With the overwhelming success of the Resident Evil 4 Remake, which adds yet another checkmark to Capcom’s initiative to reimagine the first set of titles in the classic horror franchise, it begs the question of what will come next. While fans have pleaded for a remake of the beloved and challenging RE: Code Veronica, that has been left open-ended for now. However, with Albert Wesker’s appearance at the end of the RE4 Remake, the prospect of Resident Evil 5 being revamped is now entirely possible. Here are 6 things we’d like to see in a Resident Evil 5 Remake.
Using the RE Engine
Capcom has been making more that sufficient use of its new development engine for the franchise, from the remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and now 4 to the original installments of Resident 7 and 8 which further built upon the universe with new protagonist Ethan Winters and villain Mother Miranda who had ties to Oswell Spencer from the very beginning. The RE Engine has not only brought the story of Resident Evil into the modern scope, but provided all manner of possibilties for a new level of visual storytelling.
This was clearly evident in the Resident Evil 4 Remake, which revamped all of the classic version’s character models, environments, and gameplay in very effective and practical ways. The same could easily be done for Resident Evil 5’s Chris Redfield, who already made his revamped appearance in Village. Incorporating that into a remake of RE5, along with a top-to-bottom reconstruction of its environments and particularly its gameplay (again less QTEs) could all help reinvent the game as a whole.
Resurrect the Original Version of Resident Evil 5
While some may not be aware, there was a version of Resident Evil 5 that actually mirrored RE4 a lot more than the final product did. Early concept art and the earliest gameplay (shown above) had Chris Redfield alone in his mission to track down the source of the Oroboros virus, Sheva entirely absent. The tone of the game also gravitated more to its survival horror roots, creating that necessary feeling of unease and tension in the player to survive against the horde no matter the cost.
However, the official version of the game that released to the public was, in comparison, almost entirely different. It shifted to a far more action-based atmosphere, and implanted original character Sheva to incorporate a new co-op mode that essentially took the threat of any dangerous situation down to a minimum. Even Wesker as the looming antagonist, despite his glow up, felt less ominous this time around and instead reminiscent of a campy Bond villain. The soul of the game was left out in favor of an aesthetically bland action adventure, but that could be remedied with a proper remake.
Should Capcom choose to use the elements from that long lost version of RE5 that we should have gotten originally, along with the new engine it could be actually be morphed into something monumentally better.
Make Sheva More Dimensional, Like Ashley
The Resident Evil 4 Remake revamped a variety of aspects from the classic version that breathed new life into the beloved game and made it even better. Among them was an essential overhaul of Ashley’s character. She was long considered the token dead weight of the original game’s story, which in retrospect was quite a detriment considering she was the objective of the entire mission, and the game as a whole. Players couldn’t stand her, from her snarky and otherwise one-dimensional personality to being utterly useless to gameplay besides turning a crank every once in awhile. She was the constant damsel in distress no one wanted but had no choice to protect in order to beat the game.
However, in the remake she was almost an entirely different person, in many better ways. She had her own character development arc within the game alongside Leon that was realistic and sympathetic. At first she was understandably very fearful, but her growing trust in Leon and admiration of his resilience pushed her to be more confident and strong, wanting to help him as much as possible in their escape.
She proved herself useful throughout the game, working well alongside Leon right up to removing his Plagas infection while unconscious near the end of the story. She showed care for Luis who gave his life to help them, and while she clearly developed feelings for Leon she never went so far as to ask for “overtime”. All in all, her character was far more believable and it all made the mission feel far more worth it.
Sheva Alomar isn’t exactly a damsel herself, serving as Chris’ well-equipped partner from the African division of the BSAA. She wields weapons and is proficient in close combat, and helps the player proceed through the game’s challenges.
However, her character otherwise was surface-level at best that felt like little more than a brief coming and going in the entire story. There was little that gave her much of any actual chemistry with Chris, leaving the player unable to feel much emotional impact from her presence. Given that removing her entirely from a potential remake of the game is likely out of the question, even if she wasn’t in the unreleased version, developing her into more than a hired gun would be a justified change.
