Despite the pandemic pushing back a plethora of games, 2021 still saw a good handful of excellent AAA experiences hit store shelves, and Resident Evil Village was certainly one of them. Taking the new gameplay style of Resident Evil 7 and adding a good amount of action to the formula, Resident Evil Village wasn't every fans' cup of tea, but it was still an undeniably good game, and it had plenty of content for fans to sink their teeth into. On top of the game's reasonably lengthy story, Resident Evil 8 contained a Mercenaries mode, a horde mode first introduced in Resident Evil 4.
When it released, Resident Evil 8's Mercenaries mode only let players enter the arena as the game's main protagonist, Ethan Winters. But, come the end of October, fans will be able to jump back in as three new playable characters. Announced just a month ago, Resident Evil 8's Winters Expansion will add a plethora of new content to the game's Mercenaries mode, in an update named "Additional Orders." Along with new challenges and maps, this update adds Lady Dimitrescu, Karl Heisenberg, and fan-favorite operative Chris Redfield to Resident Evil 8's Mercenaries mode.
Chris Redfield Mercenaries Breakdown
Just a few days ago, Capcom released a brief trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil 8 Gold Edition and its new Mercenaries mode offerings. In just a minute and a half, all three of the new playable characters are shown off, each wielding their iconic weapons, and each being shown to use a range of unique abilities and powers that really set them apart from each other. With the trailer being so short, everyone only has about 10-20 seconds each to take the spotlight, but Capcom makes the very most of that limited time.
After a few brief shots of some of the terrifying lycan and zombie enemies the player will battle once more, the trailer gives fans their first look at how Chris Redfield will play in Resident Evil 8's Mercenaries mode. The first shot shows Chris loading a magazine into his heavily customized SMG, which houses both a laser sight, and a silencer, amongst a few other modifications. After loading his weapon, the trailer cuts to Chris punching a horde of enemies, seemingly sending a shockwave that staggers and pushes a few zombies to the ground. Long-time fans of Resident Evil will be more than aware of this iconic Chris Redfield punch, it having been used to push a gigantic boulder in one infamous Resident Evil 5 sequence.
After a brief montage of Chris shooting down different foes with his SMG, he's then shown to use a flashbang grenade on a group of enemies, which dazes and confuses all within its radius. It seems as though this might also temporarily blind the player if they're looking towards the grenade during its detonation, so it might be a bit of a double-edged ability in practice. Chris' section in trailer wraps up with him using a target locator, which promptly rains down a devastating artillery blast on the horde in front of him.
For those that have already had their fill of Resident Evil 8's story, most of these abilities and weapons will be pretty familiar, with the player controlling Chris Redfield towards the end. However, while playing as Chris may not be quite as unique or new as playing as Lady Dimitrescu or Heisenberg, his abilities and weapons look like they'll be the perfect fit for Mercenaries' more frantic and chaotic gameplay.
Resident Evil 8 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
