After months and months of rumors swirling on the internet, a remake ofResident Evil 4was finally revealed during Sony’s June State of Play broadcast. Kicking off theState of Play presentationwith a bang, the trailer featured snippets of gameplay and seemed to suggest a much darker tone than what was seen in the 2005 original. Needless to say, the announcement came as a huge surprise, and the upcoming game has already generated a great deal of hype among gamers.
Capcom has been on a roll with theResident Evilseries as a whole the past few years, withResident Evil: Villagebeing the latest hit in the franchise. With new mainline installments and remakes of classic titles being developed at the same time, small details have been added in to make the universe feel more interconnected. If the trailer forResident Evil 4is anything to go by, it seems these deeper connections will continue to be implemented, as an intriguing detail seems to link itself to the narrative ofResident Evil: Village.
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Resident Evil: Village - The Insignia
During the reveal trailer for theremake ofResident Evil 4, there is a brief shot of a symbol on a concrete surface as blood dribbles down its surface. Considering how quickly the visual is onscreen, it’s easy to pass it off as another creepy image to help heighten the horror tone. However, upon closer investigation it becomes clear that this insignia is strikingly similar to one seen throughout the journey inResident Evil: Village.
The insignia in question is of what appears to be a fetus, surrounded by a golden circle, which is placed in front of a set of sticks and wings sticking out the sides. This image serves as a recurring sight inResident Evil: Village, because it is the symbol of the cult group run by the game’s antagonist,Mother Miranda. The more this symbol appears in the game, the more the player associates it with feelings of terror, dread, and that something bad rests just around the corner.
Resident Evil 4 - Reshaping a Horror Classic
This now begs the question of how Mother Miranda’s insignia could be retroactively worked intothe plot ofResident Evil 4. For starters, Capcom has been clear that this is a reimagining of the original title, changing things around to compliment an updated vision. It is also worth noting that sinceResident Evil 4takes place roughly two decades beforeResident Evil: Village, small cameos or Easter eggs can be sprinkled throughout to help it feel naturally connected toResident Evil: Villagewithout it coming off as forced or distracting.
Incorporating these narrative threads wouldn’t even be that much of a stretch, as bothResident Evil 4andResident Evil: Villagealready share many commonalities as it is. Both are thematically, and stylistically similar, with areas like villages and castles making up a good portion of the action. Furthermore, the antagonist ofResident Evil 4, Saddler, is another power hungry cult leader and could be reworked as the inspiration for Mother Miranda’s devious schemes.
It is also worth nothing that theLas Plagas parasite ofResident Evil 4functions similarly to the Caduo virus fromResident Evil: Village. It could be suggested that the Las Plagas serves as a predecessor to the Caduo, and that Mother Miranda researched it and Saddler’s methods before implementing her own as seen in the events ofResident Evil: Village. It would also be cool to take things one step further, especially since this is a reimagining, making this new version ofResident Evil 4take place in the same location asResident Evil: Village, just several years in the past.
Resident Evil 4is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
