Summary
TheResident Evilfranchise is in potentially the best position it’s ever been in. After therelease of the now-divisiveResident Evil 6in 2012, the franchise went on a bit of a hiatus, and that turned out to be the best decision it could have made. Viewed as a much-needed return to form by many,Resident Evil 7’s release in 2017 paved the way for a new era of the long-running survival horror franchise, andResident Evil 2 Remake’s release in 2019 ushered in an unexpected second phase of that same era.
For the last few years now, Capcom has found a great deal of success with its newResident Evilrelease cycle, dropping a mainline sequel, then a remake or two, and repeating the process. It seems as though theResident Evilfranchise has found its way back on top, and it seems unlikely that Capcom would want to change its release strategy anytime soon, meaning that aResident Evil 5remake is practically guaranteed at this point. Having a somewhat mixed critical reception originally, there are a few things theResident Evil 5remake really needs to change.
Features and Changes That Resident Evil 5 Remake Needs
Overhauled Companion AI
By far the biggest complaint of the originalResident Evil 5, and the one that many fans will still point to as its greatest technical flaw, is its incredibly poor companion AI. Even at the time,Resident Evil 5had an inferior AI system for its NPC companion, and for a game that revolves around co-op teamwork and interactions, that was a major issue. From getting stuck on walls and doorways to simply refusing to join the player in a co-op action to failing to actually do anything useful during the heat of battle,Resident Evil 5’s companion AIwas frankly awful, and it’s something that the remake really needs to get right.
Less Quick-Time Events Would Benefit an RE5 Remake
While they didn’t receive nearly as much flak as the companion AI,Resident Evil 5’s quick-time eventswere subject to some heavy criticism on launch. Releasing in 2009, four years after its predecessor,Resident Evil 5launched long after games had started to pivot away from using quick-time events in every action sequence, and they stuck out like a sore thumb in the original game.
WithResident Evil 4 Remaketoning down the number of QTEs significantly from the original, it hopefully means thatResident Evil 5remake will do the same, though there’s one iconic QTE that comes right at the end of the game that should be kept intact.
More Albert Wesker
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, one of the biggest points of praise of the originalResident Evil 5was its main antagonist, Albert Wesker. A wonderfully camp performance, some incredibly memorable boss fights, some genuinely heinous motivations, and a bombastic supervillain plan made Wesker one ofResident Evil 5’s best qualities, and this version of the character has gone on to become quite well-known thanks toappearances in games likeDead by Daylight. WithResident Evil 4 Remaketeasing Wesker quite a bit, it seems likely that Capcom will want to give him a bit more screen time inResident Evil 5remake, and that’d definitely be for the best.
The Lost in Nightmares DLC Should Be There on Day One
Released almost a year after the base game,Resident Evil 5’s Lost in Nightmares DLC sees players controlChris Redfield and Jill Valentineas they explore a mansion eerily similar to the firstResident Evilgame. Though it’s very short, coming in at just under an hour, Lost in Nightmares is widely considered to be some of the best contentResident Evil 5has to offer, delivering a more traditionalResident Evilexperience that many fans thought was lacking in the base game. It would be great to see this DLC come withResident Evil 5remake on launch, though it seems likely that it’d be released as post-launch DLC just likeResident Evil 4 Remake’s Separate Ways.
Resident Evil 5
WHERE TO PLAY
The Umbrella Corporation and its crop of lethal viruses have been destroyed and contained. But a new, more dangerous threat has emerged. Years after surviving the events in Raccoon City, Chris Redfield has been fighting the scourge of bio-organic weapons all over the world. Now a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), Chris is sent to Africa to investigate a biological agent that is transforming the populace into aggressive and disturbing creatures. Joined by another local BSAA agent, Sheva Alomar, the two must work together to solve the truth behind the disturbing turn of events.
