Resistance in partnership with NeoBards Entertainment, utilizing the proprietary RE Engine known for high-quality gameplay and remarkable visual fidelity in games such as Resident Evil 2 and Devil May Cry 5. It is currently being developed for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X, and Steam.
In each 4v1 match, one Mastermind player tracks the four Survivors through a network of security cameras, staying one step ahead at every turn to prevent their escape. The Mastermind plots a deadly course by wielding a strategic deck of cards to create dangerous obstacles for the Survivors, such as summoning vicious creatures, setting traps, manipulating the environment, and weaponizing security cameras. He or she can also directly control zombies in play. In addition, Mastermind players can even step into the trench coat of the towering, deadly Tyrant for the first time in franchise history. In turn, the Survivors must cooperatively work together as a team to fend off the Mastermind’s attacks and complete puzzle style mission objectives to escape the map before time runs out. Each Survivor possesses unique skills to help their team overcome the Mastermind’s challenges and survive the sinister experiment.
There will be a special early access opportunity to playtest this working project at TGS. In addition, Xbox Insider Program members and RE Ambassadors will be eligible for a chance to participate in the Project Resistance closed beta on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The closed beta will run from October 4 through October 7. Registration will be open between Sept. 11 and 18 at https://www.project-resistance.com/en/. More details on Project Resistance and the closed beta will be revealed at a later date.
Looking into it, NeoBards Entertainment is a Taiwanese development studio that’s been working with Capcom for a few years on multiple HD ports of older titles. Ranging from the Switch ports of REmake and RE0 (ehhhh) to the HDing of Onimusha and the most recent port of DMC HD Collection, they’ve been working very closely with Capcom. I’m a bit… perplexed by the handling of this by a studio that’s basically never made a game from the ground-up before (at least from what I can find, correct me if I’m wrong), but then again this is a spin-off, and perhaps letting new blood take a stab at it is a sort of proving grounds after a string of (mostly) successful ports. I’d also be interested in knowing if this is the “third party studio” that we’ve been hearing would handle REmake 3 for a while now, especially after Dusk Golem commented on Project REsistance perhaps being tied directly to that project, or having originally been a part of it.
UPDATE: A gameplay video has also been released, showing Mastermind and Survivor footage. Gameplay is surprisingly quiet, although maybe the music just isn’t done yet. There’s a lot to see here, so I’ll be going over it in some future post. I’m uh… I’m not feeling Pepé Le Pew as the bad guy tho.
There’s more information regarding gameplay itself on the Project REsistance website, which can also help clear up some of the questions we might have about gameplay:
Capcom’s Project Resistance is a new 1 vs. 4 asymmetric online survival horror experience set in the world of Resident Evil. Unleash your inner evil as a cunning Mastermind or join the fight as one of the resourceful Survivors desperately trying to escape every obstacle the Mastermind puts in their way!
GAMEPLAY
Objective
- Survivors will win if they manage to escape before time runs out. The Mastermind will win if they manage to prevent all survivors from escaping.
[Survivors]
A group of youths with different backgrounds who were captured by Umbrella for use in its experiments.
They only have one objective: escape. Survivors will need to use their unique skills effectively to cover each other and defeat the creatures together. Cooperation and coordination are vital to success.
[Completing Stages]
By completing objectives such as obtaining specific items, Survivors can advance to the next area. Survivors will successfully escape once they complete the third area in a level.
[Time Limits and Respawns]
When a Survivor takes too much damage, they will start dying. They will not be able to move freely while in this state, but a nearby teammate can revive them. If they fail to get help in time, they will respawn, but lose a chunk of time.
[Skills]
Survivors each have their own special skills. Damage reduction, healing, melee attack, hacking—use your skills effectively and escape together.
We also get information regarding who we’ll be playing as, and their skill sets.
