After years of anticipation and rumors, Capcom finally announced the next mainline entry in theResident Evilseries at Summer Game Fest this year. The game, titledResident Evil Requiem, is going to follow an entirely new protagonist named Grace Ashcroft, and it’s scheduled to come out in February 2026. As exciting asRequiem’s reveal was, it’s not the only upcomingResident Eviltitle that’s set to be released in the near future. Capcom confirmed earlier this week that it’s making yet anotherResident Evilgame; this one, however, is pretty different from those that came before it.
JOYCITY, Aniplex, and Capcom are teaming up to developa new game calledResident Evil: Survival Unit, and it’s going to be launched for iOS and Android devices in most regions around the world. BecauseResident Evil: Survival Unitis a mobile game, a lot of longtimeResident Evilfans will probably be deterred from trying it out. Regardless, though, the game has the potential to mark a significant turning point for the franchise, since it’s one of the first non-multiplayerResident Evilspin-offs that Capcom has developed in ages.Resident Evil: Survival Unitmay not be that exciting on its own, but it could be a sign that Capcom is testing the waters.
Resident Evil: Survival Unit Could Be the First of Several New Resident Evil Spin-Offs
Resident Evil: Survival Unit Takes the RE Franchise Into a New Direction
According to Capcom,Resident Evil: Survival Unitis a survival horror real-time strategy (RTS) game. Although Capcom hasn’t gone into much detail about how the game actually plays, this tidbit of information is fairly intriguing on its own. SinceResident Evilis mostly action-based, there aren’t a lot of RTS games in the franchise, let alone ones with survival horror elements. While Capcom did release a couple ofobscureResident Evilstrategy mobile gamesduring the mid-2000s (which were part of theResident Evil: Confidential Reportsubseries), these titles were turn-based rather than real-time. Therefore, Capcom is kind of stepping into uncharted waters withResident Evil: Survival Unit.
Capcom is going to host a showcase forResident Evil: Survival Uniton July 10, where it may show off some gameplay of the game for the first time.
Capcom Hasn’t Developed Non-Multiplayer Resident Evil Spin-Offs in Ages
Mobile games aren’t going to appeal to everyone, but the fact that Capcom is willing to experiment with the genres of theResident Evilfranchise again is promising on its own. While Capcom hasn’t been afraid to shake things up in the mainlineResident Evilinstallments, it has taken a considerably safer approach to its spin-off efforts for several years. In the last decade, the onlyResident Evilspin-offs Capcom has released are online multiplayer games,likeResident Evil Re:VerseandResident Evil: Resistance. These titles have all failed to attract a sizable audience, and they’re nowhere near as high-quality as some of the older spin-offs in the franchise.
During the PS2 and PS3 generations, Capcom released a number ofResident Evilspin-offs, many of which were in a variety of different genres. In the 2000s, the company launched theResident Evil Outbreakduology, two survival horror games that featured full cooperative multiplayer support. At around the same time, it also launchedseveralResident Evillight gun shooters, such asResident Evil Survivor,Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, andResident Evil: Dead Aim. In 2012, Capcom even released a squad-based third-person shooter with single-player and multiplayer components, calledResident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.
Resident Evil: Survival Unit’s Potential Success Should Encourage Capcom to Experiment More With the RE Franchise
While not all of theseResident Evilspin-offs were great, it was at least nice that Capcom let its developers try new things with the franchise. TheResident Evilseries is incredibly popular right now, but Capcom could get even more people interested in it by making more single-player spin-offs in different genres. Maybe it could developanXCOM-inspiredResident Evilstrategy game, or perhaps aResident Evilstealth game. IfResident Evil: SurvivalUnitis intended to be the start of a more experimental era for theResident Evilfranchise, then hopefully, the game performs well so that Capcom becomes more inclined to create other unique spin-off titles.
