The addition of co-op has been an essential part of the Resident Evil games over the course of its 25 years history. While it hasn't been part of every single game in the series, it has been part of enough to make a difference. With Resident Evil Village right around the corner, many fans are curious to know whether this upcoming next-gen entry would bring back this exciting aspect of the series in some form or not.
2017's Resident Evil 7 saw Capcom take a different approach to the Resident Evil series by giving it a more survival horror appeal like the early games in the franchise. Unfortunately for co-op fans, this meant that Capcom had to cut down the co-op mode that could have otherwise hindered some of the frantic moments of the game. With Resident Evil Village being a direct sequel to Resident Evil 7, this could be the case all over again.
Although RE Village is connected to RE 7 and has a similar approach to horror, it also has its footing in the action-focused RE 4, RE5, and RE 6. The latter made it more likely for RE Village to have a co-op mode, but that's not the case. At launch, Resident Evil Village does not have co-op of any kind.
Resident Evil Village is rumored to feature three playable characters. While the identities of the others aside from Ethan are currently a mystery, there are few possibilities of who they could be. For instance, a character named Emily is rumored to be the second character that players get to play as in RE Village. As it seems, Emily is looking for her father and join forces with Ethan at some point in the story. This could create specific scenarios where one player plays as Ethan and the other plays as Emily.
Resident Evil Village is also set to feature vast open spaces to explore this time around with verticality playing a more important role in combat encounters. As such, a co-op option in such areas could lead to more tactful gameplay, with both players having an ample amount of freedom to approach a given encounter.
While a traditional partner seems too far-fetched as Ethan would travel alone most of the time, the game could take note of Ada Wong's campaign in RE 6. Many would recall the faceless character the "Agent," who was added later on in the game as Ada's co-op partner. The "Agent" could be an AI-controlled character or any player online. Resident Evil Village could add a similar mystery character as Ethan's co-op partner to amp up the gameplay experience.
Regardless, Resident Evil Village does not have co-op at launch and Capcom has not announced any intention of adding it to the game at the time of this writing.
Resident Evil Village launches May 7, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
