Opening this feature with a quote from Reddit user Super_Imagination_90, on a thread discussing the viability of a Resident Evil 6 remake: “the problem with remakes is it still has to be that game. It still has to be RE6”.
Looking at Resident Evil’s most divisive entry in isolation, ignoring the developer’s recent home run with the RE2 remake and new games in its storied survival horror franchise you’d have to agree with Super_Imagination_90. Resident Evil shouldn’t be remade. Its convoluted story blighted by bloated campaigns, it’s finicky cover system underlined by subpar gunplay (a travesty considering RE6’s identity shifting to full-on action shooter), and its over-reliance on QTEs make it one of the most derided games in existence. A modern iteration of Resident Evil 6 could sharpen gunplay and eradicate the QTEs for sure, but that story will need some serious fat trimming, and even then, it’d still be the same mediocre game.
But imagine for a second a Resident Evil 6 remake was confirmed. What of the original game would succeed in a modern reworking? Leon Kennedy’s campaign – easily the most survival-horror-like of the four – might be worth saving and expanding upon. The C-virus strain and its capability to metamorphosise some of the series’ most horrific creatures was admittedly a highpoint. RE6’s broad cast of iconic characters banding together to halt a global threat was certainly compelling too. There’s potential here, and despite the execution failing back in 2012 the developer’s recent hot streak with RE2 Remake should give us confidence that they can whittle RE6 down to its vital barebones and expand from there.
Trimming the fat in a remake is something the developer inadvertently did with Resident Evil 3’s 2020 remake, and whilst entire sections of the original campaign mysteriously being absent, choice-based narrative paths being eschewed, and the once eponymous Nemesis being far less of a menace this time around proved to be a disservice to that game, such omissions could work quite nicely for Resident Evil 6. A story focusing on Leon and Chris Redfield, with Ada Wong potentially as a tertiary character or DLC flitting in and out of the action, would definitely improve things. Jake and Sherry’s campaign should be dropped altogether as playable content. Jake functions merely as a person of interest against the broader lore anyway and taking his campaign away wouldn’t affect the story whatsoever.
Resident Evil games could be described as nuanced, creeping, restrained experiences if it weren’t for the phantasmagorical monster designs in gratuitous boss battles. A consistent problem with Resident Evil 6 is any semblance of shuffling terror of which the series is famous for is gone, with bombastic, relentless, dumb gun fun in its place. A Resident Evil 6 remake should work to massively tone down the action. Resident Evil Village for example straddles the line between action and dread very well. A Resident Evil 6 remake should mirror this, and Leon and Chris’ campaigns are the best way to achieve it. Perhaps, whilst we’re on the subject, the story shouldn’t centre on the global unleashing of the C-virus but instead explore the consequences of its threat, with our heroes fighting desperately to stop its mass release rather than it already being upon the world via a series of bombastic missile explosions.
There is an elephant in the room that hasn’t been addressed yet and that is Resident Evil 6’s insistence on co-operative play. As you’ll likely remember, each of our heroes are flanked by supporting characters – Helena Harper for Leon and Piers Nivans for Chris – but their inclusion feels more about keeping in step with 6’s predecessor, which saw Chris Redfield shoot his way through Africa alongside Sheva Alomar, than something necessary. Co-op was intrinsic to gameplay, but it wasn’t deployed to anywhere the level of its counterparts of that era. Plus – and this might be conjecture – Ada Wong’s campaign indicates how much co-operative play was shoehorned into RE6.
Now, as controversial as it sounds, a Resident Evil 6 remake should do away with co-operative play altogether. The series has shown that companions appearing momentarily during minor phases of the overall game can work quite well, so perhaps RE6 should go down this route. It’ll certainly help the gameplay and story be more focussed, which is something it desperately needs.
Should these major changes mentioned be implemented into a Resident Evil 6 remake then we’re looking at a different game, aren’t we? Going back to our Reddit user’s comment at this features outset, a remake “still has to be RE6.” Well, these alterations are fundamental overhauls, which begs the question if it could still be classed as a remake. Is there not scope for the developer to reboot RE6 instead? A story of global conspiracy, a horrifying virus strain, a campaign focusing on a maximum of two characters, nuanced gameplay with less emphasis on shooting – this doesn’t sound like the same game at all.
From Doom to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, reboots are proven to be successful. In the latter’s case, reusing classic CoD characters in a new timeline plus introducing new characters, settings, and set pieces took what was already great about the originals and remixed it just enough to render it its own distinct thing.
There’s a wider argument at play here too, and that is the implication that the developer should instead plough their efforts on new stuff. Well, barring a Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake (which arguably should have happened after Resident Evil 3 Remake) this stance is easy to agree with. Maybe, when all is said and done Resident Evil 6, don’t deserve a remake seeing as it wasn’t a stellar entry in the RE canon to begin with. RE6 was released twelve years ago too, and we’ve all seen the backlash Naughty Dog faired with their remake of The Last of Us although negativity in that case rested on the fact the game had already been remastered along with it being similarly young to Resident Evil 6. Did it do enough to justify its price tag? Maybe. But was it necessary? Hmm, not so sure. There’s likely more out there who’d prefer to see a third entry in The Last of Us, and this is probably the same by this point in Resident Evil’s remake schedule. In 2019 we had an admittedly excellent remake of an already incredible, genre pushing game in Resident Evil 2, and the well-received Resident Evil Village is already three years old. The time is now for a fresh entry.
Of course, rumours abound of a ninth Resident Evil game, one that’s been in the works since 2018, is labelled as the developer’s most ambitious to date, and is whispered to have the largest budget of any Resident Evil game thus far, coming in 2025. The developer of course can work on more than one Resident Evil title at a time without diluting the content of either, but should they go down the rebooted route with RE6 it’d surely start to get too convoluted to fit into series canon anyway. Perhaps RE6 is best left in the dustbins of history, an action adventure curio that’ll always have been better served as being a spinoff than a mainline entry.
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