Resident Evil 6 is coming out a little bit earlier than expected. While the debut trailer shown for the game earlier this year pegged Capcom’s horror sequel for Nov. 22, the game will now be out on Oct. 2. Terrifying viral outbreaks, impossibly-tongued monsters, and incoherent plots are almost always better before Halloween, so this comes as good news.
Capcom updated the official website for the game on Tuesday, shedding light on just who is starring in the follow up to 2009’s Resident Evil 5. Confirming what the first trailer suggested, players will control Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield, the leads of Resident Evil 2/4 and 1/Code Veronica/5 respectively. The third previously unnamed protagonist turns out to be Jake Muller, son of series bad guy Albert Wesker. The game will interweave their three stories into a larger plot. Those stories can be played in any order the player chooses, recalling the dual scenarios from Resident Evil 2.
Resident Evil 6 looks promising, but so did the mediocre Resident Evil 5 before it came out. Capcom’s attempts to make a game that’s all things to all people—a co-op shooter for Call of Duty fans, a spooky thriller for horror fans, and a ridiculous plot labyrinth for diehard Resident Evil fans—has made the series a Jack of all Trades but a master of none. First, let’s hope Capcom’s ambitions don’t outpace its abilities. Second, let’s hope the company doesn’t insist on nickel-and-diming players with absurd content pricing with the game. It would be sad to find out that you had to pay extra for each of the game’s three stories.