A new Resident Evil Village mod has changed the appearance of one of the game’s monsters during a boss fight in response to Capcom being accused of copyright infringement. Although it is still new, the game saw success on its own almost instantaneously. Resident Evil Village became one of Twitch’s most viewed games the month of its release, being the only single-player game to make the list, and it was on top of the list on the UK sales charts that month.
Resident Evil Village launched in early May 2021 and immediately captured the interest of long-time and new Resident Evil fans. This newest game continues the story of Ethan Winters and his wife, Mia, from Resident Evil: Biohazard, but it takes place three years later. This first-person game starts with Ethan being kidnapped by a familiar face, Chris Redfield, and abandoned in a European village. As players explore the village looking for a way out and his family, they have to fight their way through werewolves, dolls and everyone’s newest favorite vampire, who may have been a jazz singer.
The mod was created by Pumpkinhook and posted on Nexus Mods under the name “Copyright Free Sturm” (via IGN). Pumpkinhook describes the mod as “A copyright free version of Sturm! no copyright infringement here!” Sturm is a test subject of one of the four village residents, Heisenberg, and the player encounters them during the factory leg of the game. However, with this mod active, players will no longer see Sturm when the boss battle arrives. Instead, they will see a literal white pedestal fan gliding toward Ethan. Though the bosses turn into something else once they’re killed, gamers probably never expected to fight a fan as a boss.
Sturm is one of Heisenberg’s experiments with machine parts. They had most of their torso replaced with an aircraft engine and propeller. They no longer really have arms or a head and most of their upper body is machine. The lower body is two working human legs. Richard Raaphorst pointed out this monster’s resemblance to a monster he created for the 2013 horror movie Frankenstein’s Army. In an interview with Eurogamer (quoted by IGN), Raaphorst explained that it’s more than just the base design, but the overall scene and the end of the fight. Capcom never responded to the allegations. With DLC for the game already in development, Capcom may just be trying to move forward and avoid any attention that may paint the game negatively.
There are a lot of interesting mods for Resident Evil Village even though the game is still relatively new. Capcom being accused of copyright infringement is a serious issue, but this mod band-aids that issue in a unique way. It might break the immersion of Capcom’s beloved horror game, but it certainly makes for an amusing resolution to a potentially serious legal issue.
Resident Evil Village is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC. Players who have purchased the Xbox One or PS4 versions of the game receive a free next-gen upgrade.
