Highlights
- Resident Evil 9 may feature Chris as its protagonist due to the cliffhanger in Resident Evil Village.
- Capcom has a history of introducing new mechanics in each entry of the franchise, such as the dodge in Resident Evil 3 and the parry in Resident Evil 4's remake.
- To maintain the franchise's formula while breaking new ground, Resident Evil 9 could potentially combine the dodge and parry mechanics, but this would depend on the capabilities and background of the protagonist.
There isn’t much ground left that Resident Evil hasn’t already trod on in the blurred survival-horror and action-oriented genres it’s inhabited. Resident Evil’s renewed horror direction was phenomenal for a franchise that seemed to stagnate in co-op action for a while, and Resident Evil’s remake continuity has allowed it to revisit classic mainline entries in wholesale reimaginings. Resident Evil 9 has had many alleged leaks claiming to know what enemies and ambiance persist in it, but the only legitimate inference that can be made is Chris being its protagonist due to the cliffhanger premise Resident Evil Village teases.
Either way, the franchise could likely be sustainable on its own merit with few changes to its formula. But instead, Capcom has gone out of its way to not create facsimiles of its gameplay formula in each entry, though they boil down to being fairly similar. Resident Evil 3’s remake had a dodge mechanic that was inherited from the original, for example, and Resident Evil 4’s remake debuted a parry mechanic that quickly became definitive of the reimagining. The dodge didn’t have an obligation to return in Resident Evil Village or Resident Evil 4’s remake. Still, it would be exceptional to see it and the new parry mechanic be brought together for Resident Evil’s next game.
The Resident Evil 3 Remake Has an Excellent Dodge Mechanic
The Resident Evil 3 remake’s claustrophobic corridors and alleyways seem purposefully architectured to make Jill’s dodge mechanic that much more perilous and mandatory. There is hardly an encounter where players can circumvent enemies without employing this dash in a panic, let alone the successful somersault and invincibility frames that come from a perfect dodge.
Perfect dodges also allow players to quick-turn auto-aim on the enemy in slow motion, which is still only minorly useful when zombies can sustain damage from an abundance of bullets. It makes sense for Jill to have this dodge in both the original and the remake due to how many enemies need to be avoided at any given moment, but for Jill specifically to have a tactical dodge makes sense because she is a skilled STARS Alpha Team operator.
The dodge is satisfying, and it actually lends itself toward how horrifying Resident Evil can be since it requires precise timing, and it is in that tense accuracy that gameplay becomes most engaging. In order for Resident Evil 9 to feature its own dodge mechanic, the game would need to enable a third-person perspective, which Resident Evil Village did in a post-launch update.
However, it would also seemingly need to have a protagonist who could feasibly perform these dodge rolls as someone who was trained to do so. These somersaults may not be the most physically impressive feats that any Resident Evil character has demonstrated, but imagining Ethan rolling around with as much grace as Jill would be absurd.
The Resident Evil 4 Remake Broke New Ground with Its Parry Mechanic
Not unlike Jill, it is believable that Resident Evil 4’s Leon could perform suplexes, backflips, and all sorts of acrobatic maneuvers. Leon himself doesn’t have a dodge, but the remake does take monumental creative liberty in giving him a knife parry. This parry is crucial to the remake’s essence as it becomes the primary way Leon counters incoming attacks and is also integral to the new design approach for his duel with Krauser in the absence of prominent QTEs.
Interestingly, the original Resident Evil 4 did not have this parry, and therefore it was a massive departure to include one. It is unknown if a Resident Evil 9 would reprise it since Capcom is not necessarily known to replicate new mechanics for the sake of already having them designed—otherwise, Resident Evil 4’s remake would’ve surely had the Resident Evil 3 remake’s dodge or any of the supplementary crafting items Ethan has in Resident Evil Village.
But if Resident Evil 9 does want to break molds again while remaining formulaic, combining the dodge and parry mechanics in a single entry could be terrific. Someone of Chris’ reputation would certainly be able to execute both mechanics with ease between hook punches, but if the franchise’s mainline future follows an ordinary citizen it would be difficult to expect them to roll around and parry enemies.
Resident Evil 9 is rumored to be in development.