JBoc924Despite not getting an “official” announcement confirming Resident Evil 6, fans of Capcom’s classic survival horror series were still treated to a solid showing of next year’s Resident Evil Revelations for the 3DS. Yeah, we didn’t really get to see footage of a brand-new demo, but we did get a new trailer showcasing yet another new addition to the game’s growing cast: the mysterious Rachel. Said trailer was packed with a strong dose of horror– something that’s been missing in Resident Evil as of late. So, even if you’re not too fond of Rachel from what we’ve seen of her, very exposing appearance, you know that at least her story will be a very horrifying one.
What I’ll be doing in this analysis is something a bit differently than my previous ones, since there’s also an extended version of this trailer that still hasn’t been released for all to view by Capcom. So, on top of doing the traditional analysis (complete with screen- caps for your viewing pleasure) on the trailer we did get to see, I’m also going to be putting in my two cents on the extended cut of this trailer that was shown behind-closed-doors at TGS– going from what IGN reported. So, having said that, let’s begin!
You’re being watched, Rachel. Right off the bat, we see Rachel going through a storage area that looks really similar to the one Jill was seen traversing in the game’s E3 2011 trailer. We even get to see the white substance that Jill sees in here as well, but we’ll get to that part in a bit. What’s most important here is that Rachel is in communications with someone on the outside. It seems like she’s on a mission, looking for “something.” She definitely doesn’t belong to the BSAA as we’ll see later.
But this particular shot is much more than just a screen-cap showing off clever camera work. Here we see, from the point of view of a BOW, Rachel being stalked. And as we’ll soon see, the BOW finally comes out of hiding to attack her, after she discover the little…surprise that was left for her.
This BOW sure was extremely “excited” at the sight of Rachel going through that door. He’s left visible, tangible proof of that excitement as well. Here we see Rachel examining (in classic Resident Evil fashion!) the white substance that’s associated with the game’s new water-based BOWs. As I speculated in a previous trailer analysis, I believe that this is how said BOWs make their way around the ship, in their completely liquid form making it easy for them go through vents and other small openings.
And since here we have a nice shot of Rachel, I’m going to take this chance to share my brief thoughts of her actual design. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: yeah, she’s really showing off her “assets” with that attire of hers. Aside from that, though, is the annoying, infuriating way her hair is styled. Seriously, how in the blue hell could she have a proper view of what’s in front of her with a whole part of her hair covering her face? Regardless of this absurd design choice, she just looks like someone who isn’t exactly on the side of good (perhaps working for the Organization?) and perhaps her gear (or lack thereof) represents someone who was expecting an easy mission where she would just have to go into the ship, retrieve something, and call it a day. While the BSAA is sent in there with actual situationally appropriate gear to do what their mission entails: put an end to this BOW threat.
Here’s a shot that helps prove what I speculated above: that Rachel was not expecting to “see untold horrors” on this mission, as the title card appropriately indicates. Not just that, but this shot (as well as some of the following ones) strongly suggests that we’ll be playing as Rachel in what’s definitely shaping up to be a prologue to the the Chris and Jessica/Jill and Parker-focused events we’ve been exposed to already.
What’s pretty evident about Rachel’s scenario is that it’s going to be jam-packed with intense horrifying moments, like this particular chase sequence. Rachel isn’t really packing much heat, like the BSAA operatives in the game are, so her scenario is definitely going to be one true survival horror experience. One that’s most likely not going to end well as we’ll soon see. Or I could be wrong about this and this may all play out as one lengthy cut-scene serving as the game’s intro. Hey, now that I think of it, it could happen either way, but we’ll have to wait and see!
Some luck, huh? Seems like Rachel here is unfortunately out of ammo. This serves as yet another source of proof that whoever sent Rachel on this mission didn’t exactly tell her all the specifics– perhaps intentionally or because her higher-ups weren’t aware of this virus spreading within the ship as well, but if it’s in fact the Organization then I’m pretty sure they were aware. Again, this may not be a playable segment, but it still invokes horror and desperation nonetheless as Rachel will now have to find a way to down the BOWs in front of her– which are the same ones we’ve already seen countless times. Which she kinda does (not really) by throwing her handgun at one of them.
As we’ve seen many times via screens and previous trailers, this particular cruise ship is very, very aesthetically similar to the classic mansion from the first game, or more specifically (due to graphics) the remake– or at least some parts of it are. Like this one area, for example. Everything from the confining nature of it to the pictures framed on the wall, and even the wallpaper itself, reminds me of certain halls from the mansion in the remake. Now, on to Rachel’s continuing battle for survival!
