The additions that Resident Evil Village's DLC promises to make to the base game are some of the best that Capcom likely could've concocted. Resident Evil 7 before it had its own impressive and varied array of DLC, and fans have been hoping for Resident Evil Village to it in receiving new able story slices and minigames since its release in May 2022. But while teased content for Village (understandably) doesn't encom everything fans could've asked for, it seems selected to please.
Resident Evil as a series is much older than the concept of DLC, but it's far from a stranger to unlockable story content and side modes. Resident Evil 2, for example, famously features differences in scenarios and select plot beats if a player chooses to play twice. While its inclusion would change in the remake, Resident Evil 3's original outing introduced the franchise's now-traditional Mercenaries mode.
That happens to be where Resident Evil Village's DLC makes so much sense: not only is it providing further expansion and closure on characters like the Winters family, it's making changes that fit Village comfortably into series tradition. Its introduction of a third-person mode to the main game gives series fans who still might not be used to playing Resident Evil in first-person view an option to engage with its experience and protagonist Ethan on a more satisfying level than they might've before. Without the DLC, Village features the only Mercenaries mode in the series to include only one playable character, easily leaving it feeling monotonous and unmotivating to play for those who've already gotten their fill of playing as Ethan. But the DLC shall likely remedy that with its addition of beloved series hero Chris Redfield and two charismatic villains, Mr. X-like stalker Lady Alcina Dimitrescu and mad scientist Lord Karl Heisenberg, both of whom sport nonstandard abilities as mutants.
Resident Evil Village DLC Will Add A Dash Of Past RE Flavor To RE8
Village's DLC is arguably symbolic of the new era of Resident Evil as parallel to the old in its evolution. RE7 told a largely self-contained story with a personal scope about people coming into with horrors wrought by their world's corruption for the first time, and so did the original Resident Evil back in 1996. Its DLC reflected this as a set of scenarios not necessarily adherent to any previous convention with a strong focus on characters. Meanwhile, Village is an action-horror game comparable to Resident Evil 4, old enough for a remake of its own to sit on the horizon, and as it shifts the tone of the story the Winters clan has begun to catch up with where the previously-established series stands, it's receiving DLC to welcome new Resident Evil into the franchise's broader landscape.
All the while, Shadows of Rose, Resident Evil's Majora's Mask in striking elements of its appearance thus far, has the opportunity to maintain the psychologically resonant and intimate nature that makes the latest era of Resident Evil something special among its peers along with its modern presentation of classic body horror and biopunk scares. Conceptual strength only goes so far without skillful execution - but Resident Evil Village's DLC has the potential to turn the game into a perfectly-proportioned slice of the franchise's feel, past and present.
