The eighth mainline entry in Capcom's iconic survival horror series, Resident Evil Village, has been quite successful. Village helped Capcom make unprecedented quarterly sales, likely in part leveraging the internet popularity of Lady Dimitrescu to achieve its impressive launch. Many players enjoyed Village's continued use of the first-person perspective following RE7, as well as its level design and aesthetics that harken back to the ever-popular RE4. Now, fans likely are looking forward to additional content provided by the confirmed Resident Evil Village DLC.
After the game's May 2021 release, June's E3 2021 brought confirmation that Resident Evil Village DLC is in development. Unfortunately, its existence was all that was revealed. Capcom hasn't provided any details since - not even a rough timetable - meaning it could potentially be a long wait.
Resident Evil 7, by contrast, received DLC in short order. Within a month, additional scenarios and minor game modes were added, most likely developed in tandem with the base game. Two larger expansions, Not a Hero and End of Zoe, came out nearly a year after launch, following an initial delay of Not a Hero. Village's DLC could see a similar wait, as Capcom's E3 2021 announcement mentioned "development [had] just started on additional DLC for Resident Evil Village."
When Fans Might Expect Resident Evil Village DLC
It's tough to make any kind of specific release date prediction, since the scope of Resident Evil Village's upcoming DLC is unknown. RE7's two larger expansions might be comparable, but Capcom could decide to go either smaller or more ambitious. Somewhere around a year is probably a safe bet, since that's how long RE7's took, though it also wouldn't be surprising to see Capcom push it out the door in time for the 2021 holiday season. While plenty of other games are slated to release later this year, many Resident Evil fans would likely take the opportunity to jump back into Village regardless, especially if they have holiday gift money on hand.
Capcom is also still working to deliver Resident Evil Re:Verse, which was delayed until 2022. The development teams of Village and Re:Verse most likely do not completely overlap, but the repeatedly delayed multiplayer shooter is probably soaking up some resources. Still, if Village's expansion is story-focused, writing and other plot-related development could already be wrapping up. Capcom likely won't want the excitement surrounding Village to completely die; however, Resident Evil is an evergreen IP, and game development takes a lot of time - even if most of the assets already exist. Fans will have to be patient for Resident Evil Village's DLC. It could be 2022 before it sees the light of day.