sisslethecat
Heyyyy we’re back to a normal leak! Earlier yesterday morning, the Steam version of the upcoming Resident Evil 8: Village received an update. It wasn’t anything that really matters, at least to fans, just reorganizing and updating things on Capcom’s side of things. Eagle-eyed fans desperate for any sort of new information and scrolling through the Steam DB page discovered that one of the images had been updated but not actually changed on the page. Checking it out revealed what appears to be a new version of the game’s cover art. It’s still the grim, dower face of our favorite Resident Evil hero Chris, but now he isn’t the only one showing their face anymore. This updated picture has since been taken down, but not after the internet ripped from SteamDB and spread it like wildfire.
Split down the middle, Chris now shares his space with what is undeniably a wolf. Thus far we’ve only seen two enemy types in the game, the “werewolves” (which I’ve been referring to as beast-men given that there really isn’t much that identifies them as Lycan), and a massive monster man wielding a giant hammer. Despite the fan naming of the “werewolves”, this is actually the first time that we’ve seen something so closely resembling one from official sources. The question is — is this new artwork showcasing a creature… or a vibe?
Fans have been quick to jump on the possibility that this has revealed that Chris is infected (one of many common fan theories as to why Chris has turned coat), but I’m not so sure on that. It seems like it would be unfair to give away something so major in what’s clearly going to be promotional artwork (although to be fair, Capcom are no strangers to spoiling things in trailers), and I suspect that this is something more than that. Artistically speaking, this could be a way of showcasing Chris’ turn to evil, or at least the beast that’s behind his actions, in a metaphorical sense. We’ve already seen Resident Evil 8 playing around with metaphor — Mia’s “local tale”, which has appeared in both trailers, seems to lay the groundwork for a story about innocence lost.
A little girl, excited on a trip to pick berries, rushes off into the woods and away from safety. The story has thus far not had a real conclusion, simply trailing off as the little girl disappears into the forest. It isn’t a massive leap to conclude that she could run into a wolf in those woods — children vs wolves are one of the oldest ways of representing absolute innocence vs absolute evil. Multiple rumors point to Ethan having a child that he’s searching for, and using that child as a symbolic parallel to Chris as the “wolf” of this tale sounds like just the sort of artistic storytelling a writer would want to try out. Resident Evil 7 already dabbled in family as the central theme, Resident Evil 8 could be pushing that idea even further. Obviously, I’m rambling in speculatory gibberish though.
This Steam update is hopefully a sign that the Winter update is upon us, as the temperatures dive and the industry starts to come together for the Game Awards next month. There’s every chance we could be seeing a new trailer there, or possibly at an as-of-yet-unannounced PlayStation State of Play, which usually drops in December. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
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