sisslethecat
So a few days ago we got an official announcement of the long-awaited ‘Winter Update’ for Resident Evil 8: Village in the form of the Resident Evil Showcase stream. It’s exciting as hell, and appears to contain info beyond just Village, but other Resident Evil projects as well. The announcement came via a new teaser video that showcased a ton of new Village footage albeit in small, sometimes less than a second long, clips. I went through the teaser with a microscope and a fine toothed-comb to try and spot everything worth talking about in the new video, and I was quite surprised by what I turned up. Not only is there a bunch of Village footage, but there’s also a first look at an unannounced Resident Evil project, hidden in plain sight. Let’s go in order though, starting at the beginning.
The first image we see is of the castle fireplace room, which has been shown off multiple times now. There’s been a few minor changes (a plant and one of the knight armor displays were switched near the fireplace) and it looks like the color grading received a touch-up, but the room itself appears more or less the same. The main thing here is that we get a first look at a sequence of events that transpire as you try to leave the room, as Ethan encounters the first of the fan dubbed ‘witches’.
As seen in a previous trailer, this ‘witch’ has the ability to call forth, or perhaps even simply materialize into and out of, a swarm of insects. Here we see her bugs forming near the door at the far end of the fireplace room, which lines up with previous imagery of the witch swarmed by insects just outside of the double doors — either the doors just behind the swarm in the shot of the fireplace room, or the other door across from the stairs seen in the Developer Special Message video.
Along with this, I wanted to note that Ethan’s LEMI pistol has received a model and texture upgrade. Before it appeared smooth, almost plastic-y, now it has a much more noticeably metal look to it, along with scuff marks and scrapes along the slide. The edges of the slide also appear to have been squared off, rather than curved in the original design, and the color has been made much darker, almost black, and two yellow dots have been added to the sights. This makes me feel like Ethan’s aiming will have changed this time around. In Resident Evil 7, Ethan doesn’t aim down the sights, the camera simply zooms in when hard-aiming. This extra detail feels like it’s meant for the purpose of actual iron-sights aiming, which would be a nice way of showing how Ethan’s improved his survival skills between the two events.
The next shot of interest gives us a look at that main staircase hall again, showing Ethan surrounded by all three Witches, and being dragged by the bug one, towards the door that theoretically leads into the fireplace room from before.
Next up is a very creepy shot, showing Ethan creeping up on some hidden figure in the shadows of what may be a cave, or otherwise subterranean location. The figure he’s walking up to doesn’t appear to be one of the Beast Men that have thus far headlined the enemy gallery. This spindly, pale, and noticeably hairless figure may or may not be an enemy, but… come on. This has mad Lisa Trevor vibes.
Next up we get a nice, clear shot of The Tall Lady, who has sent the internet absolutely stir crazy (read: very very horny) over the last few days. She appeared in previous trailers, but this new footage has revealed that she appears to be ridiculously tall, 8-9 feet high, based on the height of characters around her. Something of note here is Ethan’s perspective, which is up high looking down at her. Eagle-eyed Jesse from BioHazard Declassified put two and two together, realizing that Ethan must be hooked onto the damaged and blood chandelier from a previous trailer. Owch, poor Ethan just can’t catch a break.
We get a quick shot of Ethan descending a set of stairs into a candle-lit stone passageway, after which we’re treated to a shot of a straight-up medieval torture chamber. Shackles, a pair of iron chairs, metal bars separating Ethan from what may be more cruel devices, and of course, pitch-blackness save for Ethan’s flashlight. Torture chambers are no stranger to Resident Evil, the bulk of which appearing in Umbrella owned residencies…
Next we pop back over to hang out with the internet’s favorite mommy character, The Tall Lady, as she enters a lavish room lit by candlelight, through a very fancy and ornate doorway. Looking it over, I’m fairly certain that this area is the same one we saw The Tall Lady on the phone in during the original reveal trailer. The door has the same markings (although the sigil on the door appears to have turned, perhaps a puzzle?) and frame, and the candle placement on the wall lines up with the fancy filigree motifs along the wall. It is worth noting that the painting and decal above the doorway seem to have been changed/removed, so it’s possible that this isn’t the same room and merely one with the same type of door and decoration.
