Resident Evil's action-packed, arcade-style The Mercenaries mode is making a comeback in Resident Evil Village. While it will be similar in many ways to past iterations, there will be some big differences. The Mercenaries has become one of the franchise's most enduring elements, with the mode first appearing in RE3: Nemesis for the original PlayStation. Since then, it's appeared in several mainline entries in the series and was perhaps most well received in RE4.
Resident Evil Village seems to have plenty in common with Resident Evil 4, with its village setting, mysterious merchant, and more, so it's only fitting that Mercenaries mode is coming back, too. Capcom previously revealed the Resident Evil Re:Verse multiplayer mode, which looked like it would serve as a Mercenaries replacement. Thankfully for fans of the classic side activity, that wasn't the case, as a recent Capcom livestream confirmed the actual mode's return.
But what, exactly, will make Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries mode stand out from previous incarnations? As Capcom revealed in a PlayStation Blog post, here's everything currently known about RE8's The Mercenaries.
Everything Different About Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries Mode
Like its predecessors in past Resident Evil games, Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries must be unlocked by first completing the main game and will task players with racing against time in some form. Previous versions of the mode, like the one in RE4, saw players killing enemies to rack up points and searching for hourglasses to add more time to an ever-decreasing countdown clock. More time meant more kills and, thus, more points. Resident Evil 5 and 6's Mercenaries modes worked much the same, with a few slight variations for securing more time and points.
Resident Evil Village will be a big departure for The Mercenaries in one readily apparent way: It will be in first-person for the first time. Just like the main campaign of Resident Evil Village (and Resident Evil 7 before it), this Mercenaries mode departs from the franchise's usual third-person camera angles. Previous Mercenaries modes also saw players choosing a character - each with a unique loadout - and a stage. It's currently unclear if RE8's version has multiple characters, and it doesn't appear players select a particular map, instead battling through multiple areas in sequence.
Rather than trying only to rack up a high score, Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries mode tasks players with defeating all enemies in a given area during a set time limit, scoring as many points as possible along the way. Skills and bonuses will be sprinkled throughout that, if found, can give players gameplay advantages, like faster movement speed or additional damage. Once all the enemies in an area are defeated, players will be able to purchase weapon upgrades from The Duke, the game's merchant. Upgrades will carry over between stages, so players will be battling to see how far they can go as they build their score.
While Resident Evil Village's The Mercenaries seems to be honoring the structure of previous versions of the mode, it also seems to be creating a new path of its own. Upgrades, consecutive stages, and first-person combat should make for a brand-new challenge for even veteran Mercenaries players.
Resident Evil Village arrives on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC on May 7, 2021.
Source: PlayStation Blog