Resident Evil Re:Verse Still Exists

Resident Evil Re:Verse still exists and, well, that’s news to me. The multiplayer game, which has been delayed twice, will be free to owners of Village from October 28th.

The multiplayer mode for Village was met with skepticism when it was announced nearly two years ago. That was only increased when it was delayed from May 7 – alongside Village – to Summer, and then again to a vague 2022.

Well, surprise surprise, it’s still coming in 2022. In fact, it will be available within the next week.

Skeptics will be glad to know that alongside this announcement, Capcom announced a battle pass. I’m sure it’ll get a lot of use.

Reversing Re:Verse

What exactly is Re:Verse? Well, it’s a multiplayer character shooter set within the Resident Evil universe. Here’s the new launch trailer:

Whatever your feelings about how it looks, and whether it fits into the general Resident Evil universe (if Operation: Raccoon City does, anything does), it’s a small miracle that it’s coming out at all.

I guess it’s a value add for the new Gold edition coming out. And it’ll be an extra freebie for those returning for the new DLC and third-person DLC mode.

But it’s closed-off from multiplayer fans as a whole who, by and large, have enough to play anyway. This is the problem with every single developer wanting a GaaS model under their belt. You have to be the best – or you have to be the most popular. You can’t be a sleeper hit.

Re:Verse was doomed to never be either of those things. It can’t compete with Fortnite or Overwatch. Halo or Call of Duty will appeal to wider demographics. It exists as a way to hook Resident Evil fans, who were pretty much done with it the moment it was announced.

Don’t get me wrong. Re:Verse may be the best game ever. Hell, it might revolutionise character shooters and mark a brave, successful new direction for the franchise. Who knows? I don’t see it happening, but Boris Johnson was in the running for PM again. At this point, everything is on the table.

It’s all about finding a niche, but I’m not sure there’s a niche that wants Re:Verse. Perhaps I’m wrong. Capcom will be hoping I’m wrong.

Modern Multiplayer

We’ve spoke about this before, but we’ll do it again. Modern multiplayer is everywhere and nowhere, and everybody seems to want a piece. A dozen very big games dominate the entire genre, but the only way to take over is dead man’s shoes. Out of the gate you have to be as interesting, big and innovating as one of the big hitters. Obviously, that’s a ridiculous thing to ask.

And that’s not to say you can’t be successful with a smaller audience. Clearly you can. But it’s finding the audience. Free-to-play helps with that. Perhaps Village will be a surprise addition to one of the subscription services next month (probably PlayStation), and that will help it an awful lot. If not, I see it going free-to-play by March. And that wouldn’t be a bad thing. On the other hand, it makes you wonder why they aren’t just doing it in the first place.

And if nothing else, that tiny band of ardent fans who have been waiting for this day for close to two years can finally get what they want. I hope it lives up to their hopefully tempered expectations.