TheResident Evilfranchise is known for a lot of things—tense scares, environmental puzzles, and expansive level design, to name but a few—but it’s not often thought of as having a multiplayer focus. This is somewhat interesting as, whileResident Evilis single-player-oriented, the series has enjoyed a number of forays into multiplayer game design, to varying degrees of success.
Indeed, although games likeResident Evil 5andResident Evil Revelations 2are often praised for their strong multiplayer systems, they are also frequently overlooked thanks to highly criticized flops likeResident Evil ResistanceandUmbrella Corps. These two camps—thegoodResident Evilmultiplayer gamesand the bad ones—are remarkably different, offering fundamentally distinct experiences: the most belovedResident Evilmultiplayer games tend to revolve around freeform co-op gameplay, typically integrated directly into the campaign, while the more maligned releases lean into competitive, repetitive gameplay that strays too far from theResident Evilformula.
EvenResident Evilgames with lukewarm reputations, likeResident Evil 5andResident Evil 6, have been praised for their co-op systems.
Capcom Shouldn’t Abandon Resident Evil Multiplayer, Despite Its Many Stumbles
There’s a Wealth of Potential in Multiplayer Resident Evil Games
Co-op horror is a historically underserved genre space. Only a handful of popular horror franchises have truly delved into multiplayer elements, and when they have, the attempts can often come across as half-hearted or misguided. TakeDead Space 3, for instance: its co-op systems were serviceable, and even enjoyable in many ways, but they clashed with the core tenets of theDead Spaceformula, turningDS3into more of a cheesy action-adventure game than a tense, thought-provoking horror experience.
But this problem can be easily avoided byResident Evil, which balances a fine line between horror and action. Sure, notallResident Evilgameswould benefit from a co-op campaign, but the more action-oriented entries in the series, such asResident Evil 5, are best enjoyed with a friend along for the ride, especially if it means avoiding janky NPC AI.
The series' campy and often irreverent blend of blockbuster thrills and tense scares fits the cooperative multiplayer formula perfectly, offering a collaborative gameplay experience that is equal parts exciting and terrifying. In other words, few franchises can land smack-dab in the middle of scary and fun while still having multiplayer, andResident Evilis one of them.
How Capcom Can Keep Making Good Resident Evil Multiplayer Games
While countless factors could contribute to the quality of afutureResident Evilmultiplayer game, one broad-strokes design philosophy seems like a good rule of thumb: Capcom should focus on co-op over competition. The two most recentResident Evilmultiplayer games wereResident Evil Resistanceand the recently axedResident Evil Re:Verse, which were both poorly received, and the fact that they were both competitive experiences isn’t a coincidence.
PvP shooters and asymmetrical multiplayer formulas might work for horror games likeHunt: ShowdownandDead by Daylight, butResident Evilarguably hasn’t found a way to fit that niche yet.
But linear co-op is a different story.Resident Evil’s penchant for intense, unpredictable, and multifaceted single-player campaigns translates perfectly to cooperative gameplay, especially since the franchise often leans into character relationships and teams of various sorts.
It would make sense for a future game to star, say,Resident Evil’s Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, allowing one player to take on the role of each, and this would also be a dream come true for many long-time fans. Beyond that, such a co-op framework would allow Capcom to do cool new things with its polished, modernREformula.
