Warning: This article contains spoilers for the game Resident Evil VII: Biohazard
Everything changed for Capcom's Resident Evil franchise in 2017. With the development of the proprietary RE Engine, the introduction of first-person gameplay mechanics, and a narrative team spearheaded by top-tier writers Morimasa Sato and Richard Pearsey, the franchise began the Winters Saga with the seventh installment in its legendary series, Resident Evil VII: Biohazard.
In addition to being a critical success, the game represents a significant step forward in Capcom's narrative design. This is perhaps most apparent in the game's characters, which, with few exceptions, mark some of the most memorable personas to enter the Resident Evil family in over two decades.
Chris Redfield
Chris Redfield, a storied fan-favorite character among Resident Evil cosplayers, doesn't appear in the game's main campaign for long, but he brings classic franchise intensity with a squadron from the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. He appears almost out of nowhere in the nick of time during the game's final boss battle, supplying Ethan with enough firepower to take down a mutated Eveline.
Chris serves as the player character and protagonist of Biohazard's DLC "Not a Hero," which pits him against the only member of the Baker family to survive the game's main narrative, Lucas. It fills in some backstory and helps explain the deus ex machina of Chris's arrival, but for such a fan-favorite character, his narrative depth pales in comparison to other characters in the game.
Joe Baker
The protagonist of the DLC "End of Zoe," Joe hasn't left much of an impression on players since he doesn't appear much in the game. The fact that he isn't even mentioned during the game's main campaign represents one of Biohazard's few narrative missteps.
There are still rich details embedded about Joe's past, including a history of military service and a physically competitive relationship with his older brother Jack. However, scattered across an hour and a half of content that is more focused on gameplay than narrative, the details players learn about Joe's past serve best to illuminate the other members of the Baker family.
Zoe Baker
The Bakers' biological daughter represents one of the thinnest narrative designs in Resident Evil VII. Players primarily interact with Zoe over the telephone. She calls Ethan at various points throughout the game to give relevant exposition and guide players toward his next puzzle or boss encounter. In this way, the character feels like a narrative device rather than a full fleshed-out individual.
This is most tangibly apparent when, before the game's penultimate sequence, Ethan is given the choice to save either Mia or Zoe with an antidote for the Mold. Even at this late stage of the game, Zoe has hardly earned enough empathy across the game's narrative to warrant forsaking Mia. Players who choose her are rewarded with a predictably thin conclusion to her story when she is abruptly killed by Eveline. The game's DLC End of Zoe and Daughters gives players more Zoe content, but not enough to leave fans in anticipation for any future appearances she might make in the series.
Marguerite Baker
Marguerite Baker represents an exceptional character design in Resident Evil VII. She's constantly surrounded by swamp bugs, and they become increasingly reflected in her appearance across the game.
Her boss fight is widely regarded as one of Resident Evil's hardest battles of all time, pitting a flamethrower-wielding Ethan against Marguerite in her lanky-limbed spider form. Though players do not learn much about her backstory from the game's central campaign, her encounters are eminently memorable, some of which rank among gaming's scariest moments.
Clancy Jarvis
Clancy Jarvis' name is hardly synonymous with the Resident Evil franchise, and yet this inconspicuous character features one of the most complex and immersive narratives of any minor character across the history of the series. Early in the game, players discover a hidden VHS tape documenting the ill-fated attempt by an amateur paranormal investigation group to rehearse a taping at the Baker house. When one of their party goes missing, gamers assume control of Clancy as he navigates the manor, a clever metagame for the franchise's first FPS title.
He also appears in a stunning six campaigns across DLCs and RE Engine tech demos. When counting all of these, Clancy has more screentime than some of the game's main characters. Combine this with the immersion of his play sequences, and Clancy holds the unique title of the Resident Evil franchise's most well-crafted forgettable character.
Lucas Baker
Sadistic and cold, Lucas bears the unique quality among the Bakers of having villainous tendencies prior to his infection with the Mold. It's revealed in the DLC "Not a Hero" that Lucas was even connected with an extremist group seeking to weaponize the bioweapon.
Though Pearsey and Sato try to create a meaningful degree of empathy around the Baker family's son, it's ultimately too difficult to see beyond his monstrous acts. Lucas is most interesting as a case study and narrative example of what happens when the Mold infects a mind with dark tendencies -- a nightmarish portrait of one of the game's most memorable characters.
Mia Winters
One of the game's strongest sequences is its opening, which pits a possessed Mia against an unsuspecting Ethan as he attempts to rescue her from the Baker ranch. Fans of the franchise may not be prepared for the empathy evoked during this fight as Mia battles her inner demons. At one moment, she even knocks herself unconscious to stop hurting her husband, only to appear moments later cornering Ethan with a chainsaw.
It's a memorable arc, grounded in unnerving believability because of voice actor Katie O'Hagan's powerful performance. The game's penultimate sequence places players in control of Mia, filling in her character with rich and surprising depth as an operator for a group of bioweapon-wielding extremists responsible for unleashing the Mold.
Ethan Winters
The protagonist of the game, Ethan Winters represents a lasting and well-developed addition to the Resident Evil series. His narrative arc is an exceptionally nuanced balance of gameplay and narrative design and is one of its writers' greatest achievements in the game. Player's follow a finely crafted hero's journey that sees Ethan rise to become a franchise hero, befitting the company of Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong.
Admittedly, players do not learn much about Ethan during the narrative of Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, but his actions speak louder than words. His status as the series' first FPS protagonist, a stellar performance by voice actor Todd Soley, and an unforgettable gameplay experience easily place this character among the most memorable in the franchise.
Eveline
The human bioweapon responsible for the situation in Louisiana, Eveline is an example of brief narrative design executed exceedingly well. Although she is most apparent at the end of the game, perceptive players will see hints of Eveline's presence and her mind-control powers from the game's first chapter. Her motivations and given circumstances borrow heavily from horror tropes -- a supernatural child separated from her parents who forcibly projects the desired parent-child relationship onto the adults in her life.
But when her character is viewed in the context of Ethan and Mia's struggling relationship as well as the parental themes explored in Resident Evil Village, Eveline proves to be a vital character to the narrative efficacy of the Winters Saga. It's interesting to note that Capcom continued their theme of mind-control with the character of Donna Benviento in Village. Bearing a striking aesthetic resemblance to one another, Eveline can potentially be seen as a narrative precursor to Donna and a meaningful lens through which to view the evolution of Capcom's zombie aesthetic.
Jack Baker
A triumph among video game antagonists, Jack Baker owns some of the game's most frightening moments and is easily one of Resident Evil VII: Biohazard's best characters. Of all the infected in Resident Evil VII, he best embodies the evolution the Capcom's zombie aesthetic.
Voice actor Jack Brand brings masterful skill to the Baker patriarch's most vile and empathetic moments, namely a moving late-game sequence in which Ethan is able to communicate with the uninfected Baker family in a fugue state facilitated by the Mold. Here, players see the humans beneath the monsters, and Jack stands out in this moment, asking Ethan to save his family by liberating them from Eveline's clutches.