What's next for the Resident Evil franchise?
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00:00Hello everyone and welcome to WhatCulture. My name is Jules Gill and I'm joined by the lovely Sy.
00:06Hello Sy, how are you doing my friend?
00:07Hi, hello!
00:08Now this is the thing, you and I have been very deep in some greasy ganados recently
00:13because we have been playing a lot of Resident Evil 4's outstanding remake.
00:18And just for the record here, because I know that there will be a lot of people looking at the title of this video
00:22coming in and immediately warming up their fingers to type clickbait, let's address the elephant in the room.
00:28This game is phenomenal fun. I mean, how have you been enjoying it?
00:32Oh, I love it. Like, there's a conversation to be had certainly at some point about your favourite Resident Evils
00:37because there's so many of them. I've never been the big RE4 fan, that's a whole story for another day.
00:44This remake though is shooting right up there, it's right up the top for me, I love it.
00:48Honestly though, it's so entertaining and the quality of life improvements that they've put into this game,
00:52they've made it, I would argue, the best Resident Evil action game that they can.
00:58But it does come with a small caveat, which is what we're going to be talking about today,
01:02because what do you think of when you think of Resident Evil?
01:04You think of fear, you think of spooky stuff, you think of gore, you think of tendrils and giant eyes
01:10placed all over places that definitely should not have eyes. It's fear incarnate, right?
01:15Right, absolutely.
01:16So I will ask you the question then, Si.
01:18I'm worried about this.
01:19Did you find Resident Evil 4's remake scary?
01:23No, actually. You know, I don't think the original game is all that scary either.
01:28This is true.
01:29But it is markedly more scary than the remake.
01:32I thought some of the scary parts of the original game felt even toned down by the remake.
01:37I would totally agree and I think that it all comes down to the fact that the quality of life improvements
01:42such as the knife play, being able to move and shoot at any given time,
01:47the fact that Leon feels like he just basically is more powerful than he ever has before,
01:52and the fact that you can craft items and ammo on the fly,
01:57it makes a power fantasy that is very different from what Resident Evil's been.
02:02And my worry is that going forward, because Capcom loves to always innovate and never take things away,
02:09does that mean that we're going to feel less afraid going forward
02:12because we're playing as characters that are just far more capable?
02:16It is. We are at a worrying point where history might repeat itself, right?
02:20You know, RE4, as I just said, the original, I mean, it's not overly scary,
02:24but it does have a little bit of spookums in there.
02:26It's not like a crazy diversion, but it is a big jump from the previous games.
02:31And it really was like that's where it all sort of, not in quality,
02:35but in terms of the horror sliding downhill.
02:38I can already see what you're doing. You're basically drawing a six with your words.
02:42And we're all plummeting towards Resident Evil 6.
02:45But this is exactly how we got to that point in the first place,
02:48because as great as it was, the original Resident Evil 4 took us down that route,
02:52and now we are primed up to do exactly the same thing again.
02:55If they look at this game and the success that it's gotten,
02:58and by the way, it sold three million copies in two days,
03:02so it's the best-selling Resident Evil remake.
03:06It's the best-selling Resident Evil of the modern era.
03:08So they're going to look at that and go,
03:10okay, and what do you think they're going to take from it?
03:12People want this. People want what we've done here.
03:14And I honestly think that if you were to say,
03:16there's a few people out there that are saying,
03:18ourselves included, to be honest,
03:20that they may go back to Resident Evil 1 and do a remake of a remake,
03:24because you pointed out the other day that the developers went on track to say
03:28that this is a new timeline, isn't it, effectively?
03:30They see it as a new series of events.
03:32The remake is very much separate from the other games.
03:36So therefore, a Resident Evil 1 remake is definitely on the cards with this new thing.
03:41And do you think that they're going to approach that
03:43by taking away that new knife combat system
03:45and all of the crafting stuff?
03:47If they do, I don't think that people are going to like it.
