From lycans to vampires, Capcom outdid itself with the nightmarish bestiary of Resident Evil Village. The design of the Sturm enemy may not be a Capcom original, though, with modder, Pumpkinhook, releasing a new model to address the situation.
Resident Evil Village came out this past May to glowing reviews. As the direct follow-up to 2017's Resident Evil 7, the game thrusts players into a variety of frightening enemies, many of which are brand new to the series. Sturm is a hulking monstrosity whose upper body is a large turbine that charges after the player throughout Heisenberg's Factory, an area filled with many of Village's hidden secrets. Richard Raaphorst, creator and director of the 2013 film, Frankenstein's Army, took to Linkedin following Village's release to comment on Sturm's resemblance to a creature from his film.
On June 30, modder Pumpkinhook uploaded a new model for Sturm to NexusMods that remedies its similar appearance to Raaphorst's creation. Titled fittingly, "Copyright Free Sturm," the mod replaces Sturm's model with that of a super basic white fan, toting a slender base and caged in blades. No other edits are included in the mod, so Sturm as a pursuer and boss fight function identically to the original—it is just a cosmetic change. Although Capcom is developing DLC for Village, no statement about Sturm's design has been made, making it unclear whether the company will officially address the situation.
Sturm's design and that of Raaphorst's creature are undeniably similar. Both monsters have no visible head but lumber around with giant fans mounted onto to their torsos that have a tendency to spew flames. A subtle difference between the two are their propellers: Sturm's are chainsaw blades while Raaphorst's monsters appear more like those of an actual turbine engine. For Raaphorst, seeing essentially their design in such a successful game as Village without acknowledgement or permission is bound to be frustrating.
Raaphost has not elevated copyright claims to that of a lawsuit, but it would not be first time Capcom has been accused of stealing other people's work. Recently, Capcom allegedly took dozens of photographs from designer Judy A. Juracek's, book, Surface, with instances of plagiarism dating back to the original Devil May Cry and 2002's Resident Evil remake. One example is a rather blatant usage of a stained glass window from Surface used as a texture in the latter title's mansion. No trial date has been issued yet for Juracek's claims.
Resident Evil Village is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
