A full disclosure that I’m sure is no secret to anyone that knows me:
Capcom’s Resident Evil is a series that, for all it’s missteps and hiccups and highs, I love through and through. From the pre-rendered, low quality halls of the 1996 classic Resident Evil to the action-packed entries found from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 6, and even to the the critically panned Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (which happens to be my favorite RE game, don’t @ me).
So at this point, I’ll begin the actual topic of discussion today.
I came across this tweet earlier today
And it got me thinking:
How often does nostalgia tint our views of modern projects/games versus legitimate criticisms that could be weighed against these projects?
This tweet also provides us the perfect example series as well: Resident Evil itself.
One of the most divisive entries in the series is Resident Evil 6, the 2012 game that caused the series’ mainline entries to go on hiatus for five years. This game came after not only the mainline entries of both 4 and 5, but also The Mercenaries 3D and Operation Raccoon City— each of these iterations in the series becoming more and more action based. After a year had gone by, Capcom decided they would take a different approach on this next game: slightly less action-based and bringing back actual zombies to the series. The demo that they had released had fans hopeful, but a lot of people— myself included— were skeptical of this regardless. Some of these skeptic thoughts were proven well-founded upon release, as not only were all three of the campaigns present at launch entirely focused on action, but the section of the game presented in the demo they released was the only horror-esque section of the entire game. Many people immediately panned the game for its lack of fidelity to the series’ traditions and the bastardized version of the characters present in the story— just one example being Leon, who was delegated to a role in which he predominantly chases after Ada.
Or, rather, those were my views of the game at the time of release. I played the first hour or so of Leon’s campaign, tried the first hour or so of Chris’ and Jake’s, and returned the game at the first available instance. Three hours of the game I had tried and deemed it not worth my money— skipping what cutscenes I could and trying to take gameplay slow and steady like in Resident Evil 4.
These mistakes of my youth, however, are very representative of how games are panned today based on minor details, such as taking a series in a new direction or attempting to tell a new and innovative story that comes across as a betrayal of the series’ core values. Most players wrote off Resident Evil 6 for its mismanagement of their favorite characters and lackluster, action-based plot— but after revisiting it in 2018, it has very quickly become one of my favorite action games, still remaining one of my least favorite Resident Evil games. Admittedly, I revisited it because of Avalanche Reviews’ video found here on Resident Evil 6, but I went into it just as skeptical as my first foray into the dark tunnels, snowy landscapes, and cramped tenements. However, unlike the first time I traveled to this game’s multiple environments, I had lost something I had before: recency bias (although one may argue I had gained one from Avalanche Reviews’ video, but I digress). In the lead up to the release of Resident Evil 6, my most played game in the series was Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PlayStation 1— a fixed-camera, survival horror game with many action influences but gameplay most similar to the two games that had preceded it. When RE6 came out with yet another third-person camera entry, co-op only gameplay (singleplayer giving you an AI partner), and the ability to move while shooting, I was fully prepared to check-out from the second it was in my hands. Upon my replay of it in 2018, I was met with a game that had an admittedly poor plot, but solid action gameplay and pretty decent controls— and someone to play it with, as well. Rather than coming at the game from the perspective of a series veteran who had seen the Spencer Mansion incident, visited Raccoon City numerous times, and put a final end to Albert Wesker, I came at the game from the perspective of someone who had all the knowledge of the series but wasn’t stuck behind rose-colored glasses that made me see everything as fixed-camera survival horror or not an RE game.
So, to recap:
- Capcom may be taking the series in a new direction, but they certainly aren’t mishandling the series (at least, not nearly as bad as when they released Umbrella Corps in 2016).
- The modern games are new takes on the series by mostly new developers and are, at the very least, interesting additions to the series that bring a new complexity with each and every game. Have you seen RE7 or RE2 Remake or the upcoming RE3 Remake? The first two are amazing games and the third looks to be another smash hit coming in the next month or so.
- The lore might be changed in some small capacity, sure, but nobody complained when Jill tackled Wesker out of a window and down a few hundred foot cliff in the RE5 DLC only to be alive in the main story, so I think that a lot of those comments are based on the fact that these fans didn’t like the lore that was introduced in RE6 and other games that they disliked because they felt it did a disservice to the pre-existing lore.
Though a series may change over the years, become different or explore new avenues, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the series has been ruined in any capacity— it just means that it is evolving, with or without those fans, and gaining a new following regardless.
Here’s some links to resources I have seen that influenced, informed, or incited this post:
Avalanche Reviews’ Resident Evil 6: RE Retrospective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuG8luceGag
- On a semi-unrelated note, this man has a retrospective series for every single Resident Evil game and recently finished up his retrospective series for every single Silent Hill game (and movie), and he is definitely worth a watch if you haven’t ever watched him before— these videos are more review-y, but they’re all really solid. My personal favorite part of all these videos is when he explores the ports and explains the differences between them, that aspect has always fascinated me.
Raycevick’s The Best Bad Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns19PvYKxKk
- Raycevick is a very good channel about video games and in-depth looks at them, definitely also worth a watch. His “x Years Later” series is also really good, but has no relevance to this topic— just wanted to mention that it’s pretty good.
Sean Hall’s tweet about the RE fanbase: https://twitter.com/stars_tyrant/status/1235211600149262336?s=21
C. B. Irby 