1) The Baker Family
Depending on which way you look at it, The Baker Family is either the most dysfunctional ever, or one with such remarkably strong familial bonds that nobody blinks an eye when its patriarch lops his own son’s hand off. Oh sure, they both know that it’ll grow back, but you can only have respect for the lengths Mr. Baker will go to in order to ensure his son learns some bloody manners at the dinner table. Besides, the amputated limb would probably make for a fresher meal than anything Mrs. Baker had prepared for their guest of honor.
Ethan Winters finds himself smack bang in the middle of a Texas Chainsaw inspired scene within the opening hour of Resident Evil 7 but, would you believe it, his macabre candlelit dinner with the Bakers is normal in comparison to what comes next. It’s just the perfect amount of crazy to dump on the player as they begin their quest to escape the Baker’s Louisiana home. A taster, if you will, of the role each infected family member has yet to play in Eveline’s grand scheme.
Unlike Wesker, who devolved from maniacal-yet-mysterious villain status to comic book caricature during his tenure as Resident Evil‘s lead antagonist, the Bakers are just ordinary people who’ve accidentally found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Ethan’s dream-like hallucination towards the end of the game, where he meets an uninfected Jack Baker, stands out to me as a terrific moment of storytelling. The husband and father was never anything but a simple family man who attempted to do good by welcoming a young girl into his home. Unfortunately for him, that little girl turned out to be a bio-organic superweapon in disguise. What are the odds, eh?
Some men are born evil, but not Jack. Rest easy, mate – I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and consider your multiple attempts at murdering me naught but a misunderstanding.
