More than a year after the game released, Resident Evil Village is finally getting its first DLC. The Winters Expansion comes out on October 28, 2022, and will feature a new story starring Rosemary Winters, a fully playable third-person mode for the main campaign, and more characters in the Mercenaries arcade mode. Fans who loved Resident Evil Village will find hours of new content, as well as alternate ways to experience old content.
Going deeper into the arcade content, The Mercenaries: Additional Orders will provide players with new stages and playable characters like Karl Heisenberg, who wields his giant hammer along with his ability to control metal. Lady Dimitrescu uses her nine-foot-tall presence as well as her claw-like fingers and summonable daughters. Lastly, Chris Redfield makes a return as a playable character with his large arsenal of weapons and combat expertise. While all these characters are welcome in Resident Evil Village's DLC, Chris Redfield's constant appearances makes one wonder if he is holding back the franchise.
Chris Redfield: From Survivor to Superhero
When Chris Redfield was introduced in the first Resident Evil, he was already a seasoned officer of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) in Raccoon City. Proficient in armed and unarmed combat, while possessing a cool head under pressure, Chris Redfield proved invaluable to the S.T.A.R.S. members involved in the Spencer Mansion Incident. After surviving his first encounter with bio-organic weapons, Chris dedicated his life to fighting the corporations that would create and sell such monstrosities.
Redfield would join the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) and participate in anti-bio-organic weapon operations around the world; with his adventures taking him from places like Rockfort Island in the Southern Ocean to the Kijuju Autonomous Zone in Africa. With the completion of each operation, Chris furthered his skills and became something of a legend in the BSAA. By the late 2000s and early 2010s, Chris could take on hordes of zombies by himself, and even punch a giant boulder into a pit of lava - feats that would be impossible for a normal human being.
Resident Evil Doesn't Need Superheroes
Perhaps due to the character's near-mythic status, Capcom tries its hardest to include Christ in every Resident Evil game. He appears at the end of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard despite having little to no connection with the story whatsoever, and injects himself into the Winters' lives without their permission. Doing so not only brings the more action-oriented aspects of Resident Evil back into the franchise, but also forces the baggage that comes with the series' lore onto unsuspecting players.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a great starting point for anyone looking to get into the series, but it fumbles its ending and sequel because of Chris Redfield. When Resident Evil Village launched, it became obvious that the game is more action-oriented than its predecessor. This is most evident in Chris Redfield's playable section, where taking down hordes of mutated enemies is prioritized over the rest of the game's survival mechanics. Not only that, Capcom had to justify Chris' presence by connecting a secluded European village to the Umbrella Corporation - a company that is seeped in the confounding lore of Resident Evil.
If Capcom wants Resident Evil to truly move forward as a horror franchise, it has to learn to separate the next games from its troubled past. That means doing away with superhero-like characters such as Chris Redfield and Rosemary Winters, as well as letting go of the confusing lore surrounding said characters. Capcom nearly pulled off this endeavor when it released Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in 2017, but fell back into its old ways when the game became more action-oriented thanks to the return of Chris Redfield. By making Resident Evil games that provide in-the-moment scares and stories, Capcom might just be able to reinvent the horror genre once again.
Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition will release on October 28 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
