Multiplayer video games are some of the most lucrative options for companies to profit from and fund future ventures. Over the years, the explosion in popularity of multiplayer online shooters and MOBAs has made many companies take notice and explore what properties could perhaps make a large profit by introducing a multiplayer component.
Time and time again, Capcom has tried to get some of that multiplayer money by interjecting multiplayer into Resident Evil, leading to the upcoming Resident Evil RE:Verse being packed in with Resident Evil: Village. Not only has Capcom continued to tack on multiplayer modes fans just aren't interested in, but it has also released quite a few titles ranging from mediocre to awful, like Operation Raccoon City and Umbrella Corps, respectively. However, there are options for exploring a Resident Evil multiplayer mode, and all Capcom needs to do is listen to the fans. Here are three options that Capcom could explore to satiate Resident Evil fans and create a fun multiplayer environment that would work inside the world of Resident Evil.
Mercenaries Mode
Far and away, one of the biggest requests by fans is for Capcom to bring back the classic Mercenaries Mode to a new Resident Evil game. Originally appearing as a minigame in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, this mode appeared in the next 3 numbered Resident Evil titles. Mercenaries Mode has players attacking hordes of enemies in a time-attack mode where players pick a character with a set loadout of items and weapons and gain points by quickly dispatching enemies to create massive combos. Subsequent Mercenaries modes even allowed for co-op play, making this multiplayer mode strictly a cooperative affair.
Easily the most popular multiplayer mode for the series, fans continually lobby Capcom to return this game mode. A multiplayer game built around Mercenaries could flesh out the mode, adding unlockables and outfits for the various characters, or even unlockable characters from the decade-spanning cast of memorable heroes and villains.
New Outbreak Game
Originally released in 2003, Resident Evil Outbreak is another fan-favorite game and a title that was released before its time. This PlayStation 2 title was an online multiplayer co-op experience that saw 8 players taking control of various characters with specific equipment and abilities. Players must work together to complete five scenarios set between Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. Released in the relatively early days of online play for consoles, Outbreak didn't make Capcom much money but has over the years become a cult classic.
A new Outbreak style game with a larger budget could be a real hit for fans of the original game and its standalone expansion Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2. Modern tech could allow Capcom to fully realize the potential of an online co-op survival horror experience. Also, a game that showed more of what the outbreak was like for regular people in Racoon City could highlight a somewhat unexplored aspect of the deep Resident Evil lore.
Resident Evil Battle Royale
Admittedly this market is oversaturated, but what if Capcom took the Battle Royale idea and tweaked it for a pure Resident Evil experience? It may not be obvious, but the Resident Evil series could be perfect for this type of gameplay if done correctly, and here's how it could work. The maps should be smaller and need to be set in a location from one of the games like Resident Evil 2's Raccoon City and RCPD station or the Spencer Mansion from the original game.
Second, lower the player count to no more than a dozen player characters, who will all start without any items or weapons. The players must explore the levels and acquire various weapons and items that will be randomly generated. Furthermore, add computer-controlled enemies like zombies, dogs, lickers and hunters to the levels, also randomly generated. The players need to navigate the levels, taking out or dodging enemies and battling other players to either kill everyone else or escape the level after a certain time limit is reached. It could work much like the PvPvE style of the excellently underrated horror shooter Hunt: Showdown, albeit from a more constricted environment.
These are just three ways that Capcom could deliver a multiplayer mode that fans want and would enjoy, rather than a tacked-on deathmatch or half-baked co-op mode. Resident Evil can be fun as a multiplayer experience, but it has to be a mode that feels organic to the world and characters that fans hold dear. Whatever Capcom does in the future, if it can allow the fandom's voice to be heard, it just might find the success it has been searching for all these years in the multiplayer department.