MILD SPOILERS for Resident Evil 4 Remake
It’s almost traditional now. When a Resident Evil remake comes out, there’s an almost instant clamor for another.
Resident Evil 2 finally got the remake treatment 17 years after its predecessor had its own rebirth. A divisive remake of Resident Evil 3 quickly followed, barely allowing fans time to demand it in the first place.
We had to wait a little longer for the Resident Evil 4 Remake, and now the cycle of demand and waiting has started once again. In fact, people didn’t even wait for Resident Evil 4 to launch before debating what should be the next game in the series.
There are three real candidates. The original game. Resident Evil 5, and Resident Evil Code Veronica. Here, I make the argument for why Code Veronica should be in the front of the queue.
My starting point is that Resident Evil Code Veronica is the last mainline game of the classic era to not receive a remake. Nemesis may be billed as the Star of the third Resident Evil game and Code Veronica relegated to the spinoff bench, but even if you didn’t know the intention was originally for Code Veronica to be the official third entry in the series, a glance at what the two games are should tell you plenty.
Resident Evil 3 is effectively Resident Evil 2.5. Even the Remake made that clear. It’s taking place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2 and rehashing areas used in that game. No surprise that both times it was released we saw it arrive swiftly after Resident Evil 2.
Code Veronica on the other hand is distinct from both of the first two games whilst sharing structural similarities (a common thread among mainline Resident Evil games).
It plays a far more important part in the overall saga of Resident Evil too. The growing grudge match between Chris Redfield and Albert Wesker is something that needs addressing in the retconned Resi universe being formulated in the post-Resident Evil 6 era.
But does the release of the Resident Evil 4 remake offer any hope of Code Veronica getting resurrected in this new timeline? There’s certainly evidence to call upon. Some of it could just as easily discount a remake, but we’ve gotta cover the bases!
Chief among this evidence is how Capcom has approached the series since Resident Evil 7. After bloating the series and its budget to ridiculous levels, Capcom has been incredibly shrewd with the series since. Not only has RE Engine allowed a shift in visual style for the series, but it has also allowed for shared assets, techniques, and a consistent blueprint to unify the Resi saga. It’s a model that keeps the games churning out at a decent rate (5 games in 6 years plus online spinoff modes) and with a distinct look throughout.
So surely that means the next one can’t be far away? It seems unlikely Resident Evil 9 will be here just yet (there were 5 years between 7 and Village). So that leaves room in the schedule for either another remake or a different spinoff such as Revelations 3. Given the dovetail between 7, 2, and 3, I suspect the run of Village and 4 ends in a remake as well.
Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica share a similar tone. Both employ a European gothic horror vibe with overblown theatrics and extra weird and creepy antagonists. Both feature a sidekick character that rankled players in their own ways. The locations also share a fair bit of DNA, right down to the switch in location at a later stage of the game. I’d say this makes it a lot closer to 4 than the original game or 5, and because of that, I’d cynically surmise it will be the most cost-effective, low-risk remake of the three options.
Beyond logic, there’s plenty of other reasons to remake Code Veronica. It has some superb monster designs all around. The Bandersnatch only really appears in this game and It has stuck in my mind for a lot longer than a lot of other Resi monsters. The creepy crawlies such as the mutant ants (again sharing similarities with Resident Evil 4’s Las Plagas in that they are the root of an infection) a moth that spawns horrific larvae, and the monstrous Gulp Worm. The messed-up-looking Albinoid is basically a freaky tadpole and the adult stages of a salamander, just…headless. And the Tyrant here is the ‘purest’ version of the original model (and features in a pretty cool fight on a cargo plane).
Then you come to the Ashfords. You can see their DNA in both modern Resident Evil’s in their disturbing family dynamic. The blueprint for the Bakers and Mother Miranda’s motley crew is there in the unhinged Ashfords. Alexia especially feels like a touchstone for the final encounters of Resident Evil 7 and 8.
As we’ve seen with previous remakes. We don’t have to have things exactly as they were, and I think a remake of Code Veronica could allow for a fresh variation of the basic zombies. Something that acts as a connecting point from those of the first three games to the Las Plagas and Molded we get chronologically later. Maybe infuse them with an insectile aspect of the Ashford’s Veronica virus?
Talking of changes, there’s one that’s definitely needed. Steve Burnside. This flop-haired whiner was a stark shift from Claire Redfield’s previous floppy-haired partner, and is regarded with disdain by much of the Resident Evil fandom. Now if Ashley Graham can get a redemption story in Resident Evil 4 Remake (which she does) then why not tackle the redemption of Steve Burnside next? Even though he was a whinging pain in the backside at times, he had something tragic about him that could be better explored with a rewrite of the character. Capcom has been pretty good at this with the remakes, so this would be the ultimate test.
The biggest hint I think we have to it actually happening is the introduction to Wesker in the rebooted timeline. Of course, we always knew he was involved in the events of Resident Evil 4, but the manner in which he’s teased in the remake suggests we’ll see more of him. Now that could be because of the future DLC of Separate Ways, but I’d hazard a guess we’ll see the whole Wesker saga play out over the years. Why bother going to the effort otherwise? As I alluded to earlier, the grudge match between Chris Redfield and Albert Wesker needs to be addressed, and going straight to Resident Evil 5 would cut the legs out from underneath that.
Lastly. There was a fan remake of Code Veronica in the works and it was looking pretty good. Capcom shut it down at the end of 2022. That’s nothing massively unusual, but the last time Capcom stepped in to prevent a Resi fan remake? Resident Evil 2.
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