Seeing how successful each of Resident Evil’s remakes has been, there is no reason for Capcom to quit while it’s ahead. Since it doesn’t look like Capcom is going to be going near its original entry any time soon, it has already remade essentially every title that fans still hold near and dear.

Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 were incredibly successful in their day, but as time has passed fans look back on these games with contention due to how alienated they are from the franchise’s traditional survival-horror. Resident Evil needed these two games to be divisive, though, to branch out from its restrictive genre expectations.

Resident Evil Remakes Can Change How Players Perceive Its Most Divisive Games

Resident Evil Has Always Balanced Action and Horror Well

The IP has since returned to horror in mainline entries to tremendous effect, but in the meantime, Resident Evil’s remakes have caught up to the fifth game as the next possible remake for Capcom to tackle. However, while this marked a time of substantial distinction for the original, the remake of Resident Evil 4 has demonstrated that Capcom’s modern remake continuity can reimagine Resident Evil 5 in a much less jarring manner.

This is important for Resident Evil now more than ever since fans are pleased that the franchise was able to seamlessly transition to horror with an entry as delightfully gruesome as Resident Evil 7. Whisking players away from that atmosphere to something more action-oriented again already could be seen as disappointing.

Capcom will have a thin tightrope to balance with any remake it puts out from now on due to how beloved Resident Evil 4 is, and there will undoubtedly be fans who want a Resident Evil 5 remake to be entirely faithful, but many fans may also be more lenient toward Resident Evil 5 having more of a horror-oriented atmosphere to it this time around. That’s the biggest boon these remakes offer; allowing Resident Evil to essentially reimagine itself in a modern image that can rectify any grievances fans had with the originals without completely eschewing from their unique identities.

Resident Evil 5 Has to Pick a Genre Lane

Resident Evil 5’s potential remake will be wholly interesting since whichever direction it takes may inspire a directional shift in the remake continuity’s storytelling, too. Resident Evil 4 arguably leaned more toward horror than the original, for example, and Resident Evil 5 having a comparable atmosphere would be even more prevalent. What Capcom needs to avoid without fail for the duration of its remake continuity is cutting content crucial to it, such as it did with Resident Evil 3.

If that's achievable, then Capcom has already demonstrated its ability to adapt characters to modern entries well, even if they do behave more erratically or humorously than others. Resident Evil certainly has an eccentric cast of characters, and changing anything about any of them now could be seen as too severe of a diversion from the source material.

That said, Resident Evil 4’s Wesker seems every bit as tropey as he did in the original continuity, which could be Capcom’s way of informing fans that more of the same is to be anticipated in the franchise’s future. Instead, Resident Evil’s main installments could be where its concentration on horror lies, letting remake entries revel in campy, nostalgic action while newer games can hopefully explore other corners of body horror and whimsical fantasy.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil is a long-running survival horror franchise developed by Capcom. Spread across numerous mainline and spin-off entries, the series is known for it’s third and first-person action horror, zombie-related monsters and references, and challenging puzzles.