Make Excella a Worthwhile Sub-Villain
Excella Gionne is an intelligent genetic engineer that headed up Tricell Inc, another pharmaceutical company like Umbrella. Attracted in more ways than one to Albert Wesker and his grand plan to create a new world with the Oroboros virus, she chose to work for him and provide him with the medicine necessary to keep his body and the virus in it stable.
Throughout Resident Evil 5 she acts as his number two, attempting to stop Chris and Sheva from interfering with his plans. She’s also the one responsible for the mental reconditioning of Jill Valentine, who is used as a weapon against Chris. She functions as a sub-villain to Wesker, as well as a token one-sided love interest, but her character serves little other purpose.
Despite her family’s extensive history and helping lead one of the biggest companies in the world, the gravity of her impact to the story ultimately feels like slim to none in Wesker’s shadow. He discards her without much of a second thought near the end of the game and her last function is that of an emotionless boss fight as a massive Oroboros mutation.
Like Ashley, she could certainly use a creative overhaul that would likely help contribute more to the game’s story, add more intriguing layers to her character and her role in the development of Oroboros. It felt like a missed opportunity in the original that could get some redemption in a remake. Perhaps instead a power struggle between them could develop in lieu of shallow flirtation.
Keep the Right Amount of Comedy
Resident Evil, while at its heart a riveting and chilling horror franchise, has also done exceptionally well what few other games in the genre have managed to do or even try: inject comedy into the horror. Some of the most iconic lines in gaming have come from the series’ brief moments of levity that were often the result of localization mishaps when translating the dialogue from Japanese to English, or simply the limitations of voice acting technology during the 90s. As a result, in the very first game we were gifted with quotes like “the master of unlocking”, and Barry rescuing his partner from becoming “a Jill sandwich”.
The peak of horror-comedy in the franchise came with Resident Evil 4, with Leon Kennedy having graduated from the Raccoon City police academy to become both a master of combat and a master of dad jokes. It made his character all the more likable, worked superbly well against the equally campy villains like Salazar, and cemented the game as a cult classic. The recent remake made sure to keep that characteristic intact, bringing back iconic lines like “Where’s everyone going? Bingo?”, and introducing several new ones like “Nighty night, knights”.
Resident Evil 5 noticeably moved away from that as well while focusing entirely on its underwhelming action motif. While Chris Redfield never quite had the inherent funny bone that Leon does, and has spent much of the series being a rigidly serious character, it shouldn’t mean depriving him of humor completely.
He’s still able to work off other more light-hearted characters like Claire and Jill, and should still be given the chance to diversify his personality more. That would help bring back the proper tonal balance that carried the franchise so well up to that point.
There’s plenty of room for moments of humor, even against an intimidating and malicious villain like Wesker; it simply has to be done right.
Change the Narrative and Tie In Later Installments
Among Resident Evil 4 Remake’s many positive changes, one was a careful degree of change in the narrative flow. Moments in the original game that felt too disconnected, or character development that didn’t function well in hindsight was remolded to tell the same story in a new, more realistic way.
While Ada worked at arm’s length for Wesker, Leon’s former comrade-turned-villain Krauser no longer did, his motives focused only on personal vengeance, the Los Illuminados, and his obtained power from the Plagas. Luis also gained far more presence in the story, no longer killed off early and rather randomly by Saddler. Instead he assists Leon at different points throughout, up until he’s killed in a “wrong place at the wrong time” moment by Krauser. All of these changes benefitted the story, and the same could be done for Resident Evil 5.
With Chris’s appearance in the sequel to Ethan Winters’ story, Resident Evil Village, and the staggering impact of of Mother Miranda’s character on the entire Resident Evil universe, there is abundant opportunity to tie in Chris’s story in a fascinating way from RE5 to RE8.
Alongside that, making some justified narrative changes to the story of Resident Evil 5 that give all of the characters more depth and realistic connection to one another, and make the threat of Oroboros all the more horrifying would all help the game thrive in a way it didn’t before.
And those are 6 things we’d like to see in a Resident Evil 5 Remake. We hope you found this insightful and let us know if you agree with our thoughts, and what changes you’d like to see in a remake of the next game.
Be sure to check out all of our other guides for everything Resident Evil 4 Remake, including our review of the game.
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