Resident Evil Village is shaping up to be not just an internet sensation, but a survival horror game title to bring in newbies and old-school fans alike thanks to its title.

According to RE Village director Morimasa Sato (via 4Gamer and Twitter), Capcom removed the number “8” in the title because it wants this game to be accessible to new fans. Capcom felt the number “8” will put up a high barrier of entry onto the series. Funnily enough, “Village” was the codename of the game when production began and was meant to be a placeholder for the title.

Apparently, it stuck with the team and they decided to roll with “Village” in the title. Capcom also mentioned that the word “Village” conveys a sense of fear and ominousness.

But how come the game’s latest location is in a European setting, in a village and castle? That’s because this allowed the team at Capcom to increase the amount of content over the last game. For those catching up, Resident Evil 7 was set in a giant house with a crazed hillbilly family. Plus, the gothic horror setting serves as a huge contrast to RE7’s modern conventions of horror.

Speaking of content, Capcom wanted Mercenaries in RE Village because it couldn’t add that game mode in RE7. Plus, it was the team’s first time figuring out how Mercenaries work in first-person view. Mercenaries was a staple in Resident Evil games, so it’s nice to see that make a return.

But Why Is Ethan Faceless?

If you’ve noticed the recent marketing materials of RE Village as of late, Ethan’s face is obscured and appears “faceless”. That’s because Capcom wants players to see the game as if they were in Ethan’s shoes. This is accentuated with the game’s first-person view.

Other tidbits in RE Village pointed out in the interview include:

• The game’s shopkeeper, the Duke, being portrayed as a fat jolly man because he was designed to be lighthearted in response to those who found RE& too scary to play.
• Lady Dimitrescu’s (ie: Tall Vampire Lady) height wasn’t really confirmed until media outlets in January asked Capcom how tall she was. They got the measurements after comparing her to other in-game assets.
• The game was meant for PS5 and Xbox Series due to next-gen systems having reduced load times. This help keeps the game’s tension going on without long load times.
• Capcom did want to bring RE Village for Xbox One and PS4, but held off the announcement because it wasn’t sure if the game could achieve satisfactory results.
• RE Village was in development for 4 years. It didn’t help that COVID-19 stalled the process. At the very least, it gave the team a chance to reflect on the game and make improvements as soon as they got back to the offices to resume production.

Resident Evil Village will be out on 7th May. In the meantime, enjoy seeing the RE Village baddies as puppets in this latest Japan-only trailer.