Resident Evil Leak Teases “Strong Horror Direction” For Upcoming Remake

The Resident Evil series has undergone some pretty drastic changes over the years, with the series attempting to balance its more haunting survival horror elements with intense action to up the stakes. While the latest release of Resident Evil Requiem surprisingly offered a blend of both playstyles through its dual protagonists, it doesn’t seem like the direction is here to stay if some recent leaks are true.

While we’ve already heard plenty of rumors and even a few Easter eggs pointing towards the upcoming release of the long-awaited Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake, a recent leak is flipping fan expectations on its head by supposedly confirming Capcom is sticking to one surprising play style for the experience.

According to the frequent Resident Evil leaker AestheticGamer1, the upcoming “Code Veronica Remake is going in a much stronger horror direction than the original,” foregoing the more action-heavy focus of the more recent entries in the franchise.

While this wouldn’t be the first time Capcom has shifted the focus of Resident Evil away from action-heavy blockbusters towards more daunting horror experiences, it would still be a surprising move considering how well received the last two entries in the franchise have been, especially with their current attempts at striking a balance between the two.

Even if there’s been more than a bit of confusion surrounding the leak, it makes more sense when paired with AestheticGamer’s claim that “horror is constantly the most successful, well liked, & stand out moments for players” according to Capcom’s data collection, and that “every data point for them shows that they should embrace horror more,” rather than trying to keep up the stakes of its more action heavy experiences.

While Code Veronica is already infamous for being one of the most challenging entries in the franchise, the horror focus shift would still be a large change from the original experience, given that “It was definitely notably more action-oriented than the Resident Evil games before it.”

Even if Code Veronica itself and the rumors for its remake are far more tame than what we expect from today’s standards, that doesn’t mean a horror-focused shift would entirely eliminate any action segments. With Claire taking center stage for the survival aspect of the game, there is still a chance that Chris’ arrival later on could help liven up the experience to what newer fans of the series have come to expect.

While we’ll have to wait and see how far Capcom is willing to lean back into their survival horror roots for the Resident Evil series once more, it’ll be even easier now that the debate between third and first-person is finally over, thanks to Requiem.

Video Game(s)

Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil 2 (2019), Resident Evil 3 (2020), Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4 (2023)

Cast

Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Ali Larter, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Iain Glen, Shawn Roberts, Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Hannah John-Kamen

Created by

Shinji Mikami, Tokuro Fujiwara