This October sees the arrival of Resident Evil Village’s story DLC, Shadows of Rose. The upcoming add-on will bring a close to the tale of the Winters Family, with Ethan’s daughter taking centre stage. The thing is, although this sounds great, it’s not necessarily what fans were hoping to get from Capcom.
See the trailer for Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition (including the DLC) here
Look, I’m very excited to play Shadows of Rose. Resident Evil Village was one of my favourite games of 2021, and one of my favourites in the whole franchise, but if it were up to me, the upcoming DLC would focus on none other than Chris Redfield.
The veteran character is no stranger to the spotlight, featuring as a protagonist in multiple games throughout the franchise, but he serves a more diminished role in Resident Evil Village, even if he’s playable for one brilliant section near the end of the campaign.
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Throughout RE8, the former S.T.A.R.S. member appears to drive the plot, from the game’s opening when Mia Winters is seemingly killed, to saving Ethan from Salvatore Moreau, to bringing young Rose back to her mother in the final act.
What I’m saying is the story DLC could’ve focused on these moments instead. How great would it be to fill in Village’s gaps as Chris? Imagine playing as Chris during the opening scene’s invasion of the Winters’ household, being the one to push Ethan out of the way of danger when Moreau attacks.
The DLC could climax with destroying Heisenberg’s factory, an event in the game we only see from the outside as the magnetic tinkerer laments his base’s fall at the hands of “that boulder-punching asshole”, if you’ll forgive the language there.
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The whole experience could take inspiration from Resident Evil 4’s Separate Ways, where the player steps into the fashionable shoes of Ada Wong, saving Leon S. Kennedy and solving some of the game’s mysteries at the same time.
I know I’ll probably love Shadows of Rose when it launches on 28 October, as I’m sure many other players will, but it feels like Capcom missed a trick here. I know Chris is already playable in Village’s campaign, and he’s coming to the Mercenaries mode in its new DLC, but I have so many questions about his part in RE8 that look set to remain forever unanswered, and that’s a bitter pill to swallow.
Topics: Resident Evil Village, Capcom