What will be in the Resident Evil Village DLC?

Resident Evil Village took the gaming world by storm and stands as one of the frontrunners for 2021’s Game of the Year. Capcom knows it too, and that means that the publisher is going to milk the game at least a little bit more.

Capcom has confirmed that Resident Evil Village DLC is currently in development, but there is no word on what it might be. There are a load of possibilities out there for what fans of Ethan, Chris, and the whole crew might be in store for, so it’s worth taking a look at the past and present of the Resident Evil franchise to guess what might be coming.

Resident Evil has highly diverse DLC history

Japanese game publishers have had mixed results when it comes to producing downloadable content but Capcom has done a better job than the likes of Sega or Square Enix. The best example of that is in the Resident Evil series, which has had an abundance of interesting DLC offerings.

Those offerings are not evenly distributed. Though the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes were a smashing commercial success, their DLC offering is limited to bonus costumes and weapons. Resident Evil 6 was a critical dud but had a few interesting PvP and PvE game modes released as DLC.

The best overall package of DLC came with Resident Evil 7. The game received four DLC packages including the free Not a Hero mission, two Banned Footage packages, and the End of Zoe expansion. All of those combine for a boatload of extra content that offers radically different experiences. There are comedy mini-games, new missions dedicated to the game’s puzzle elements, and deeper explorations of the game’s backstory. There’s even an epilogue chapter that expands on the game’s combat engine.

Because of how much DLC Resident Evil 7 got and how different each package was, it’s tough to peg what sort of DLC might come out. That said, it’s easy to guess what the DLC will center around.

Lady Dimitrescu will likely factor into Resident Evil Village DLC

Lady Dimitrescu has arguably overtaken Wesker as Resident Evil’s most identifiable villain but that wasn’t necessarily Capcom’s plan for the character. Though Dimitrescu is a big part of Resident Evil Village, she isn’t the main villain of the game and a decent chunk of the proceedings takes place without her being around. However, Capcom knows it has a very popular character on its hands and it’s likely that some of the DLC will revolve around her.

There are a number of different ways that this could be approached, but odds are that there will be at least one unique game mode built around her. Resident Evil 7 had a kind of “capture the flag” mode based around feeding Jack Baker that was done largely for comedic effect but could be effectively reskinned to be based around Dimitrescu. There’s also enough background information on Dimitrescu to create an interesting, story-focused DLC around the character.

There are a load of possibilities but it’s almost guaranteed that Dimitrescu’s viral popularity will have changed Capcom’s plans. They’d be leaving money on the table by not putting her under the spotlight.

Resident Evil Village DLC running behind schedule

While it’s been confirmed that Resident Evil Village DLC is coming, it’s running significantly behind schedule compared to what fans are used to. Resident Evil 7’s Banned Footage DLC first came out just about one month after the game’s initial release and by comparison, Resident Evil Village has been out since May.

Resident Evil Village hasn’t been completely without DLC. The game launched the Trauma Pack, which was largely made up of cosmetic items alongside a new weapon. Still, this isn’t nearly as much as one would have expected.

While there’s some worry that Capcom might divert resources away from DLC and towards other projects, it’s more likely that there’s something substantial on the horizon for Resident Evil Village. Fans will have to wait and see what’s in store.