Back in August, attendees at Gamescom 2016 were given the Resident Evil “Lantern” demo. It showed off an additional tape through the eyes of Mia as she searches for a way out of the mysterious cabin, while trying to get away and hide from Margret — one of the Bakers from the trailer released after the Lantern demo.
But just recently, a collection of clips was uploaded by Capcom, teasing the gameplay and possible return of a semi-popular character among the Resident Evil series. The teaser clips were arranged in a particular order — first “Mysterious Caller”, then “Shotgun In The Box”, then “Recorder”, and finally “Stock Up”.
Let’s work our way through these four teasers and unpack what we see in each of them.
Mysterious Caller
Throughout the teaser, different telephones around the house are shown, all ringing as the shots change. The character, possibly the Ethan we have heard from in the trailer and Lantern demo, picks up one of the phones. Then, the voice is heard. “You shouldn’t have come here,” she says through the phone, and then the teaser clip cuts off.
Fans and viewers say that the character heard could be Ada Wong, originally introduced in Resident Evil 2. This goes along with a theory that Ada could be behind this, as it is shown that she is the only person who calls the house in the demo and teaser clip, along with finding the photo next to the phone in the Beginning Hour demo.
Shotgun In The Box
This one isn’t as big as the previous one, but it does give us something that the previous games had given up over time — the “Storage Box” in the save room.
Personally, I love this little teaser because I miss the way the storage box was set up — and honestly, I was disappointed when it just suddenly disappeared from existence after Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. So to see the box making a return in this game definitely takes me back to my favorite Resident Evil entries.
Another thing worth pointing out is that the inventory menu from the game looks a bit different from the demo. One of the minor things I noticed was that bigger weapons take about two squares in your inventory, so it could be possible that you will have to backtrack a lot in this game, like the previous ones before Resident Evil 4.
The one thing that really stuck out to me was the player’s ammunition amount has the original green number right next to it. It could just be that I had skipped over it while playing the demo, but I didn’t remember seeing the amount number when I picked up the handgun bullets in the Twilight Update.
Recorder
This one, like “Shotgun In The Box”, isn’t really that important to those who aren’t fans of Resident Evil, but really hails back to the original four games.
This teaser happens in the “Safe Room”. It’s only a brief glimpse in the video, but if you look closely you can spot a storage box in the corner, a phone on the table, and a cassette player. The main focus for this room is the cassette player, which takes over the role from the typewriter fans are used to seeing.
Using the cassette player, players could save their game. But what the trailer doesn’t tell us is whether we’ll be able to use it whenever we want to (a la RE4), or would we have to find cassette tapes (like ink ribbons in the previous games before the fourth)? There weren’t be any signs of cassette tapes in the teaser, but Capcom could be hiding that for later.
Another thing I would like to discuss about the tapes is the tape system in the upcoming game. Players and fans are suggesting that perhaps, instead of notes, we could be using tapes instead to relive what characters have experienced head on. This would be why we have Mia’s tape, and the tape found in the cabinet next to the kitchen in The Beginning Hour. While this is just a theory, it would be a really interesting take on the notes system.
Stock Up
Now this teaser really had me excited for the upcoming game. It’s the introduction to your melee weapon and tool, the knife.
A lot of fans were worried about the combat of the game, since it seems like there is no real way to harm the Bakers, but it does seem like you could at least damage them. Perhaps they are taking the Remake route, where you could kill them, but they will be back.
In this teaser, you see Ethan using his knife for multiple reasons, such as breaking a box open to collect some supplies hidden away, and using his knife to open up what appears to be a taped-up fuse box. The reason why this interests me so much is the knife. The knife was introduced as one of the weakest weapons in Resident Evil: Directors Cut, but is now introduced as something that is used as both a tool and a possible melee weapon when you want to conserve ammunition.
Release Date Confirmed?
At the end of each teaser, there is a shot that shows different tape icons. Under these icons are Volume Numbers (1-4) to denote each trailer, along with the title, Resident Evil, towards the right.
But under those volume numbers is a possible release date for late 2016. Could it be a new update to the demo, or perhaps a new trailer? Could Capcom be releasing the game earlier than expected? We will never know, until the tapes are finished.
I will continue on with future tapes during my next articles, in hopes of discovering what could come to us during the ink-covered date. If you enjoyed this and want to read more, stay here at GameSkinny!
