In the absence of E3 presentations in 2022, several game makers have started hosting their E3-style live streaming to give fans a sneak peek at impending game releases.
Capcom is the most recent developer to conduct one of these events, and predictably, Resident Evil material dominated the firm’s presentation. There was a lot that fans wanted to see, with a narrative DLC for Resident Evil Village on the way and a remake of Resident Evil 4.
Capcom did confirm the release dates for both the RE8 DLC and the RE4 remake, even though gameplay for both was kept tantalizingly short.
However, these aren’t the only two Resident Evil games that Capcom has yet to release. Resident Evil Re: Verse is a multiplayer PvP game that was included with Resident Evil Village but only got 10 seconds of screen time during Capcom’s Resident Evil Village demo.
The short announcement just noted that Re: Verse will be released on October 28, 2022, on the same day as Resident Evil Village’s DLC.
Re: Verse was supposed to be released with Resident Evil Village to commemorate the Resident Evil series’ 25th anniversary. Still, it was postponed for a year when the game’s online test showed several matching flaws.
However, a multiplayer shooting feature is an odd path for the series, particularly given that Resident Evil 7 just recently re-established the brand as a more focused survival horror title.
Re: Verse is a multiplayer PvP game mode for up to six players, featuring the unique Resident Evil feature of turning a player into one of the series’ trademark bioweapon adversaries for a brief period once they are killed.
Many elements from the most recent RE Engine-created Resident Evil games, including characters, weapons, and settings like the RPD, are reused in Re: Verse; however, these places have been scaled up to make appropriate multiplayer levels.
All of the assets have also been given a cel-shaded, Borderlands-style aesthetic, most likely done to reduce the game’s processing load.
Capcom seems interested in including an online multiplayer component into their Resident Evil titles since the Resident Evil 3 remake had an intriguing but ultimately doomed asymmetric multiplayer game mode called Resident Evil Resistance.
Re: Verse looks to be a more typical effort at a multiplayer PvP feature, which would have certainly improved player engagement with RE8. Due to its release a year after Resident Evil Village, Re: Verse may have already lost its opportunity to do so.
Re: short Verse’s debut in the Capcom Showcase raises questions about the developer’s confidence in the game’s success. Re: Verse might end up being another failed effort by Capcom to make a multiplayer Resident Evil game.
