Resident Evil Village is part of a trilogy that will end with Resident Evil 9
Ethan's story might not be over with Village
Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil Village/8, and 9 will all be part of a unified trilogy and have been developed side-by-side, according to a well-known leaker.
Resident Evil 7 was the start of a trilogy, according to AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem, a Resident Evil leaker with a strong track record. Posting on Twitter, they said: “RE7>RE8>RE9 have a connected, planned out story”. Apparently, all three games have shared a very close development, meaning the overarching story has been hashed out for some time now.
(1/2) I guess to summarize the last few tweets simply & non-spoilery, know that Village being a direct sequel to RE7 was decided pretty early on, there's some things put in RE7 that will make more sense after RE8. More than any other series of titles in the series history,April 11, 2021
According to the leak, a lot of things that seemed out of place, or didn’t quite make sense in Resident Evil 7 will make more sense once we get our hands on Resident Evil Village, aka Resident Evil 8. We already know that Ethan Winters, the protagonist of Resident Evil 7 will be making his return to Resident Evil 8, along with series icon Chris Redfield (the man who once beat a boulder in a fistfight).
When discussing the leak on Twitter, AestheticGamer talked about how they think that Capcom is trying to move away from numbered Resident Evil titles, so it can tell more unique and isolated stories like this trilogy. The clever naming conventions of the last couple of titles, which blend the number into the title seem to be a way to transition the series away from numbers altogether.
AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem has a solid track history when it comes to Resident Evil leaks, having previously revealed that we’d be getting a Resident Evil Village demo with combat this spring, which is looking increasingly likely with the recent reveal of a new Resident Evil Village showcase.
We also had potential details of the Resident Evil Village opening last month, with AestheticGamer giving us a play-by-play of the first 30 minutes of the game. We won’t spoil that here, in case you’re looking to go in fresh, but it all sounds very exciting.
Resident Evil Village is out next month, so we don’t have long to wait, but if you need scares now then check out our best horror games roundup for more spooky gaming action.
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Ian Stokes is an experienced writer and journalist. You'll see his words on 12DOVE from time to time, and he works as Entertainment Editor at our sister site Space.com.