Where's next for Resident Evil?

 What is that chill running up my spine?

So I said it before and I stand by it: The decision to remake Resident Evil 4 probably wasn't one of the best one's that Capcom could have ever made in their pursuit of revivifying the Resident Evil franchise. Now, I'll be honest that they did actually surprise me in what they put together, not that it was quality- I think we're at a point where the RE Team put out consistent enough quality products for us never to doubt their abilities there- but that it was toned down from the campiness that made the game work. RE4 retains some of the ingredients of that campiness, but swirled into the broth of much more serious machinations which make this Resident Evil revival more tense and threatening- the result being a product that sometimes doesn't know what it wants to be. Still fantastic, but tonally confused, shall we say? Which was what I was worried about.

But if I'm going to be totally honest with you- there was never any doubt in my mind that RE was going to hit 4; but just as with Mass Effect Andromeda, my actual complaint was simply that we weren't ready yet to receive such a game. Mass Effect Andromeda attempted to be the next generation's answer to what Mass Effect was for us, but the team failed to wait enough time for the dust to settle and for Mass Effect to become a lusted after commodity once again. (They failed on a bunch of other regards as well, but that's not the comparative point today.) Resident Evil gave itself a lot more time before diving into their 'remake' series, but they're speeding across Resident Evil history at a break neck pace which is destined to leave this sub-series drying up in no time.

I know that the Japanese gaming industry has this peculiar image of a 'healthy franchise' being one that outputs a new entry every single year, but Ubisoft as an entity exists as a living cautionary tale as to why that is not necessarily the case. Squeeze yourself for that kind of content output and you'll end up totally without ideas and inspiration until you have to suck everything you have out of work and ideas of your competitors; turning your once high-level competitive company into an industry complicit joke. Just look at Gamefreak with their Pokémon game output, for an example that might be a little closer to home for Capcom. Those games tried to turn up the ambition dial by a few scant notches and it threw development into an utter turmoil; because the developers don't have the room to be experimental in what they do, stifling the possibility for creativity.

I fear that with the procession march towards the Resident Evil Remake franchise, we're heading towards another dark period for the Resident Evil franchise when the creatives in charge just run out of ideas for what they're planning. And with the rate we're going, ironically enough, I'm actually expecting this to occur most aptly at the exact same place it did last time - with the launch of Resident Evil 6. You know, the game that lacked any core direction thanks to pulling minds everywhere, leading to a game that wanted to be a traditional horror game, a Call of Duty competitor (seriously), and a anime-style beat-em-up game at the same time. (I will never understand what Jake's chapters were supposed to be.) All this is occurring whilst there are still valid opportunities for Capcom to slow their role and explore other aspects of the Resident Evil franchise for remake potential whilst they buy some breathing room for themselves.

There is little sense to be made out of the callous decision to utterly skip by 'Code Veronica', the connective tissue between Resident Evil 2,3 and 5, except to perhaps imply that the team somehow couldn't think of a good enough way to make a Code Veronica remake feel different. But dammit, these developers weren't above making Resident Evil 3 an underpowered sequel- so what's the matter with Code Veronica? Or heck, how about a remake of Resident Evil 0; itself already an experiment in controlling multiple protagonists for problem solving- are you telling me a modern team couldn't figure out something special to do with a premise like that? The series has it's options, Capcom just aren't in the mood to go and take them!

Oh, and did I mention the fact that we still haven't got a modern day RE engine remake of Resident Evil 1? The freakin' original! All these new fans to the Resident Evil mythos, drunk on the sheen and polish of this serious yet spectacular renewal of the old faithful franchise, have to start their explorations at 2. Only really having the HD Remaster of the 2001 Remake to connect the dots and that... well, that game really doesn't live up to the hype of the newest games anymore- for obvious reasons. By this point I really do think the ship has sailed- there's no way the team could go back and make a Resident Evil 1 port without it being a let down from where the remake games currently already are- unless Capcom went totally nutso with it and made the game a First Person true survival reimagining of that first game. That might be cool.

But where are we headed instead? To Resident Evil 5? Really? I don't think that's a location any fan is ecstatic to be heading, given the fact that Chris Redfield's African expedition wasn't really chockful of anything revolutionary for the franchise except... black people? Nah, Resident Evil 2 already had Marvin- guess that leaves 5 with nothing at all... Okay, I guess 5 did bring us the Matrix rip-off edition of Albert Wesker, and all the hilarity that ensued consequentially, but it also primed the series for it's greatest mistep yet- that of RE6. If I'm being absolutely honest right now- I actually think a Resident Evil 5 Remake shouldn't exist. What the team should do instead, is make a totally distinct sequel to the RE titles they've been making. Resident Evil 5 in name, but with a different story, setting, characters, and a vibe better fitting the level of quality the franchise has defined itself to stand for. That, is how Resident Evil keeps fresh.

Because really, what is the alternative? I've said it before but I'm deadly serious- under the current trajectory we're looking at Resident Evil 10 Remake being announced before Resident Evil 10 is, this is an unsustainable model. Unless the team manage to neatly combine the new vibe of Resident Evil with the remake franchise, overlapping series' is an inevitability. Look, I'm not asking for much-just give us an entirely new Resident Evil timeline of games that focuses on what we love and entirely sidesteps the deviation into abject insanity that this franchise would love to sorely forget. Is that too much to ask for? Knowing Capcom at this point- yes it  is. Guess we can regroup here after the release of Resident Evil 5 Remake, at which point we can really begin panicking about what is, at the point, around the next bend.