Capcom wants to know what you think of Resident Evil: Village as the name of the game
Among other things.
What do you think of Resident Evil: Village as the official title of the eighth main Resident Evil game? Capcom wants to know.
When Resident Evil: Village was announced during Sony's June PlayStation 5 preview event, some naturally took it to be called Resident Evil 8 given the game follows on directly from Resident Evil 7.
But it's called Resident Evil: Village, with the "VILL" in Village meant to represent eight in Roman numerals.
Why Village? Well, Resident Evil 8 is set in a spooky village. It seems as if it's as simple as that.
Now, I'm all for a good pun (we all are here at Eurogamer), but Resident Evil: Village is pretty clunky. Why not simply call it Resident Evil 8? If you're in love with getting Village in there, how about Resident Evil 8: Village? As it is, Resident Evil: Village is at best a little confusing, at worst the kind of name you'd expect of a spin-off. Looking at the logo, it could be taken to look like Resident Evil VII.I., which could be considered Resident Evil 7.1. My guess is Capcom thought Resident EVIL was a clever visual pun (it is!) for Resident Evil 7, and perhaps went a bit too far with its sequel.
Capcom addressed the title in a developer message. Producers Tsuyoshi Kanda and Peter Fabiano said they were still treating Resident Evil: Village as the eighth game in the series, saying "it's Resident Evil 8, just not in name". They also say the village in which the game is set is incredibly important to the experience, so much so that it's considered a character. So I get why they're leaning on it in the title.
Fast forward to this week, and Capcom has launched a survey asking Resident Evil fans all sorts of questions about Resident Evil 8 - sorry, Resident Evil: Village. And it sounds like the powers that be at Capcom are wondering whether they've got some work to do with the game's title.
I took the survey this morning, and in among the standard intent to buy questions you get on these sorts of things is a question about the name of the game.
"Think about the game title Resident Evil: Village," the survey says. "How well do you think this title fits with the following statements:"
Clearly, Capcom hopes to find out if Resident Evil: Village is not just going down well, but reflects the kind of game Resident Evil: Village is. Does the title suggest it's a horror game? Does it suggest it's set in a village? Capcom even asks if Resident Evil: Village shows it is the eighth installment of the main franchise (as you can see, I picked "disagree").
I'm not sure what kind of feedback Capcom will get on this question, or whether the company will listen to it. But I do think it would do well to rejig the name to get an 8 in there somewhere. Just for clarity's sake.
Meanwhile, Resident Evil fans are having their fun with this Capcom survey. I've seen some offer some choice feedback on Chris Redfield's new dark and more brooding design. And there are even those who've just plastered the survey in requests for a Dino Crisis remake.
I mean, they're not wrong.