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Oh Capcom, you big tease. First you give us a trailer (opens in new tab) for your brand new Resident Evil game, with a big focus on a new mystery bald man. You drop him right in amongst a line-up of the most important, iconic heroes in the series’ history and make it clear that he is also very large of the deal.
Then you go quiet for a bit and let us going into a tumbling frenzy of theorisation/doing your marketing for you (delete as appropriate to your cynicism). Then you turn up again (today, as coincidence would have it) with a few new details. Details like a frank and open explanation of a bunch of the game’s main characters and monsters.
You’ll explicitly state that Leon is joined once again by Hunnigan, his handler from Resident Evil 4 (which possibly implies a welcome return to the long-range partnership – read: isolation – of his disastrous Spanish holiday). You’ll explain that Leon’s secret service friend (and new presidential bodyguard) Helena Harper is responsible for the outbreak that starts the game. You’ll tell us that Chris Redfield is now in China, but nursing a personal trauma he suffered six months before the start of the game.
You’ll tell us all about the faster, more aggressive new zombies, and the demonic-looking, intelligent, vicious Serbian J’ avo monsters that appeared in six-months before the start of Resi 6 (tied into Chris’ personal trauma? Probably). But when you get to the mystery bald guy, you get all mysterious again.
Sorry, did I say “Get all mysterious again”? I mean “Make such a big deal out of his secret identity that it’s screamingly obvious that he’s not a new character”.
Says the press release:
“The mysterious third protagonist: We’re still trying to track down his real identity, but we do know that this man is a mercenary currently engaged in a bloody conflict in Eastern Europe where reports confirm that B.O.W.s are increasingly being used. One day, he is told that he is the man to save the world. Whilst he doesn’t fully understand the implications of this, he does immediately think how much money he can make from it.”
Seriously, he couldn’t be any more obviously a returning character is Capcom had giggled all the way through the statement and then run off flapping its arms around squealing “Heeeeeee! I teased a secret thing!”
My money is on him being an unmasked Hunk. Having been essentially a hired gun for Umbrella, the mercenary bit fits. The description could even have a none-too subtle double-meaning referring to his appearances in the series’ various Mercenaries side-games. Also, Hunk has a habit of surviving where other people die, which may be where his ability to save the world with his blood (as referenced in the trailer) comes in. Or, as we previously guessed, he could be Alex Wesker (opens in new tab).
Your opinions please?
