Resident Evil Village has been out for well over year at this point, but soon, the survival horror game is going to get a major shot in the arm. Last year in June, Capcom announced that it had started working on DLC for the game, and though it went completely radio silent on the topic after that, recently, that changed, with the Japanese company revealing the full extent of its plans for post-launch content being added to Resident Evil Village. Here, we’re going to go over those plans as we talk about the things that the game will be adding over the coming months.
Be warned though, that this feature contains major spoilers for Resident Evil Village and how it ends, so if you haven’t finished the game yet, turn back now.
WINTERS’ EXPANSION
Before we get into the nitty gritties and do a blow by blow analysis of all the new stuff coming to Resident Evil Village, let’s start off with a brief summary of sorts. The bulk of the new content that Capcom is adding to the game is arriving on October 28, all of it bundled together in a single package dubbed The Winters’ Expansion, named after the game’s titular hero, Ethan Winters, and his daughter Rose Winters. The Winters’ Expansion will include a full-fledged single player expansion, new content for the Mercenaries mode, and more. Let’s take a look at that in greater detail.
SHADOWS OF ROSE
This is, of course, the headlining part of The Winters’ Expansion- Resident Evil Village’s story DLC. Given how the base game itself ends, many had assumed that its DLC would see us playing as Rose Winters, Ethan’s daughter, and it turns out that was an accurate prediction. Titled Shadows of Rose, the DLC will take place 16 years after the events of the base game. Ethan Winters is dead, and Rose takes centerstage, now struggling to deal with her terrifying abilities. This is easily the farthest forward the Resident Evil timeline has ever gone to date, so it should be interesting to see how the story deals with that.
SHADOWS OF ROSE – MORE DETAILS
Rose’s primary goal in Shadows of Rose, it seems, is going to be to find a way to break free of her powers and be rid of their curse, and to do that, she enters the consciousness of the Megamycete- yeah, that big, giant mess. Turns out that’s still around. What happens in there is obviously being left unspoiled, but some tantalizing tidbits have been shared, like Rose meeting a girl who looks just like her, and more interestingly, both time and space being completely warped inside of this realm. That means things are probably going to get trippy, as Rose fights not just against new monstrosities and creatures, but also the environments themselves.
The trailer for the DLC also showed a mutated version of the merchant, a.k.a. The Duke, that Rose meets inside this realm. Another interesting character is a being called Michael, who is acting as a guide of sorts to Rose inside of the realm and seems to be helping her as she tries to get rid of her powers.
Oh, and curiously enough, unlike the base game, this DLC is going to be entirely in third person.
Speaking of which…
THIRD PERSON MODE
Resident Evil Village was a purely first person game, just like Resident Evil 7 before it, but if you’re among those who’ve always wanted these games to offer a third person perspective like other games in the series (and there’s plenty of people in that group), you’re in luck. Capcom has announced that The Winters’ Expansion will also add a mode to Resident Evil Village that makes the entire game playable in third person, bringing the experience closer to the recent Resident Evil remakes- and yes, that means that we’re finally going to be able to properly see Ethan’s face. There will also be completely new animations added to the game as part of the mode- though Capcom hasn’t said anything yet about how cutscenes will be handled in third person. Will the game switch back and forth between third person gameplay and first person cutscenes, or are all cutscenes being completely redone and redirected to make them fit with the third person perspective? That remains to be seen.
Shadows of Rose will be third person, and the base game’s campaign will become playable in third person as well, but The Mercenaries will remain first person only. Which brings us to our next point…
MERCENARIES: ADDITIONAL ORDERS
Resident Evil Village brought back the fan-favourite Mercenaries mode, but many fans were underwhelmed with its offerings, deeming it to be sparse and somewhat light on content. It seems Capcom heard those complaints though, and will be addressing them with The Winters’ Expansion. The content drop releasing in October will also come with new content for the mode in the form of The Mercenaries: Additional Order. And what exactly will that include? There will be new stages, for starters, while more playable characters are also being added, including Chris Redfield, Heisenberg, and everybody’s favourite massive vampire, Lady Alcina Dimitrescu. Interestingly, when you’re playing as Lady D, you’ll be towering over all the enemies you take on in combat. Further details on additional stages and playable characters will hopefully arrive in the coming weeks and months.
RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE: GOLD EDITION
This is something you probably saw coming, at least if you remember how Capcom handled things with Resident Evil 7. On October 28, when The Winters’ Expansion launches, Capcom will also release both digital and physical versions of Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition. The Gold Edition will include both, the base game and all the new content that’s being added to it as part of The Winters’ Expansion. There’s no word yet on how much it’ll cost, but Resident Evil 7’s Gold Edition (which included all DLC for it) cost $50 when it launched back in December 2017, nearly a year after the base game’s launch. Hopefully, Capcom will make sure that this upcoming release is priced reasonably as well.
RESIDENT EVIL RE:VERSE
Resident Evil Re:Verse has sadly become another bafflingly poorly handled attempt at making PvP stick for Resident Evil. The game has lost a ton of ground before it could even launch, and the fact that it has been delayed significantly and roundly ignored by Capcom itself has done it no favours. That said, it did recently re-emerge, and Capcom confirmed that it, too, will launch on October 28. No new details were shared on it whatsoever, so we have no idea what (if any) improvements and changes have been made to the game as a result of its delays. Of course, those who already purchase Resident Evil Village (or decide to buy it in the future) will get access to Re:Verse for free, which is something Capcom announced well over a year ago, before Village even launched.
PLAYSTATION VR2
The Winters’ Expansion and Re:Verse are launching on October 28, but there’s other stuff coming to Resident Evil Village beyond that as well. Resident Evil 7 was one of the best games to offer PSVR support, and similar VR support in its direct follow-up has been sorely missed. That’ll change not long from now, because Resident Evil Village is currently in development for PlayStation VR2. We’ve seen brief gameplay footage for it (which also showed the ability to dual wield weapons), though there’s no word on when it’ll launch. In all likelihood though, this won’t be out before 2023.