For the last few weeks, we’ve gotten a lot of alleged leaks about the 2021 entry in the Resident Evil series. The game is said to actually be a cross-gen Resident Evil 8 (possibly called Village) and will continue on with the first person view that was, at one point, Revelations 3. We got a lot of alleged details about the game’s story and some of its core enemies, which you can read more about through here. Today, it looks like we might have more, as well as a better idea of where most of this information is coming from.
According to Rely on Horror, a source confided in them that a lot of the known details for the game come from a test demo that was hosted for RE Ambassador club (an official fan program from Capcom). Most of the details we’ve had before, such as Chris Redfield’s involvement, hallucinations that make it hard to tell what is real and who to trust (which the leaker speculates is similar to the scrapped version of RE4 that fans call RE3.5 or the Hookman version of the game that also included hallucinations), a powerful “witch” stalker enemy and an inventory system similar to Resident Evil 4.
Some new stuff is they describe the demo having a section where you must fight off what they describe as a “beast-man” type creature (early leaks pointed to werewolves being in the game, so it’s most likely that) in a chase sequence, as well as interactions with NPCs as you try to hide in their houses, all speaking English in the demo.
Apparently, there are two versions of the demo, one where you have a pistol that proves ineffective against the beast forcing you to run, as well as one where you have no weapons and must sneak and hide similar to the early sections of Resident Evil 7. Eventually, you find a shotgun and are able to barricade a door in your fight against the unkillable monster. The beast leaves after hearing a bell in one version of the demo, and is called off screen by an unknown enemy in the other. What he describes gives off heavy vibes of the beginning of Resident Evil 4, if this ends up being accurate.
The demos also end differently, with one having Ethan being told that he must escape to an ominous castle and the other with him finding a group of NPCs who hide him from the creatures until one goes mad and slaughters the others. There’s also mention of another stalker-type enemy described as a gorilla-like man with a staff and chains, though it’s unclear if this is a separate monster or has some relation with the witch that’s been mentioned before.
Apparently, the characterization of Ethan has changed a bit, with the leaker saying he’s a lot more quippy and quick-witted, comparing him to Ash Williams from the Evil Dead franchise. It’s appropriate, if true, since 7 had a lot of clear influences from that series. The leaker speculates Ethan and Chris’ voice actors reprise their role from the previous game, but can’t be certain obviously.
As always with leaks and rumors, take this with a grain of salt. But it’s worth mentioning that we do know Capcom had demo testing recently for an unannounced game, and there’s a lot of sources saying a lot of the same thing. Could very well be a sign there’s fire to this smoke.
