Highlights

  • It is unclear whether a Resident Evil 5 remake will come before or after Resident Evil 9, but co-op is seen as an essential feature for the remake.
  • Implementing co-op in Resident Evil 9 and future remakes could create a co-op trilogy, potentially allowing for iteration on the feature.

Capcom isn’t necessarily one to transparently leave a trail of breadcrumbs in one game for the next to follow, especially in terms of how each Resident Evil game’s ending concludes with finality and closure for that story’s events. Regardless of whether the character takes a helicopter ride into the sunset or not, it’s usually uncertain what the story of the next game will entail, let alone if it will follow the same character again or not. Resident Evil 9, on the other hand, seems to want to do away with that tradition and it’ll be interesting to see if Capcom follows through with the loose thread it’s handed Chris Redfield.

It’s also unclear if another entry in Capcom’s line of Resident Evil remakes will precede or succeed Resident Evil 9. As for what game Capcom might remake next, the way Resident Evil 4 and its Separate Ways DLC end make it fairly obvious that Resident Evil 5 might be in the works. The biggest concern for such a remake would be whether it has co-op or not, but if Resident Evil 9 debuted modern co-op before a Resident Evil 5 remake could there would be a lot of fascinating implications to make about the franchise’s direction in both its mainline and reimagined titles.

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A Resident Evil 5 Remake Having Co-op is a Make or Break Scenario

Co-op is Basically a Must-Have for a Resident Evil 5 Remake

The Resident Evil 2 remake needed to get the Raccoon City Police Department right, the Resident Evil 3 remake needed to get Nemesis right, and the Resident Evil 4 remake needed to get the village’s atmosphere right. Now, if Resident Evil 5 is on the docket, it will need to get two-player co-op right.

There’s a world that exists where a remake of the fifth mainline game only features single-player and Sheva Alomar is an NPC AI character the whole time, but neglecting the function of co-op would essentially strip away the one distinct characteristic of the game aside from its setting.

Sheva is indeed an NPC AI whenever players aren’t engaging in co-op, too, and Capcom could decide that its best bet is to fully lean on that premise instead of designing a modern co-op system for maybe one more game afterward if it decides to follow Resident Evil 5 with a remake of Resident Evil 6. That said, one choice of direction for the franchise could ensure that Resident Evil 5’s co-op isn’t a one-off, and that direction could potentially be implemented even sooner than Resident Evil 5 depending on the franchise’s pipeline schedule.

Resident Evil 9 Could Beat a Resident Evil 5 Remake to Its Defining Feature

Co-op Could Be Influential and Experimental in Resident Evil 9

Resident Evil 9 featuring co-op would be unprecedented, but it could make a lot of sense. If co-op is going to be pivotal in the Resident Evil franchise once again it would be logical for Capcom to make use of it a number of times in order to iterate on it well and make it worthwhile. That said, the main installments have not ever been reliant on what the remakes did, nor vice versa, and so there is no way to tell if Resident Evil 5 would end up influencing Resident Evil 9 in any way.

Nonetheless, having co-op in at least Resident Evil 9, a Resident Evil 5 remake, and a Resident Evil 6 remake would give it the opportunity for a co-op trilogy over the next decade or however long it may take. What would be truly special is if Resident Evil 9 released before a Resident Evil 5 remake, allowing Capcom to hone its co-op in a new entry before adapting one of the most successful Resident Evil titles to date.

Resident Evil 9’s co-op could feature Chris Redfield and someone else as playable protagonists, for example, and that gameplay formula would lead straight into a remake of Resident Evil 5. That runs the risk of both games being identical in a lot of ways, though, and Resident Evil 9 would need to ensure its atmosphere, character dynamics, gameplay, and setting are far more authentic to avoid such low-hanging comparisons.