Though Umbrella Corps takes place in the aftermath of 2012’s Resident Evil 6, Kawata explains that the game will focus on background details within the Resident Evil universe, instead of forging its own storyline.
“Umbrella Corps is set in the present day of Resident Evil, which means it’s after the events of Resident Evil 6,” Kawata said. “It’s almost in an ironic way that we’re using the title Umbrella Corps. If you know your Resident Evil lore, Umbrella no longer exists at this time in the universe; it’s been destroyed. There’s definitely a kind of a background of the Resident Evil universe that forms the basis of the game’s premise.”
Instead, Vance notes, Umbrella Corps places its narrative focus on corporate mercenary factions that scour Umbrella’s ruins for lingering biotechnology experiments and research materials.
“The mercenaries are hired by these corporations […] to go into these areas where some kind of biological terror incident may have occurred to try to extract something with value,” Vance stated. “In that regard, these areas will tie into the Resident Evil universe quite strongly, and there’s many things that you’ll see there, that we can’t reveal at this time, that have strong Resident Evil hooks.”
When asked directly if Umbrella Corps would feature a story campaign, Vance stated that “There’s no forward-facing story,” implying a multiplayer-only focus for the upcoming release.
Activision announced this week that Call of Duty: Black Ops III will similarly abandon its series-standard campaign mode on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, focusing instead on its competitive multiplayer component.
Announced at Tokyo Game Show earlier this month, Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps is a third-person shooter in the vein of previous series spinoff Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Umbrella Corps will launch digitally for the PlayStation 4 and PCs in 2016.
