New Resident Evil Movie May Have Found What Long-Running Horror Games Are Missing

Horror gaming has been going through somewhat of a renaissance over the past few years, with just about every IP and franchise finding newfound success and hitting new peaks for the genre. Easily the most popular and successful of the bunch is Resident Evil, a series that dates back over 20 years at this point and contains dozens of titles from mainline releases to world-class remakes. Thanks to the recent resurgence, we are now getting a brand-new movie in an altered universe from the devious mind of Zach Cregger, and while the distinct story and unique direction sound great, the more interesting discourse is about how long-lasting franchises deal with fatigue and often tend to stay too close to existing stories and characters.

With any seasoned IP or series, there is always a question regarding whether it is better to stick with what works and keep writing in the same few characters, or to branch out into uncharted waters to potentially break the mold and broaden the reach of the franchise. For Resident Evil, the majority of the numbered games contain just a handful of familiar names, and even when they pushed a new protagonist into the limelight in 7 and Village​​​​​, they still relied on Chris Redfield and connections to Umbrella to tie things all together. But if you look at another veteran horror franchise like Silent Hill, the modern ideology is all about different ideas, locations, and protagonists, where the fog is more of a connected idea that links the games in a broader sense. And, as we now look to the future of Resident Evil and horror as a whole, it is unclear whether star power will be able to sustain things forever, or if new blood is the way to go.

The Resident Evil Movie Shows Horror Games Don’t Need to Rely on Familiar Stories

When the new Resident Evil movie was announced, my first response was to sigh, as while the games have been pretty incredible across the board, the franchise’s cinema catalog leaves a lot to be desired. However, as more details came out and additional trailers were shown, it became clear we were in for a very fresh experience that was far from the more action-heavy films that dominated the 2000s and even the games at the time. It’s still Raccoon City, and it still takes place alongside the events of Resident Evil 2, despite being set in the modern day, but the connections to the previous plots and characters are far more distant, which may seem like a strange move, but I think it is actually a stroke of genius.

If we look at the last 10 years of Resident Evil, it is hard to point out many negatives. We have had several amazing remakes and some unreal new titles, but in every single game, the developers are still leaning on the crutches of Leon, Chris, Jill, and the wider universe, meaning that while it is amazing to see consistent survival horror bangers, there isn’t a whole lot of innovation in terms of storytelling being brought to the table. Conversely, if we look at Silent Hill, after the stellar remake of the second game, the franchise is going through a very interesting period where it feels like every idea hitting the drawing board is making it to launch.

The point is that, as someone who has been following survival horror for quite some time, I welcome a breath of fresh air and an actual reinvention that goes further into the unknown, especially given how many potential points of influence and inspiration there are to draw from. It is also worth mentioning that we are heading into another era for Resident Evil​​​​​​, with the numbered entries coming to an end, so while we may still get a few more remakes in between mainline releases, this may be the perfect opportunity to start looking further afield into more zombie-slaying stories.

Additionally, a movie being the building block that bridges the gap between the current set of stories and the next feels very logical, as, although it is hard to tell exactly how much crossover there is between the creatives behind the game and film projects, it is obvious that a certain sense of continuity is important to both the fans and the makers. And, judging by the reception and poor performance of the Welcome to Raccoon City movie, fan-service and homage cannot carry films and games by themselves, and you still need to have good writing and a well-thought-out story to capture an audience, whose expectations will always be high in longer franchises.

Horror Games Thrive On Fresh Ideas

When you look back at the history of horror gaming, we have come a long way from the borderline-comedic early days to a point where it can be hard to even get through certain sections without screaming in fear. The scare factor has never been higher, and with so many new games launching all the time, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd; because of how steep the competition is, you can no longer find success by just being attached to a larger name. As a result, we are seeing far more compelling survival horror games, like Cronos: The New Dawn and Karma: The Dark World, that aren’t being held back by existing stories or characters, and are instead carving out their own space in what is already a pretty crowded genre.

There is always going to be an emphasis on innovation and on creating unusual concepts to hook the player, and the best and most successful games over the past few years have followed that exact formula to a T. However, there is still a healthy amount of room for sequels, and I would argue that it is nice to have at least a few connected titles to give you plenty of hype to get behind, but to also give the developers a nice jumping-off point. A franchise like Amnesia is the perfect case study for that exact idea, as we had four games in the same series, and then the developers showed that they are more than a one-trick pony with SOMA and now Ontos, which has a lot of attention already given how great the studios previous games were.

If instead they chose to focus on branching out the Amnesia IP even further, something akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then we may have hit a hurdle where the games started to feel a lot less special and derivative. On top of the potential problem of staleness, you also have to contend with the problem of new players, who may look at a list of 10+ games and have no idea when or where to start.

That’s a very real and tricky dilemma to solve for larger franchises, and one that I had to solve firsthand when a friend asked which Resident Evil game to start with. Do you suggest the remakes as a starting point, the more recent mainline ones, or do you send them all the way back to the start? There really is no one correct answer, and it only becomes worse when you have the same stories and characters over and over that make it feel like you are missing something crucial if you skip a game.

At the end of the day, Resident Evil and all these other big horror franchises are far from in trouble. The genre is in a true golden era, and the future looks bright across the board based on leaks and the few confirmed titles that are just around the corner. Still, it is hard not to be at least a little bit concerned about burnout and a drought of new ideas, as it can only take a couple of blunders for all that praise and success to come crashing down. I am optimistic about the future and am beyond excited about what’s in store in the world of horror. I just hope that we get to experience more intriguing stories and compelling characters, rather than having to watch an aged and weakened Leon suit up for the thousandth time.

Release Date

September 18, 2026

Runtime

90 Minutes

Director

Zach Cregger