Here’s something super interesting: a breakable pot. Resident Evil has had this form of “mystery box” in most titles since Resident Evil 4, whether they be literal wooden boxes, jars, etc, and this design lines up with the ornate look of the castle. Beautifully sculpted and surprisingly detailed (especially in comparison to RE4‘s plain ceramic pots), it breaks apart just as easily as the pots before it. As it shatters, we can see a surprising amount of detail in the way it breaks apart, realistically displaying the thickness and jaggedness of the shards, and specific spots where the statuesque women decorations came apart. We can also see that the goody inside is a green herb, which we previously noted have returned to the leafy look from the classic games, rather than the rosemary design that’s been used in every Resident Evil since RE7.
Something to note here is the button prompt. Rather than simply having the player swipe at the pot, we appear to have an actual prompt for breaking the pot open, with an indicator reading “Break” with a PlayStation cross button shown. It’s possible that the knife itself, despite being the weapon Ethan has equipped here, isn’t required for breaking these open, and you can simply smash them with a prompt no matter what weapon you’re holding. That’s pure speculation, but it seems the most likely answer for such a strange inclusion. This wouldn’t be the first time the series has offered up this QOL change, as Resident Evil 6 also did away with requiring a weapon to break open mystery boxes, letting you simply kick them no matter what you were holding.
Following this, we get our first look at Village’s shotgun, as Ethan reloads it facing off against a horde of Beast Men and the Hammer Man. It’s surprisingly ornate, with a lovely carved flourish end to end. I can’t tell if this is the same shotgun the old man from the reveal trailer is using, as that weapon has a completely different color scheme. Then again, Ethan’s LEMI pistol got a visual overhaul, as previously noted. We also get our first look at the quick inventory, showing Ethan equipped with the LEMI, shotgun, and knife. Interestingly, the pistol appears to have had one of its upgrade slots filled, a small white dot in the corner of the icon is unique compared to the shotgun icon. We previously went over a series of diodes that were displayed on the pistol’s inventory icon, that may very well be what’s displayed here.
Finally, we have what I personally consider to be the most interesting shot of the entire video — and it has absolutely nothing to do with Village. Towards the end of the video, as we’re told that there will be “more news related to the Resident Evil franchise”, we see a quick shot of producer Tsuyoshi Kanda speaking in front of a shot of the R.P.D. main hall from REmake 2/3. At first, I had written it off, only really planning to mention it in passing here as a “hey look, R.P.D.”, but it is much, much more exciting than that. This image of the R.P.D. main hall is an entirely new render of the location.
From new lighting, blue color grading replacing the yellow tint, the addition (and likewise absence) of light fixtures, I became more and more excited the longer I looked at the image. We can also see a green herb has replaced the laptop behind the reception desk, and even more wild: an all-new entryway inset across from the west wing office. This is an entirely new render of this location, not used in any version we’ve seen thus far. What in the world could this be for? Well, I think we already have our answer.
Along with this teaser video, Capcom also announced a new beta test event for an all-new multiplayer Resident Evil title. We don’t have many details thus far, although it’s listed as being for 4-6 players, which is a player more than what Resident Evil: Resistance supported, and that it will be on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at the very least, as those are the platforms the beta test is being held on. I can say with almost complete certainty that this new version of the R.P.D. we’re seeing is a map for this new multiplayer game. The new entryway makes perfect sense for cleaning up the navigation of the building layout for a multiplayer setting, as it would lead directly into the east wing hallway. In the main version of the R.P.D., you’d be forced down a narrow corridor that loops in a U shape, which probably wouldn’t work out well for multiplayer combat. Now the R.P.D. is much more open, allowing for easier movement. It’s also nice to know that we’ll evidently be able to branch out across the building, the last appearance of the R.P.D. in a multiplayer setting was in Umbrella Corps., where it was only the main hall.
While we do see two more shots from Village, I don’t honestly have much to say about them. A shot of a marble statue goes by, clearly set inside the castle. The statue depicts a body being skewered by three figures: two nude women, and a tall figure in a cloak, which I suspect ties into the Tall Lady and her underlings. After that, a shot of the merchant’s little caravan. There isn’t much interesting to say about either shot, but I figured I’d mention them anyway.
That’s about it for what I was able to find in the Resident Evil Showcase teaser, but we have much, much more to look forward to this coming Thursday when the stream itself will be held! We can’t wait, and rest assured — we’ll be doing exactly the same dissection for that as we did for this.