It’s pretty neat to hear about connections to the world of Raccoon City again, although I have to admit their bios lead to much more adult sounding characters than they look. I’d expected a team of high school seniors or at most college sophomores slasher-movie stlye, but we seem to be getting a group of mostly professional Raccoon City working-class adults. Hey, I’m not complaining, one step closer to Outbreak. Tyrone working for the RFD is a nice touch, as they’ve only been featured in the original Outbreak to date, never having once been referenced in another piece of RE media until now. This is, of course, only the survivors. Behind the evil lurks a puppet-master that will stop at nothing to see them torn limb-from-limb… in the name of science, of course.
[Mastermind]
They secretly kidnap young people for the purpose of data gathering.
By forcing these youths into desperate situations, the Mastermind aims to gather valuable research data on how the subjects respond to fear. The Mastermind will not face the Survivors directly. Instead, they observe through the security cameras, setting traps to prevent their escape.
[Cameras]
The Mastermind can observe the Survivors’ actions through the security cameras placed all around the facility.
[Cards]
The Mastermind can use cards to create all sorts of chaos including placing traps and vicious creatures on the map and weaponizing security cameras.
[Creatures]
The Mastermind can take direct control of zombies and the Tyrant to attack Survivors.
As far as the mastermind themselves, well… there isn’t much. Sadly, he is indeed confirmed not to be Wesker. Instead, he is ‘Daniel Fabron’. Evidently, he worked under direct orders from Spencer and worked with Alex Wesker (you can hear him refer to a ‘Dr. Wesker’ in the gameplay footage — he’s talking about Alex, not Albert, who is currently ‘dead’)
That said… eagle-eyed Aesthetic Gamer/Dusk Golem has pointed out a very interesting detail in some of the Japanese marketing that’s… mmff. Looks like ol’ Daniel here might not be the only Mastermind — check out the background in this image — dead center, that’s REmake 2‘s version of Annette Birkin, alongside REmake 2’s version of Birkin G1. I’d be… interested to know how lore would explain away being able to control any stage of G, but also maybe fuck it, video game. Cowabunga it is.
There’s also a gallery of screenshots below, which look wonderfully Outbreak-esque, at least when playing as the survivors. The Mastermind’s screens are a little more chaotic looking, with highlighted creatures and lots of prompts and whatnot on screen — but their experience isn’t meant to be scary at all so hey. I’m especially in love with the survival-horror feeling maps, which are a series of interconnected corridors rather than wide-open spaces. There even appears to be multiple floors, based on sets of stairs seen on the map. I’m curious to know where we are in these screens, between what looks like an office environment and a labs/construction environment (Update: Shown in the gameplay demo from TGS, this appears to be an Umbrella owned office building that leads into the underground Nest Facility). There’s a shot of some awards statues that looks like it’s part of a puzzle, with multiple trophies including a Mr. Raccoon (albeit in silhouette) holding a ball of some kind. These appear to be sporting trophies, as another includes a golfing trophy — although the deck of cards perhaps generalizes it more towards competitions in a general sense. We can see the maps from both the survivor and mastermind perspectives as well, which is handy.
Overall, Project REsistance is shaping up to be much more classic feeling than I’d initially gathered, with much more of a focus on the survival aspects than the action aspects. I’m all over that, especially after years and years of Resident Evil co-op having veered completely away from that. RE6 (while a fun shooty bang-bang kind of co-op), requires very little cooperation outside of having to both be present to open doors, and being able to rescue/heal your partner from death. The Outbreak/RE5 need for sharing weapons and items, solve puzzles together, and strategize in order to survive is much more my jam. The closed beta can be signed up for via the Project REsistance website, which I guess is separate from the Ambassador Program event they’re holding later this month. I’m a bit surprised that the Beta won’t be on PC, but then again considering PC players penchant for data mining the entire damn game out of anything that comes within three feet of their hardware, maybe it’s the better call. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to get in, and give you all more details regarding the way it plays! Until then, Project REsistance (working title) releases on Xbox One, PS4, and PC sometime in the future.
