Resident Evil 7 was a radical departure for the show, putting the view into first-person and focusing on a mean person as a protagonist, instead of some trained specialist. According to its own show during the PS5 event, Resident Evil 8 will be just as big of death, if not much more so.
As the reveal trailer reveals, Resident Evil 8 will once again follow Ethan Winters, years following the events of Resident Evil 7. Since Ethan and Mia settle to a new life, things are upended when Chris Redfield shows up from nowhere and brutally murders. Outside of the installation, Resident Evil 8 occurs in a creepy European village, along with the trailer is filled with occult elements, magical, and werewolves.
It’s all stuff that is very atypical to the traditional Resident Evil style, but it’s certainly bold. Resident Evil 8 embracing magic and the occult could help push the show into new levels of terror, and boost the psychological impacts of the game much more.
Resident Evil has ever been a rather traditional horror series, and it’s known to be incredibly campy. Its brand of terror has clearly worked well, but Resident Evil 7 started branching off into different types of horror and incorporating in more mental elements.
Resident Evil 8 raises many questions, and the story will hinge on Ethan Winters finding the truth out. It seems like a part of the story will figure out what is real and what is not and trust. The game embracing the occult and magic can add to this feeling of mystery and confusion more.
Look back in Resident Evil 4, the game that changed everything for the series. Part of what made that game so memorable was that the puzzle. Leon traveled into a tiny village. The key is that the villagers were mindless zombies, they had some sense of intellect, and several may even speak. Players would, of course, find out which they had been infected with the Plagas virus, but Resident Evil 4 was a wild tonal shift from the remainder of the series.
Resident Evil 8 looks to be doing precisely the same thing, also it gives off some severe Van Hellsing kind of vibes. There’s likely to be many psychological components in Resident Evil 8, and having a world filled with magic would blur the line between reality and fiction. Using magic could induce Resident Evil into a new brand of western horror, and add even more variation to the sequence.