03:49People love these new additions.
03:51It's weird to think because Resident Evil,
03:55the original game, was such a strange trajectory
03:57where it's obviously been remade once already,
03:59and the original, 96 version,
04:01it's hard to call that scary now, right?
04:05But the remake, it really did amp up the fear.
04:07Everything about it, all the new additions were all about
04:10making that game as scary as possible.
04:12It is really not going to be the same
04:14with all these gameplay elements.
04:16And even the perspective shift, when you think about it,
04:18it's going to be,
04:20they're going to have to do a lot with it,
04:22otherwise you're going to run through that mansion,
04:24knock everything out in a single hit,
04:26pick up your infinite rocket launcher, right?
04:28And it's all going to be over very quickly,
04:30and I'm very worried about what are they going to do?
04:32How are they going to do that?
04:34No idea, because it's like crimson heads were added in
04:36to amp up the fear, but nowadays,
04:39if they come at you, and you've got the Leon's ability
04:41to duck under their swings and then parry their attacks,
04:43it's like, get away with ya,
04:45nut him on the way out.
04:47It devalues the overall fear of what Resident Evil is.
04:51And do not get me wrong,
04:53at the same time, I have to defend this
04:55from my own words, it is still a great game.
04:57It is the most fun I've had in a Resident Evil game
04:59in a long, long time.
05:01But I just worry that
05:03the fear element of which this entire franchise revolves around
05:07is being diminished year on year with this.
05:09I mean, we saw how the transition
05:11from Resident Evil 7, which was
05:13basically a hard, well, maybe a soft reset
05:15on the entire tone of the franchise,
05:17it did go back to horror.
05:19There was tons of horrific elements in that.
05:21And it was, because of the new perspective,
05:23very, very scary.
05:25Resident Evil Village, or Village,
05:27as I call it, is
05:29not as scary, because it's over the top again.
05:31I mean, you can't have a game that has you boulder-punching
05:33assholes, like I managed to get that wrong
05:35in the quiz that's going to be going up soon.
05:37Spoiler alert on that one there.
05:39You can't have that and
05:41then still expect people to cack their
05:43pants, really, can you?
05:45Village is a weird one. I'm close.
05:47Village is what I call it, even fancier.
05:49It's a weird one
05:51because, for me, it has the scariest
05:53moment in the entire series in it.
05:55Which is?
05:57The giant baby monster.
05:59That thing still haunts my dreams.
06:01I'd lock that away in my mind.
06:03I wish I hadn't opened that door.
06:05There's a good reason for that.
06:07But outside of that, you're right.
06:09They did sort of go, okay.
06:11You can kind of tell they were looking at Resident Evil 4
06:13and they went, how do we go?
06:15RE7 is Resident Evil 1, Village,
06:17how do we get to Resident Evil 4 with it?
06:19And it feels very akin to that jump in action.
06:21Absolutely.
06:23So maybe your RE1 remake has
06:25one scary part with Lisa Trevor
06:27or something, but the rest of it could be
06:29a complete shooting gallery, who knows?
06:31We really don't know what they're going to do.
06:33For me, the remakes
06:35are an interesting thing
06:37and I think I'm consigned at this point
06:39to believing that that's probably the fate
06:41because, again, the sales numbers tell us
06:43that they're probably going to keep making those.
06:45Which direction they go in,
06:47who really knows?
06:49There are certainly teases in Resident Evil 4 remake
06:51that they might go towards 5 next.
06:53A lot of people were talking about that.
06:55Outside of plot spoiler stuff,
06:57if you take a look at the
06:59cabin defence, the villa defence
07:01as it's called now,
07:03you're fighting alongside Luis, he's giving you ammo
07:05and what does that make you think of?
07:07Resident Evil 5.
07:09And that game, that's an action game
07:11originally.
07:13100% it is.
07:15They could bring horror into that in theory
07:17like they've changed the tone
07:19for Remake 4.
