NOTE: There are spoilers ahead for Resident Evil Village.
Resident Evil Village’s upcoming Winters’ Expansion promises to be meaty one, and while its new third person mode for the base game and additional Mercenaries content are obviously notable additions, the expansion’s “Shadows of Rose” story DLC is, of course, going to be the star of the show. Set 16 years after the events of the base game and the death of Ethan Winters, Shadows of Rose will star his daughter Rose Winters as protagonist- though you can expect this new chapter to conclude the Winters family’s involvement in the series’ larger story.
The same was confirmed by director Kento Kinoshita in an interview with IGN, where he said that the development team is “creating the Shadows of Rose story to conclude the Winters family saga.”
What can we expect from the series’ future then? Producer Masachika Kawata says that Capcom can “absolutely not” share any details on what lies ahead for Resident Evil, so whether the next mainline game in the series will star completely new characters or bring back familiar fan-favourites remains to be seen. It should be particularly interesting to see what route Capcom takes, given the fact that the series has suddenly jumped forward by 16 years, which means series mainstays like Chris, Leon, Claire, Jill, and others are going to be a hell of a lot older.
Previous leaks have suggested that development on Resident Evil 9 has been ongoing since as far back as 2018, and is unlikely to launch before 2024 at the earliest. Of course, before that, 2023 will also see the launch of the Resident Evil 4 remake.
A Resident Evil Showcase has been set for sometime in October, where Capcom will talk about Resident Evil Village: Winters’ Expansion and the aforementioned RE4 remake.
Resident Evil Village: Winters’ Expansion launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on October 28. The game will also launch for the Nintendo Switch via the cloud on the same day, with the expansion arriving for the platform in December.