The resident evil The series is approaching a pivotal moment as it prepares for its next entry in the main line, with no clear protagonist in sight. Following the reinvention that RE7 brought that helped bring the series back to mainstream success, Capcom continued both this new vision Village and revisited the classic entries to widely positive reception. Now that years have passed under both approaches, the risks associated with focusing on either route have made the future resident evil less than sure.
While the introduction of a new protagonist might bring a refreshing sense of innovation to the Resident Evil 9it also has the chance to alienate fans with deep-seated connections to the established characters of the older entries. The reboot is undeniably picking up on that RE7 succeeded was a bold departure at the time, but it may no longer be worth tackling a compelling new narrative when so many familiar faces are more readily available.
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The Resident Evil franchise is at a crossroads with RE9's player character
Expectations of finishing what Resident Evil 7 started
What could be considered the Winters family arc began with Ethan's time on the Baker estate in RE7 and concluded in Resident Evil village and its Shadows of Rose DLC. There has been speculation about RE9 once again introducing Rose Winters as a player character, but the closure of her story and the odd placement so far back in the timeline made Chris Redfield's ongoing mission the only thread from the previous game with proper legs.
Capcom could not ignore the desire to return to a classic distribution
While enjoying returns from its new numbered titles, Capcom also capitalized on high-fidelity remakes of the older generation. resident evil titles. The success of these games only further complicated the issue of the next game's characters, as they brought the likes of Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine back to prominent places of popularity in recent years. This matter was not helped by the fact that Ethan Winters served more as a faceless self-insert than REhis other more developed protagonists, but somehow had an arc that ended.
A new protagonist would make or break Resident Evil 9
Leaving behind a full-circle moment in favor of innovation
There are several plot points associated with the legacy characters that follow RE it could be based around, but it could still end up ignoring them to focus on its own unique story based on a long-form news story. With a title like AR4 has garnered so much praise despite its relatively disconnected nature, leaning toward a more creative challenge for the decades-old franchise could continue the invigorating course that began in 2017. Now that RE7 director Koshi Nakanishi is working on the next one resident evilthe project might lean more towards the inventive style that defined his previous effort. Since the soft reboot of the series has been done before, however, there's also a chance that a similar route won't have the same novelty in the future.
Popular characters are almost guaranteed to resonate better with players
Despite any best attempts to sell a new face to the public, a new player character would undoubtedly struggle to make the same impact as the previous protagonists who made a triumphant return. Unless bringing them back causes a situation like bad reception Resident Evil 6which felt overdone by losing focus on the action set pieces and fan service, then moved on REHis casting for what might be the last time might just beat the lure of nostalgia.