CHRIS REDFIELD (RESIDENT EVIL)
Though Leon S. Kennedy (whose visual evolution we also spoke of in a previous feature) is probably the more popular Resident Evil protagonist, Chris Redfield is perhaps more important to the larger narrative events that have shaped the series’ story- not only because he was there at the very beginning, but also because he’s been directly involved in some of the series’ most crucial narrative developments (thanks in large part to his enmity with the one and only Alber Wesker). That said, if you were to look at how much he has changed throughout the series’ long and winding history, you’d almost think that he was a different character each time.
The most basic of basics have stuck around- but then again, a man with a square jaw, brown hair, and bulging muscles isn’t exactly a description that stands out. And outside of these fundamentals, Capcom has taken a lot of liberties with Chris’ design. In Resident Evil 1 and its remake, he looked like a regular Joe, but when he came back in Resident Evil 5, he was ridiculously ripped and ‘roided out (to the point where he could punch massive boulders with nary a care in the world).
That look carried over pretty much as it is (with some changes here and there) to Resident Evil 6… but then came Resident Evil 7, which once again introduced us to a Chris who looks completely different. Ironically enough, RE7’s Chris resembles the character’s design from RE1 a lot more closely than most Resident Evil games have done in years, so at least it’s good to see Capcom truly going back to their roots in every way possible with 2017’s first person soft reboot of the franchise.
