Focused on delivering yet another smash hit with next month’s Resident Evil 3 remake it may be, but Capcom isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket. As per current rumors circulating online, in fact, the developer is currently believed to be hard at work on a number of titles based on the iconic survival horror franchise, one of which is expected to almost certainly be Resident Evil 8. It’s worth noting that the sequel has yet to be officially announced, though that hasn’t stopped a near-endless deluge of hearsay regarding the title from doing the rounds online.
From claims of the project’s troubled development to those of a more positive note suggesting an announcement could happen alongside Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal event, separating fact from fiction – especially without any solid evidence – is tough and especially so, when discussion inevitably rolls around to the characters that are expected to appear.
One particularly noteworthy leak though, corroborated by varying sources earlier this year, suggests that both Ethan Winters and Chris Redfield will have top billing for the series’ eighth installment. Which, if true, raises several interesting questions.
Perhaps the most pertinent one of all, however, is why Ethan? First introduced in 2017’s Resident Evil 7, the character, despite finding himself trapped in extraordinary circumstances, has no ties to the wider narrative. His sole aim (you know, besides not being sliced and diced by the Baker family) is to find estranged wife Mia and escape Louisiana before Eveline can make the pair part of her mindless Molded.
What motive he’d have for sticking around for new adventures is unclear, then, though it could well be related in some way to Blue Umbrella. Ethan may have been recruited to join their ranks by Chris, with the pair deployed to investigate reports of a new bioterrorism threat. That’s just one of many possibilities, of course, and there’ll no doubt be countless other theories put forward in the months ahead.
Resident Evil 8 is rumored to be in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC.
