Capcom Confirmed “Resident Evil 8: Village” And I Feel Conflicted Over (Queer) Chris Redfield

During Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal, fans finally got a confirmation from Capcom about Resident Evil 8: Village being an actual title. After seeing the promotional content, I’m feeling conflicted over the direction (Resident Evil‘s queer icon) Chris Redfield will be taking in the latest installment.

This article talks about certain rumors about the plot of Resident Evil 8: Village near the end. Consider yourself warned.

Resident Evil 8: Village or Resident Evil Village was something fans began speculating was something that existed a couple of weeks ago. So, it’s great to finally see confirmation from Capcom. The title is scheduled to be released sometime in 2021. It will be available for the PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox One.

Here’s a description from the PlayStation Blog:

Taking place a few years after the events of Resident Evil 7 biohazard, in which protagonist Ethan Winters traveled to Louisiana to search for his missing wife, Mia, Resident Evil Village sees the reunited Mia and Ethan living happily together and putting their shared nightmares of the Baker’s plantation house behind them.

Finally able to move on from those horrifying events, Ethan’s world suddenly comes crashing down once again when Chris Redfield, an unexpected yet familiar face makes an appearance, setting off a chain of events that sees a distraught Ethan seeking answers to Chris’s shocking actions… and ultimately finding him in a mysterious village.

Unlike the cramped corridors of the Baker mansion in Resident Evil 7, the fear of dark corners has been replaced with the anxiety of the unknown as Ethan searches for answers within decrepit buildings among snow-covered trees.

Opening with the words “His story comes to a close”, here’s the announcement trailer!

Yes, the similarities to the village setting (complete with creepy castle) from Resident Evil 4 are quite obvious. The werewolves are something I look forward to beating. The old women look like vampire witches. I’m also happy with how Capcom decided to redo Chris’ character design. The facial features they gave him in Resident Evil 7 just weren’t it.

Anyway, now I’m going to get into rumor (and likely spoiler) territory. So, if you don’t want to read what’s been circulating online, I bid you goodbye.

Are you still here?

Okay. I’ll begin!

Over the past couple of days, certain rumors surfaced online about what fans can expect from Resident Evil 8. While you should take rumors with a huge grain of salt, after reading the official description, I have a feeling said rumors have some kind of truth to them.

Apparently, Ethan and his wife, Mia, have a child. However, due to what they went through in Resident Evil 7 (you can read my review if you want), their child has some kind of infection. Chris decides to track Ethan to kill Mia as well as the kid. This leads to Ethan following Chris to a mysterious village where Ethan teams up with a young woman who is trying to save a lost relative.

The rumors also included a plot point involving Chris killing his sister Claire Redfield and basically becoming the type of person he vowed to stop when he first got into the zombie-centric mess during the beginning of the series.

Now, I don’t know what to make of these rumors, yet. I don’t like how the upcoming game will (maybe) kill Mia and have Ethan (complete with manpain) as the protagonist, again (after R.E. 7). Why not allow Mia to be the lead this time? Or did having a woman as the lead not work with introducing a mysterious young woman and all of the sexual tension the villainesses (from the trailer) will bring?

As for Chris, while I don’t buy him killing his sister, I can kind of understand why he would kill an infected baby if it meant the world will be saved from another outbreak. Also, with how R.E. 6 introduced clones, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Chris clone has been running around in this fictional world.

While I’m a fan of Chris and would like him to be happy, seeing his character grow into a more brooding and darker version makes sense. He’s been through a lot. The fact that there’s danger always around while he’s getting older must be frustrating for a guy like him.

And yes, he does seem to fall in the sad-and-lonely-queer-man trope, but you know what? If that’s Capcom’s way of finally confirming (without a doubt) that Chris is indeed a queer character, I’ll take it. I just hope he’s not actually the villain of the story because I can do without queer villains in media.

I’ll be keeping an eye on stuff from Resident Evil 8: Village. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of first-person gameplay or Ethan as the protagonist, I will definitely be playing this game. I need to know what will happen to Chris. Also, fingers crossed we get a Resident Evil title that showcases what the rest of the cast (especially Jill Valentine and Sheva Alomar) have been up to.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the title with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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