Somewhere, in the distant, indefinable future of videogames, there is a good multiplayer version of Resident Evil. RE Outbreak had the right idea – it remains the closest we’ve come. Resident Evil 5 and RE6 might also broadly count as ‘multiplayer,’ insofar as they allow online co-op; you could say the same for Resident Evil Revelations 2. But that’s stretching the definition a bit far. With RE4 Remake done and dusted, and rumors swirling about either a full Resident Evil 9 or a remake of Code Veronica, maybe, just maybe, Capcom will take another lunge at the multiplayer dream. Until then, we can only mourn the previous attempt, Resident Evil Reverse, which now officially has fewer players on Steam than a digital version of The Bible – and even The Bible only has 19 players.
The problem with Resident Evil Reverse is that, for the most part, it’s antithetical to the series’ horror game roots. Yes you can choose to play as stalwart heroes and villains, like Leon Kennedy and Nemesis. Yes, the maps are modeled after fan-favorite locations. But even though RE has become gradually more spectacular and action-oriented, it still lives and dies by its carefully managed pace. It needs a writer. It needs an ever-present designer there to deploy tension, scares, and then frantic moments of panic and shooting in equal, rhythmic measure. Take away the structure, and it’s not Resident Evil.
This is one of the reasons Resident Evil multiplayer has so far always failed – the spontaneity and completely player-driven nature of any totally online game is contrary to everything for which RE, as a concept and an experience, stands.
And it might explain why as of this writing, Thursday February 1, Resident Evil Reverse has precisely four players on Steam, a smaller number than a digital recreation of The Bible, created and published by the suitably named Bible Games. There is, somewhere out there, a decent Resident Evil multiplayer game. It can be done. But as it stands, RE Reverse will likely be remembered as a lesson in what to avoid.
Elsewhere in Capcom world, two Devil May Cry games have been delisted from Steam, while the Resident Evil series is being review bombed after an update for Monster Hunter Rise added Enigma DRM software.
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