You’ll need to continue using your imagination
Nothing slips pastResident Evilfans. Deep down in Capcom’s (actually pretty interesting!)annual reportfor 2021, there’s a mention of “free additional DLC” forResident Evil Village.
To backtrack a bit, we already knew —from an announcement at E3 2021— that Capcom had “just started” developing “additional DLC forResident Evil Village.” I was just reminded of that no-frills message the other day and worked myself up thinking about the many potential cool directions that DLC could take. It’s been a while, and Capcom still hasn’t elaborated on what the DLC forVillagewill be like in even the broadest terms.
The kind-of-dubious news today is that, per Capcom’s 2021 annual report, part of the post-launch plans forResident Evil Villagewill include free DLC. Here’s the brief quote in question, which you can find on page 48 (via@Nibellion):
“Further, we will drive our customer management to understand the playing trends and preferences of users while also building a business model for online operations, taking into account the situation of ourfree additional DLCfor titles such asMonster Hunter RiseandResident Evil Village.”
Is this the same content that Capcom teased at E3, or is it something extra? And either way, how substantial will it be? That’s all speculative, at this point.
That said, it’s worth remembering thatResident Evil 7got an assortment of DLC, most of which was paid, but some of which — namely, Chris Redfield’sNot a HeroDLC story episode — was free. As much as I loveVillage, I wish the game took more DLC cues fromRE7. Straight up, some of my favorite content inResident Evil 7was the DLC. I enjoyed its mix of scary, tense, and wacky modes and stories. A freaky escape room? Great. First-person punch-outs as Uncle Joe? Love it. Collecting random food for Jack’s birthday? Hey, I had fun learning the routes. I think the only thing Ididn’tenjoy was Ethan Must Die.
Best-case scenario forResident Evil Village? A meaty story expansion (that many of us will happily pay for) and also a free content update — potentially to expand The Mercenaries,which felt like a missed opportunity. We recently learned thatVillageisselling fasterthanRE7and that it’s at five million units shipped worldwide. So bring it on!
(Notice how I conveniently didn’t bring upRe:Verse, which was pushed to 2022, until now.)
