Last June, Capcom announced Resident Evil 8, officially named Resident Evil Village, at Sony's PlayStation 5 event. Although the overall plot of the upcoming game is still unknown, the debut trailer confirmed that Resident Evil 8 will be played in first-person similar to its predecessor, Resident Evil 7, and its village setting is definitely an inspiration from Resident Evil 4.Â
Several weeks ago, Capcom released the first-ever gameplay trailer for Resident Evil 8, and while the footage is short and doesn't really show anything concrete, it was still able to ramp up the excitement of fans who are interested to see how Capcom will propel the story of the franchise forward. Now, for those who are new to Resident Evil or have only played a handful of games, here are the Resident Evil games that should be played first before diving into Resident Evil 8.Â
Resident Evil 7
Of course, it is worth knowing that the best path to take before Resident Evil 8 is to play through every single mainline title in the franchise to understand the overall plot of the series. However, starting with Resident Evil 7, which has since become the best-selling game in the series, Capcom took a different route and started with a new storyline featuring Ethan Winters.
Given this, for those who are not so keen on playing every single entry in the franchise should at least start with Resident Evil 7, given that Resident Evil 8 will pick up shortly after the events of the last. Moreover, playing Resident Evil 7 will introduce players to Ethan and Mia Winters, since it appears that both characters will play a major role in Resident Evil 8, with Ethan believed as the upcoming game's main protagonist. Additionally, Resident Evil 7 also explores the Mold, which is a fungal superorganism created by The Connections that plays as the major threat in the game, and it'll be interesting if it returns in RE8.
RE7: Not a Hero DLC
Another story that players should familiarize themselves with is Resident Evil 7's Not a Hero DLC. This story expansion puts players in control of Chris Redfield, who works with the Blue Umbrella Organization, a strong contender to play as Resident Evil 8's main antagonist. In the DLC, Chris revealed that he was hesitant to work with Blue Umbrella, given its ties to the original Umbrella Corporation, which was shut down after its illegal bioterrorist activities were exposed.
Moreover, the trailers for Resident Evil 8 has been heavily suggesting that Chris is the bad guy in the upcoming game. Of course, players who are familiar with the Resident Evil franchise would know that Chris is one of the major protagonists in the game and has been actively fighting against bioterrorism since the first Resident Evil title. Having said this, it is interesting to see whether Chris truly crossed over to the dark side, or if he is just involved in an undercover mission to expose the truth behind Blue Umbrella.
Resident Evil 4
Lastly, new players should also look into Resident Evil 4 given its similar theme to the upcoming game. While Resident Evil 4's story has no direct links with Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 8, its setting appears to be eerily similar to the upcoming game. As previously mentioned, Resident Evil 8 is also called Resident Evil Village, and it is widely believed that the majority of the upcoming game will be set in a remote village similar to Resident Evil 4.Â
At the moment, it is still unclear whether the village setting is the only thing that links Resident Evil 8 and Resident Evil 4. However, it wouldn't be unlikely if Capcom would place Easter eggs in the upcoming game. It is also possible that the village itself, the cult that governs it, and the virus that infected the remote town in Resident Evil 4 has some sort of connection to Resident Evil 8.
Resident Evil 8Â releases 2021 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
