There’s no denying that Capcom is absolutely killing it right now. Not only is the company rewarding the patience of long-time Resident Evil fans with excellent remakes of the early games (yes, yes, we acknowledge the RE3 remake was too short), but it’s also making sure it drives the series forward with new entries like Resident Evil Requiem. And let’s not forget that RE7 and Village were also beloved. Not only that, but Capcom is also not ignoring new IP, with Pragmata already being a contender for Game of the Year alongside RE Requiem.
So with all this in mind, why would Capcom do anything to risk its own ascendancy? The formula, at least for now, is working well. The company has been criticised recently for no longer making many Resident Evil spin-offs, but if we step back and look at why, it actually starts to make a lot of sense.
First of all, let’s look at all the various online spin-offs Capcom has made over the years: Operation Raccoon City, Umbrella Corp, Resistance, REVerse. All these games have two things in common: 1) they were each an effort by Capcom to capitalize on the rise of multiplayer games, and 2) they all sucked.
It seems that Capcom has finally, mercifully, stopped flogging this undead horse and has finally started to realize that nobody wants these experiences. What we want is more games like Resident Evil 2, 4, and 7 – which is exactly what Village and Requiem delivered. What we don’t want is Call of Duty lite with zombies. We have Call of Duty Zombies for that.
Quite frankly, it beggars belief that it took Capcom so long and so many failed efforts to understand this, but it looks like REVerse was the final straw. At least we hope it was. But these aren’t the only Resident Evil spin-offs we’ve had. Those of us who grew up during Resident Evil’s PS2/GameCube era will remember another batch of spin-offs, and these varied wildly when it came to quality.
While GameCube players were treated to the RE1 Remake, Resident Evil 4, and the runt of that litter, RE0, PS2 owners (where most of the fanbase lived) were instead fed a whole console generation of spin-offs, at least until RE4 escaped its cube-shaped prison.
Now granted, this included the two Outbreak games that were flawed but fun, and still have a legion of fans to this day. In many ways, Capcom has been trying to recapture this with all the online spin-offs, but none of them ever managed to fire. One wonders why they didn’t just remaster them or make Outbreak 3, but it is what it is.
Yet while the Outbreak games were well received, PS2 titles like Survivor 2 and Dead Aim felt like table scraps when compared to RE4 and the remake of the original. Then there are the Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles games that were enjoyable, but can they hold a candle to the games they were an on-the-rails recreation of? No. Not one bit.
Some argue that Resident Evil Code: Veronica was a spin-off, but that’s usually because they haven’t played it. In reality, the game is a fully fledged sequel and was intended to be Resident Evil 4 before there was a Resident Evil 4. So, we’d argue that it’s a mainline entry in everything but name.
The same can also be said of the two Resident Evil Revelations games, both being side stories that play a lot like RE4, 5 and 6 and fit comfortably alongside them, rather than being more overt spin-offs like the Survivor, Outbreak, and Chronicles titles.
Let’s not forget, Capcom will eventually run out of Resident Evil games to remake, and while they avoid the problem that is RE5, they may return to the Revelations games, as they have with Code Veronica, and give them the remake treatment. Heck, they could even do Revelations 3 or retool whatever Resident Evil Outrage was.
Running out of remakes may be the thing that eventually encourages Capcom to make more Resident Evil spin-offs (unless they turn their attention to Dino Crisis), but with RE Veronica coming, and RE0 and another RE1 remake also reportedly in the pipeline, this is likely to be a long time from now.
The truth is, Capcom is enjoying its time in the sun, and fans are lapping up the Resident Evil remakes and the new entries in the series, so much so that spin-offs aren’t really needed. And when we look at the online and PS2-era spin-offs, it’s hard to shake off the air of mediocrity that’s associated with them.
There may come a day when Resident Evil spin-offs are called for and perhaps even become well-received, but we wouldn’t bank on that being anytime soon. Capcom’s current system isn’t broken, and until it is, it won’t be in need of fixing.
