In today’s Resident Evil Showcase, Capcom announced a May 7, 2021 release date for Resident Evil Village, alongside a batshit new trailer and gameplay demonstration.
The trailer shows glimpses of who Ethan Winters will meet in the castle, including a troupe of those tall vampire women the internet fell in love with last week. An extra spicy detail: They’re made of bugs! One of them jabs a sickle into his foot from the get-go. Friendly bunch.
Our first extended look at the combat hews very close to the first-person action of Resident Evil 7, but with increased scale and enemy variety. We get a look at hordes of mangy, hooded rat men in a pitch black dungeon, and full-on werewolves accompanied by a shed-sized monster wielding an even bigger hammer. We’ll also get into it with the bug women, but shooting them doesn’t end well for Ethan.
VIDEO: The full Resident Evil Village showcase. Action starts at 23 minutes.
Resident Evil 4’s grid-based inventory returns, alongside a weapon crafting system. It’s a welcome addition and a necessary one, seeing the size of the stuff we’ll be shooting at. In another very clear nod to Resident Evil 4, Village has a recurring merchant character, too, named The Duke. He looks like a pretty odd, goofy guy, and he’ll be more of an integrated character this time. Ethan will find The Duke in new situations with fresh commentary throughout Village.
Besides a quick promise that Village will also feature the series’ usual puzzles involving statuary, odd keys and bizarre mechanisms, Capcom announced an exclusive demo for PlayStation 5 owners. We’ll get one of our people to try it out.