The next new instalment in Capcom’s franchise could not only wrap up what has already happened, but also serve as the starting point for a new beginning.

We’ve already heard rumours that Resident Evil 9 will somehow wrap up the story of Ethan Winters. Ethan first appeared in Resident Evil 7, sacrificing himself in the story of Resident Evil: Village, and then in its DLC, Shadows of Rose, father and daughter Rose meet in the final battle. The new title has yet to be officially announced by the Japanese publisher, but we’re hearing more and more about it (it will be powered by the REX engine; we wrote about the next-generation RE engine this week).

On The Snitch’s Discord server, another insider, Dusk Golem, has posted what he knows about the new Resident Evil: “I don’t think it’s as direct a sequel as Resident Evil: Village was to Resident Evil 7, but the plots of RE 8 and RE 9 were planned together to lead to a sort of final chapter of the current “arc” of the series. For the record, Shadows of Rose wasn’t planned beforehand, and doesn’t take anything away from what Resident Evil 9 has been since 2018. I know some people speculate that, but that’s not true. I think Capcom made [the] Shadows of Rose [DLC] for several reasons, one of which was to confirm what the ending of [Resident Evil:] Village meant.

The two things I have said publicly about it is that Resident Evil 9 has the biggest budget and the longest development time of any RE game to date. It’s been in development since 2018 and probably won’t be released until 2025 at the earliest unless development goes super well, much like Resident Evil 4 Remake, which actually came out earlier than expected after the internal reboot because development went surprisingly well and smoothly. Capcom has seen Resident Evil 9 as a closing chapter to get some things done, to move on to new story arcs and focuses, to take the series in new directions. So the game is sort of both a closing chapter and a beginning chapter for things in Capcom’s eyes,” Dusk Golem wrote.

This is all unofficial, of course.

Source: WCCFTech