The popular survival horror franchise,Resident Evil, returned in a big way this year with its eighth mainline game,Resident Evil Village. Upon release,Resident Evil Villagereceived praise for retaining the look and feel ofResident Evil 7, while carrying the DNA of the highly successfulResident Evil 4.Resident Evil Village’s impressive salesnumbers and positive reviews are a firm indication that fans enjoyed this brand new entry into theResident Evilfranchise.
Capcom has indeed acknowledgedResident Evil Village’s success and announced that it’s working on a DLC after “popular demand.” Early rumors suggested that Capcom had no plans on making a DLC forResident Evil Villagethough this seems to have changed post-launch. While aResident Evil VillageDLC sounds exciting, it’s still a big mystery as to when fans can actually get their hands on it.
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Predicting Resident Evil Village DLC Release Date
There are plenty of directions in which Capcom can take this upcomingResident Evil Village DLC, and when it launches may very well depend on its scope and size. There is a slight possibility that Capcom takes theResident Evil 7approach withVillage’s DLC, which should provide some much-needed insight.
Resident Evil 7received a total of four DLC packs, two of which were released just a week after the base game launched. The story DLC — “End of Zoe” and “Not a Hero” — was initially planned to release in the second quarter of 2017 but ended up getting delayed till December of 2017. The time gap between the release ofResident Evil 7and its big story DLCs was 11 months, and this could also be the case withResident Evil Village, if not more.
However, it seemsResident Evil VillageDLCwent into production right around the time Capcom made the announcement at E3 2021, which means that it might not be releasing any time soon. If the DLC introduces new locations, characters, and story beats that are not part of theResident Evil Villagecut content, then there’s even less chance of this DLC launching anytime before the game’s first anniversary.
By the looks of it, Capcom might be planning to makeResident Evilan annual franchise, which means by the timeResident Evil Villageturns one, a brand newResident Evilgame might have been announced or even released. Multiple reports suggest that a Nintendo Switch timed-exclusiveResident Eviltitle, calledResident Evil Outrage, will release this holiday season. However, with no announcement yet, it could have been delayed.
There have also been reports that Capcom is outsourcing the development ofResident Evil Outrage, and Tose — which developed the 3DS version ofResident Evil Revelations— is reportedly helming this project. If this is true, then the development ofVillage’s DLC should remain unaffected, otherwise, fans should be ready to wait for a much longer time than they initially expected.
There is quite the possibility that the upcomingResident Evil VillageDLC borrows from the cut content from the main game. It could be anything from Elena’s village section, toAda Wong’s rolethat links to the overarching narrative that sprouted inResident Evil 7. A DLC made out of the cut content makes more sense, which would also take less time to develop, given that it would potentially be using more of existing assets. If that turns out to be the case, then fans should expectResident Evil VillageDLC to drop sooner than later.
Capcom could also want to push out the DLC as soon as possible and move on to its next big project. In such a case, a December 2021 release date for the DLC makes more sense, especially since Capcom’s holiday 2021 lineup is practically empty. By releasingResident Evil Village’s DLC during this period, Capcom could partially fill the void created by a potentially delayedResident Evil Outrage.
Resident Evil Villageis now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Resident Evil Village Plotlines That Should Be Explored in the Upcoming DLC
