Highlights

  • Resident Evil 9's future is uncertain, but rumors suggest it could go open-world with returning legacy characters and deeper folklore.
  • The franchise needs to introduce a new mainstay monster to continue its legacy of iconic enemies and maintain player engagement.
  • Recent games focused on one-off enemies, making the series feel disconnected; introducing a new enemy type could solve this issue.

Though it had a few stumbles in the early 2010s, the Resident Evil franchise has seemingly found its rhythm once more, continuing a successful cycle of remakes and mainline sequels. That being said, the future of the Resident Evil series is a little uncertain right now. While it's inevitable that Resident Evil 9 is in the works – likely alongside at least one remake – Capcom hasn't confirmed any of its plans just yet.

But that hasn't stopped a cavalcade of leakers from taking to Twitter a few times over the last year or so to make a few claims about the Resident Evil franchise's future. Resident Evil 9 in particular has become a hotbed of speculation, with some rumors suggesting the game could be going open-world, that it could see the return of legacy characters like Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, and Leon Kennedy, and that it could be diving even further into folklore. Regardless of these rumors, there's a lot of pressure on Resident Evil 9 to continue the series' hot streak, and it could achieve that by ending one recent franchise trend.

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Resident Evil 9 Needs to Introduce a New Mainstay Monster

The Resident Evil Franchise is Home to Some Iconic Recurring Threats

The very first 1996 Resident Evil introduced players to a horde of iconic enemies, from the series' distinct take on flesh-eating zombies, to mutated bosses like Yawn and Neptune, to special enemy types like the Hunter and Cerberus. Practically every enemy in the original Resident Evil has gone down in history as one of the best video game monsters of all time, and a few became mainstays of the franchise.

In 1998's Resident Evil 2, Capcom introduced a variety of new enemy types, but few became quite as iconic as the Licker, the blind, long-tongued, skinless monsters that stalk Leon Kennedy around the Raccoon City Police Department. It didn't take long before the Licker would join the Hunter and Cerberus as some of the franchise's most recognizable foes, and all three would go on to appear in a few subsequent Resident Evil entries, acting as both a nice bit of fan service and adding to the respective game's enemy variety.

Recent Resident Evil Games Have Focused on One-Off Enemies

Unfortunately, it's been a while since Resident Evil has delivered a new mainstay enemy type. Enemy variety wasn't a big strength of Resident Evil 7, with players mostly facing off against indistinguishable mold monsters. While these enemies fit Resident Evil 7's setting and vibe well, they aren't considered overly unique or iconic, and they didn't reappear in Resident Evil Village.

Instead, Resident Evil Village leaned more into fantasy for its enemy designs, introducing vampires and lycans to the series, which went a long way in solving RE 7's enemy variety issue. However, it's unlikely that these enemies are going to show up again in a future Resident Evil entry, with them only really working in Village's setting. While it's great to see each new entry get its own distinct set of enemies, it does make the modern Resident Evil series feel a tad disconnected. It would be nice to see a new enemy type get introduced in Resident Evil 9 that can then be brought back for future entries, just as long as their return would make sense in-universe.