07:21They could change the tone for a Remake 5.
07:23But it's an action game, so if they head in that direction,
07:25action the way.
07:27I'll put it out there.
07:29Resident Evil 5, I argue, doesn't need to be remade.
07:31I mean, I really
07:33liked it for what it was.
07:35I enjoyed it as an action game, like you say.
07:37It didn't scare me in the slightest.
07:39I think the graphics still hold up
07:41really well today. The gameplay is still very good
07:43as well. The mercenaries mode, one of the best
07:45that the series has ever had.
07:47So it's a case of like, okay, what more
07:49can you do? I feel like it's a very different conversation
07:51to how people didn't want Resident Evil 4
07:53remade because they thought that it was the perfect game.
07:55This is just a game that doesn't need to be made
07:57because it achieved all of its goals that it wanted to do.
07:596, however, I will
08:01definitely take a remake on that because maybe we can
08:03have another stab at that. Cut a few of the, I don't know,
08:05entire storylines out and we'll have a laugh.
08:07I think you and I
08:09are both in the same boat as we'd like some remakes
08:11of lesser loved games to bring them
08:13in line instead of... Just say it.
08:15Just say it, Si. I know you want to say it.
08:17I know that they want to pick the obvious ones because
08:19they sell, like Remake 4 was an obvious
08:21decision because people are going to buy
08:23that and they have, but give me
08:25Survivor, dammit! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.
08:27Speaking of shooting galleries,
08:29there we go. Right?
08:31But to be fair, maybe that's what needs to come back.
08:33I mean, maybe they need to do a deal
08:35with Sony because obviously the PSVR 2
08:37has just come out. If they just go fully embrace
08:39the fact that we're going to just release a shooting
08:41gallery style game and it's going to be Resident Evil
08:43Survivor, Dead Aim, whatever you want to call it,
08:45bish, bish, bish, you're going to have a really good time
08:47with that game if it's... And you'd
08:49have a reason to buy the PSVR 2
08:51because at the moment, I can't think of one.
08:53It's a great selling point. Resident
08:55Evil and VR goes together really well
08:57because when you think about the VR 1,
08:59almost certainly what was the best selling VR game,
09:01I haven't looked this up, but I'm sure it's Resident Evil 7
09:03because it's the only thing that was like an
09:05actual game. I played Resident
09:07Evil 7 first time in VR
09:09and I was just like,
09:11oh, I'm never going to go back.
09:13I'm never going to go back from this.
09:15Maybe that's where you get your action fix
09:17from, like head in that direction and
09:19splinter off a little bit and we can do some horror
09:21elsewhere. Who knows? I'm
09:23hopeful that they won't
09:25turn Resident Evil 1 into a big action
09:27game. I don't think they will
09:29but
09:31we never know.
09:33I feel like in my mind that we're always
09:35just going to have... What's his name? Jack?
09:37Jack Wesker? I can't remember what they went
09:39by. Jake. Jake Muller.
09:41That's it, yeah, yeah. All I think of,
09:43all I think of is him. He's the
09:45moment that this
09:47game became, the franchise became
09:49Devil May Cry spin-off instead of
09:51the other way around. I was just like, oh,
09:53get out of my life, get out of my life.
09:55But still, there we go. I mean, those
09:57are our thoughts on the potential future
09:59of the Resident Evil franchise. I
10:01know that there are scary elements in there and I know
10:03that there are going to be a lot of people who will be saying
10:05yes, we will go back to the scary
10:07days of old. But the question is
10:09will Capcom be willing
10:11to do so without having to sacrifice
10:13all of the brilliant innovations that we've seen
10:15in the Resident Evil 4 remake?
10:17Let us know what you thought about it down in the comments
10:19section below as well as your own opinions
10:21on this, whether or not you're enjoying the Resident Evil 4
10:23remake or not. And Sy and I
10:25will see you very soon. Bye!
10:27Have a good week!