Resident Evil Re:Verse has been delayed again, this time into 2022. It’s not surprising that this bland multiplayer companion game is having issues. As I stated in my impressions after playing the beta, Re:Verse is only Resident Evil in that it reuses assets from RE2 remake, RE3 remake, and RE7. I thought it would launch alongside RE: Village and be quickly forgotten, just as Resident Evil Resistance was. However, now that the game is delayed into next year, I’m starting to think that Capcom must have bigger plans for it (or no plans at all).
What’s going on with the Resident Evil Re:Verse delay?
During the beta test, Resident Evil Re:Verse played as a decent but uninspired deathmatch game. The big hook was that after your human character died, you could immediately respawn as one of the series’ iconic BOWs. Sure, it’s cool to play as Mr. X or Nemmy, but it’s not enough of a hook to base a whole game on.
When Re:Verse was delayed the first time it was only from May to July. I figured that Capcom might not have wanted bad press from the game affecting Resident Evil: Village. After all, it is an asset flip that once again ignores what fans want from a multiplayer RE game. Now, I’m not so sure.
Obviously, Capcom wants to sneak the live service formula into Resident Evil, but has already missed the Resistance mark. Re:Verse looks like it would be the company’s second attempt to shoehorn Games-as-a-Service into the brand. However, the lukewarm reception of the betas pared with the enthusiasm Resident Evil: Village launched to might have made Capcom rethink its strategy.
Ironically, Capcom already produced a successful (for the time) multiplayer version of Resident Evil. RE: Outbreak gave players a cooperative adventure that was an excellent riff on the solo titles. I hold no delusions that Re:Verse will be reworked into a new take on Outbreak. However, maybe Capcom will add some horror and story elements to make it feel like a Resident Evil game.
Alternatively, delaying Re:Verse into 2022 might be Capcom’s way of soft-canceling the game without tarnishing the brand. People aren’t clamoring for a chance to play it, and this may be a way for the developers to save face instead of Capcom having to say the game had a failure to launch.
