Foxtrots Video Game Reboot-Retellings #1: Resident Evil

Reboot-Retellings? What is this mumbo jumbo you keep spewing out Foxtrot? Why do you constantly write down how this “thing” you’ve made up when you’ve most likely been in the shower or toilet can help a franchise that has either came to an end story wise or has lost its way completely? Well that’s a very good question random N4G dweller and it’s about time I tell at least 10% of N4G who actually care why I like to think Reboot-Retellings can save certain franchises.

You see these days’ gamers have played on a number of different franchises and have grown attached to some of the amazing universes created within the game. When a franchises story like Metal Gear Solid comes to a gripping conclusion or a franchise like Resident Evil, our dimming star of the article, ends up losing its way so much it’s basically on its last legs we know deep down that a reboot is coming, a reboot which will wipe out everything we loved in particular Universe we’ve grown attached to over the years. Once a reboot takes place the characters, story, world in general will be gone and will most likely be replaced by brand new elements which might be alright but because of that attachment we feel to a game like Resident Evil and actually caring about characters like Chris Redfield, Leon S Kennedy or even Albert Wesker it’s like our mind can’t fully get past our old feelings for these characters to make room for new ones. This is kind of the reason why new characters introduced in newer Resident Evil games like Helena, Piers, Sheva, Josh, Parker, Jessica and even Jake are so bland and boring compared to the new ones, we could open up more and allow ourselves to welcome them into our loving, Resident Evil arms, but when old characters we’ve grew up with are being replaced by them it’s harder for us to accept them. Take Resident Evil 6 for example, in my opinion it’s a terrible game for starters but why is Helena with Leon instead of Claire or why is the STARS team not featured with Chris instead of Piers. I think you get my point by now.

Anyway moving back on topic I think if developers decide to reboot their games with retellings it would allow gamers to experience new stories with the characters we grew up with. Obviously the first game in the franchise, being the starting point would just come off as a glorified remake much like the Gamecube remake where the developers will add more rooms, puzzles and back stories but at the end of the game that would be the turning point in the newly established timeline.

Think of the Butterfly effect, one small thing which changes in your past could change a huge number of variables in the future. So if something at the end of Resident Evil was to change imagine the impact this could have for future plot points in future games. Let’s start from the beginning in one example out of an infinite number of possibilities, you might follow along with this, see something you disagree with, change it and end up creating your own timeline which is totally fine by me because it’s the whole bloody point of this. Fun right?

Resident Evil: The New Remake

Wesker has just been impaled in the chest by the Tyrant and you’ve managed to fight him off (for now), the self-destruct sequence has been activated and STARS rush out to the landing site to try and contact Brad. The Tyrant then bursts through the floor and a massive fight occurs but thanks to your friends and a certain rocket/missile launcher you come out victorious. Sounds pretty familiar right? So the STARS get in the helicopter and fly off however back in the Lab a bloody hand comes up and messes with the control pad revealing in the end to be the revived, but now changed Wesker who decides in this timeline to deactivate the self-destruct sequence just in case he doesn’t get out in time and changes it to remote device he can activate once he’s far and clear. This however, this small, split decision changes the entire future of the games story because in this timeline that small delay on the explosion means that a number of zombies manage to wander off clear of the delayed blast radius. The few Zombies wander the forests until they come across a number of different people who they either kill or bite, the bitten escape to the city where they turn and continue to infect other people. In the end the T-Virus has already started to infect Raccoon City much earlier than it was supposed to.

Resident Evil 2

As STARS argue their case about Umbrella back in the city they find that another outbreak has already begun trapping them in a now quarantined city. However despite the outbreak happening much earlier the newly assigned police officer Leon S Kennedy has arrived earlier as well thanks to the rising number of cannibalism reports caused by the surviving Zombies, it seems Raccoon Police Department needed the extra manpower, lucky Leon right? Like before Leon bumps into Clare who is trying to find her brother Chris and later on Ada who is trying to find her “boyfriend” John. The game plays out roughly the same but instead of them making their escape with just the three of them they encounter STARS who have recently just defeated Nemesis. After finally finding her brother Claire, Leon and STARS decide to escape together.

Resident Evil 3

The game, much like the old Resident Evil 3 is also set in Raccoon City however instead of Leon and Claires overall story this game features STARS member Chris, Jill, Barry and Rebecca. One scenario features Chris and Jill while the other features Barry and Rebecca, after meeting up a number of times to put their plan into action so they can escape they are encountered by Nemesis who has been a pain in their backsides since the beginning. After defeating him they encounter Leon and Claire and all of them escape together.

Resident Evil 4

This is where it really changes. With Claire finding her brother Code Veronica never happens and without Leon going to search for Sherry by himself the Government never apprehends him turning him into an agent and later on making him protect the President. Instead STARS along with Leon and Claire form a new group much like the BSAA in which they decide to take the fight to Umbrella and BOWs in general. Claire then finds out that Sherry has been kidnapped and along with Leon they decide to go and find her which brings in a new game altogether. Now this game could go anywhere, the timeline has changed so much that there’s way too many possibilities. The game could borrow elements from Code Veronica and even Operation Javier Leon was part of. In the end much like how Resident Evil 4 was to find Ashley, this game would be to find Sherry. The best bloody part about this version of events you may wonder? NO PLAGAS, that’s right they can either write that shit off or they can come up with some reason like Wesker decides to bomb the small time European village when he finds out a rival organization has gotten there first in search of the parasite, kind of like a “If I can’t have it, nobody can” you know what he’s like. Obviously Ada won't be around to get it for him as she'll be involved in Leons search for Sherry for what ever reason so destroying the place and the Plagas is his only option.

In conclusion you can already see how much the timeline could possibly be changed and all because such a small thing was changed within the very first game. Like I said way above this is just my version of events to give people an example of where this concept could go, this could happen to any other franchises and later on I will give my own ideas of what franchises could possibly do this. Anyway you yourself might come up with something completely different which is better then my own ideas, for example maybe Leon and Claire never meet but he runs into Jill instead, what about if Code Veronica did happen but Leon went to save Claire instead, anything can happen here and the best thing about these infinite number of possibilities is that it still features the characters we’ve grown to love while fixing the wrongs in the old timeline.

So what about you? Are you ready to let go to your favourite characters and embrace new ones which might not meet the originals or would you rather see an idea similar to this where old meets new to create a brand new experience but featuring past faces. Discuss.