Over a year after it initially launched, Resident Evil Village has had its first batch of DLC announced by developer and publisher Capcom. The game became something of a phenomenon before it even released, due to its unique characters gaining popularity online after the first trailers dropped. Part of the upcoming DLC, known as the Winters’ Expansion, will capitalize on this, letting players control Lady Dimitrescu in The Mercenaries, but the most notable new content will continue RE8‘s story. The Winters’ Expansion and Resident Evil Village Gold Edition, which comes with the DLC included, will be available October 28, 2022, and expands upon the base game in a variety of ways.
Resident Evil Village saw the return of RE7 Biohazard protagonist Ethan Winters as he traveled through Eastern Europe in search of his kidnapped daughter, Rosemary. Fans have been waiting to see if DLC can resolve some of Village‘s plot threads left dangling, but the Winters’ Expansion is set to do much more than just that. Alongside the Shadows of Rose story content, Lady Dimitrescu isn’t the only new playable character coming to The Mercenaries. Shadows of Rose‘s new perspective will also be adopted by the base game, letting new and returning players take Ethan through the eponymous village in third-person.
The release date for the Winters’ Expansion is already known to be October 28, but pre-orders for it and the Gold Edition have not yet opened. Nor have prices been divulged by Capcom. October 28 will also mark the release of Resident Evil Re:Verse, the long-delayed multiplayer add-on for Village. Even beyond this DLC release, RE Village is getting PlayStation VR 2 support at some point in the future. Sony’s upcoming VR hardware is still without a release date, but Biohazard was a hit on the original PSVR. It’s unclear how much – if any – of the upcoming Resident Evil Village DLC, detailed below, will be available in virtual reality when support finally comes.
Shadows Of Rose Continues Resident Evil 8’s Story
It wasn’t long after Resident Evil Village‘s release in May 2021 that Capcom announced DLC was in development. Many expected it to continue the base game’s narrative, possibly following the exploits of Chris Redfield and the BSAA at large, but Shadows of Rose will instead make a significant time jump. Resident Evil Village‘s DLC will star Ethan’s daughter 16 years after the conclusion of the main game. Chris is still involved in some capacity, at the very least being mentioned by Rose in the expansion’s announcement trailer.
Born to two parents infected by the Mold introduced in RE7, Rose has superhuman abilities that were central to Village‘s plot. In Shadows of Rose, it appears she will return to the titular setting of the base game and confront the Megamycete, the super-organic source of the Mold. The trailer implies the Duke, Resident Evil Village‘s merchant, will be an antagonist in the DLC, but the Resident Evil website suggests Shadows of Rose will take players beyond the physical realm as they confront Rose’s past and issues of identity. Notably, Shadows of Rose appears to be a third-person adventure, a departure from the base game’s first-person perspective.
RE8’s Winters’ Expansion Has A Third-Person Mode
There are pros and cons to third-person Resident Evil games, but come October, Village will let players decide which perspective to take. Resident Evil 4 was a pioneer for games using an over-the-shoulder camera, abandoning the fixed views of its predecessors. It wasn’t until RE7 that the series tried first-person, though, and the results were generally celebrated for enhancing the game’s horror elements and meshing well with the claustrophobic level design. Village ended up being a bit more action-oriented than RE7, despite inheriting its first-person mechanics. Although it doesn’t add any new content per se, third-person mode is an interesting addition that might attract those who prefer the gameplay style of past Resident Evil games.
Resident Evil Village’s DLC Is Expanding The Mercenaries Mode
The Mercenaries has long been an extra game mode in Resident Evil, and made a return with the launch of RE8. Village‘s Mercenaries mode differs from past RE games, but the concept is generally the same – players battle waves of infected enemies, typically racing against a clock and trying to achieve a high score. The Winters’ Expansion will bring three new playable characters to the game mode: Chris Redfield, Alcina Dimitrescu, and Karl Heisenberg. There will also be new stages to play on.
Known as The Mercenaries: Additional Orders, this update will provide some more variety to the bonus mode, which players have to unlock by finishing Village‘s story. Each of the new characters will offer a unique play style. In addition to Chris’ BSAA arsenal, he’s described as being effective in close quarters, with the trailer showing off a punch attack that can knock back crowds of enemies. First Lady Dimitrescu overshadowed Resident Evil Village‘s horror, and now she’ll tower over the enemies of The Mercenaries, letting players rack up points with her talons. Karl Heisenberg will wield a hammer in battle, but it’s unclear how his other powers will be used.
Resident Evil Re:Verse Will Launch With The Winters’ Expansion
While not technically part of the Winters’ Expansion, the multiplayer-only Resident Evil Re:Verse is now set to launch on the same day, October 28, 2022. Included with every copy of Village, players will take control of a variety of RE characters in free-for-all deathmatches, where getting killed transforms the player into a bioweapon to seek revenge. The game had an initial delay that pushed its release to summer of 2021, which was later extended into 2022, but now Re:Verse has finally gotten a release date alongside the other Village content shown during the recent Capcom Showcase.
With a robust slate of DLC coming in a matter of months, Resident Evil continues to dominate the survival horror genre. With current-gen versions of Resident Evil 2, 3, and 7 now available, and the remake of RE4 expected next year, there’s plenty to keep fans occupied in addition to the new content for Village. The eighth mainline Resident Evil was heavily marketed as having significantly increased the scale of RE7, and that trend continues with its unexpected 16-year time jump for Shadows of Rose. DLC for Resident Evil Village not only offers a continued narrative, but increased replayability for the game’s other modes as well.
