Highlights

  • A big tease in Resident Evil Village hints at Chris Redfield leading Resident Evil 9 in Europe, but Capcom could subvert expectations with a different protagonist.
  • Ada Wong's espionage skills and gameplay make her a worthy protagonist for a mainline Resident Evil installment, as she has been a side character for far too long.

Resident Evil Village wouldn’t have concluded the way it did with Chris Redfield heading toward the BSAA headquarters in Europe if Capcom didn’t want players to believe that’s who Resident Evil 9 would star as its lead and that’s where it would take place. There’s always a chance that Resident Evil 9 throws a curveball and either retcons or disregards this Resident Evil Village cliffhanger, but it’s the perfect foundation for a subsequent mainline entry. Similarly, the Resident Evil 4 remake seemingly wouldn’t have ended with an Albert Wesker tease unless a Resident Evil 5 remake was in the pipeline.

This tease in particular could’ve simply been meant to hint at the remake’s Separate Ways DLC, but with a full character model and actor for Wesker now the onus is on Capcom to continue its consecutive remakes. As for its mainline installments, Chris is an overused protagonist as it is and this would be especially true if he is the playable protagonist of two Resident Evil games back to back in Resident Evil 9 and a Resident Evil 5 remake. Many legacy characters are deserving of that role, and to make her more paramount and focal it would be great to see Resident Evil 9 feature Ada Wong as at least one of its protagonists.

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Ada Wong Has Been a Side Character for Too Long

Ada has been playable a handful of times in the Resident Evil series and it’s usually refreshing to have her perspective of the game’s events—Resident Evil 6 arguably being the exception due to how long and repetitive different characters’ chapters can be. Ada has always been a flirtatious and scandalous anti-hero, which is a fantastic dynamic to have when most legacy characters are morally unambiguous do-gooders.

Even Chris, who has had to make dicey choices before, is a boy scout, as is Leon Kennedy. Ada is terrific because at any moment, and seemingly for any reason, she can be on the antagonists’ side with her own agenda.

This would give her a lot to contemplate in the role of protagonist for a game of her own, and because Resident Evil 9 is essentially an open book regarding where its story could go it would be fantastic to see Ada play a bigger part than she’s used to in the series.

Ada’s Gameplay Pedestals Her Above Others in Resident Evil

Ada is also more capable than other Resident Evil legacy character mascots given her arsenal of espionage gadgetry, as depicted in the remake of Resident Evil 4’s Separate Ways DLC. The grappling hook alone was a phenomenal tool that aided traversal and combat superbly while being able to legitimately scan environments for clues is an immersive means for Resident Evil to enhance exploration and puzzles.

Ada’s gameplay is wholly authentic and it’s experiences like these that Resident Evil needs to rely on if it wants the franchise to evolve. The Resident Evil 4 remake’s parry suggests that Capcom is still looking for ways it can iterate on modern gameplay and there’s debatably no better way to do that than to have an agile and devious Ada take the franchise’s reins for at least one mainline installment.

Ada would probably be the most unexpected and unprecedented legacy character to lead a mainline game, but this could also be a boon since it would allow her to step out of the shadows and occupy a space she hadn’t before. Any other legacy character might be too much fan service if their reprisal wasn’t carefully conceived, anyhow, and learning about what trouble Ada’s been causing since Resident Evil 6 would be fascinating.