Resident Evil 8 follows up on the story and style of Resident Evil 7, but it's clear that the recent remakes also influenced the new title. Resident Evil 2 was a bold reimagining of the PS1 classic, and easily one of its most memorable features was the terrifying Mr. X.
The lumbering Mr. X didn't appear until about halfway through the game, but once he does he stalks players throughout the entire Racoon Police Department. Mr. X completely ramped up the tension and horror of Resident Evil 2, and even just hearing his pounding footsteps is enough to get the adrenaline pumping.
The AI created for Mr. X worked wonders, but Capcom can take things even further in the next game. Resident Evil 8's village setting creates the perfect opportunity for horror.
Resident Evil 8's Werewolves Have a Ton of Potential
The reveal trailer for Resident Evil 8 had a bombshell for fans, werewolves. While it's not yet clear if the enemies are werewolves in the traditional sense, they nonetheless look intimidating. Capcom has already said Resident Evil 8 is more focused on exploration than RE7, which creates the perfect opportunity for a Mr. X-like character. The mutated werewolf would be the perfect choice to stalk players throughout the village, relentlessly tracking them by scent. It would make more sense for werewolves to be able to track players, and the AI could be refined to make the enemy take more alternate pathways, or try and surprise the player. Mr. X was a hulking behemoth, but that was also his greatest weakness as he was fairly easy to predict and outmaneuver. Werewolves in Resident Evil 8, on the other hand, can be overall weaker than Mr. X but much faster and harder to avoid.
Where things could get really interesting is if there's more than one werewolf in the game, and it almost seems like the residents of the village may be the ones turning. In that case, players might have to contend with more than one enemy stalking them through the village. The way to balance these enemies out, of course, is to make a truly expansive environment that has a lot of interconnecting pathways and hiding areas. The reason Mr. X worked so well in Resident Evil 2 was that players learned the layout of the police department, and would have multiple escape routes at any given time. If Resident Evil 8 can bring back this kind of interconnected exploration, it can work wonders with gameplay tension. Werewolf bioweapons are a brand new enemy in the series, and Capcom should want to make them as terrifying and memorable as possible.
Resident Evil Village releases in 2021 on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.