Resident Evil’s Next Major Game Will Abandon The Winters Family

Resident Evil 9 - or whatever that game comes out as - will not feature either Ethan Winters or his daughter Rose, as Capcom has confirmed that upcoming DLC for Resident Evil Village will close out that family’s story.

Released in 2021 to generous acclaim - here’s our review - Resident Evil Village followed Ethan as he searched some superbly creepy climes for his missing baby daughter, Rose. Also: the tall lady was in it. Even if you never played the game, that you’ll probably remember. The second first-person-perspective game in Capcom’s longrunning survival horror series, Village will receive its Winters’ Expansion DLC expansion on October 28 - and fans of towering vampires will be pleased that it’ll feature a playable Lady Dimitrescu in its Mercenaries mode. 

Here’s the trailer for Resident Evil Village’s Shadows of Rose DLC…

The story element of the DLC, titled Shadows of Rose, is set 16 years after Village, which is why the previously infant Winters junior is now a playable teenager. The DLC will also enable players to go through the entire Village campaign in third-person mode, which is a very nice touch and will represent a fresh experience even for those who know the game like the backs of their hands. 

Speaking to IGN at the Tokyo Game Show, Capcom’s Kento Kinoshita confirmed that Shadows of Rose is the last we’ll see of the Winters, as the next mainline Resident Evil entry will take a new direction. Ethan was also the playable protagonist in Resident Evil VII: Biohazard. When IGN’s correspondent asked what that direction might be, another Capcom representative, producer Masachika Kawata, said that they could “absolutely not” reveal any further details.

Of the third-person option for Village, however, Kinoshita remarked: “That took about as much effort as creating a new game. Even the same game can be a very different experience when played in third-person.” The next full release from the Resident Evil series will be the remake of Resident Evil 4, due on March 23, 2023. The remake will release for PC, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 - which is splendid news for anyone with a previous-gen Sony console, not so much for those hanging onto their Xbox Ones.