And the chase continues. The BOW here is just having such a jolly ol’ gay time, while poor little Rachel is wishing she never took on this mission in the first place. Once again, we see many aesthetic similarities to Trevor’s design for the original mansion. Did he also lend a hand in the design of the ship’s interior prior to his death? Who knows. But it definitely goes a long way in establishing Revelations as the game that will bring back what’s been missing in the series as of late: true survival horror.
He just doesn’t give up, does he? After running into an elevator, thinking she would be safe, the relentless BOW continues to go after Rachel. This elevator ride seemingly ends in the laboratory we’ve seen Rachel already in via a screenshot in which she’s being held up by presumably this same BOW. There she’s seen about to be the victim of quite a fatality, but somehow she manages to survive as we see in the following shot which brings back my speculation of Rachel not being part of the BSAA and helps justify that what we saw before will serve as a prologue to the main events that will unfold in the game.
Ah, yes. Here’s miss Valentine looking quite sexy– as is always the case (am I weird?). Jill has just informed her partner, Parker, that she’s found a survivor. We know the survivor’s Rachel–further signifying that what we saw her go through will serve as the game’s prologue of sorts– but here’s the funny thing: Jill doesn’t even bother checking for any signs of life coming from this “survivor,” she just automatically assumes she’s alive. And, by the looks of Rachel post-BOW attack, it doesn’t really look like she has much life left in her. (Just look at that blood on the glass where her head was bashed against!) Well, at least it isn’t as bad as when Rebecca asked Richard if he was okay, when the dude had a giant hole in his chest filled with poison, compliments of Yawn. But anyway, let’s go back on track here.
This is why I definitely believe that Rachel isn’t part of the BSAA, because while she has been quite brutalized, Jill would’ve still recognized her had she been part of her same faction. Turns out this isn’t the case, though. So, where does Rachel’s loyalty lie? I strongly believe it has to be the Organization. There’s quite a few factors that lend themselves quite nicely to this belief. First you got the fact that Rachel’s been put on this mission to possibly find someone or something, retrieve it, and report back. Then, with this trailer, we get the sense that Rachel was most definitely not expecting to find anything along the lines of what she’s found aboard the ship, so she wasn’t exactly given a very detailed briefing. But like I said before, perhaps even the ones who sent her weren’t aware of the virus’ progress within the ship. Lastly, we got Raymond Vester (another new, recently revealed character). We know he serves the Organization, but we don’t know his actual motives for being inside that ship. Perhaps he was sent to rescue Rachel, or maybe he was just sent to do what she couldn’t.
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Now I’m going to be breaking down the extra scenes IGN, amongst other sites, reported as being part of the extended cut version of this TGS trailer, which was unfortunately restricted to a behind-closed-doors showing. So, logically, the following images aren’t from said extended trailer, they’re from previous ones and actual screens we’ve seen already.
One of the first major additions that this extended trailer features is another look at the gas-masked man who’s at the head of Veltro. We see him roaming throughout the ship searching for something. He then makes a stop near many downed bodies. He kneels over one of the corpses and injects a syringe into its neck. Then said corpses come back to life. Yes, zombies! The image above may be what this classic enemy ends up looking like in Revelations, but keep in mind that this image is from the game’s announcement trailer at E3 2011, so things may have changed since then, design-wise. But still, it’s nice to know that there’s a strong possibility that our classic zombies will be making a return in the game. But how exactly will they factor into things, when taking the new virus into consideration?
It’s not known what exactly was in the syringe that the Veltro leader injected into the corpse, but it’s safe to assume it was, in fact, the T-Abyss virus. We already know what it could do to sea creatures– and regular people as we’ve seen with the now familiar regenerator-looking BOW– by way of the Veltro head’s neat little demonstration in the game’s Gamescom 2011 trailer, but now it seems that it also has a significant effect on the dead. Hopefully we do get some classic zombie action and more exposure to them via future media, because, quite frankly, I think we should definitely be shown more than just the aforementioned, regenerator-looking liquidy BOWs that we’ve seen many, many times thus far.
Then we have IGN reporting that we also get to see what seems to be Rachel hallucinating. It’s not clear how this will play out in the trailer, since we haven’t seen it ourselves, but it’ stated that the decor around Rachel changes to match that which we’ve seen Jill go through in the game’s E3 2011 demo– which looks a lot like the classic mansion. So, could hallucinations play a part in Revelations? Judging from this report, it seems like it may actually come into play, which is quite welcome since we were originally expecting to get a similar mechanic with Resident Evil 5, by way of heat-induced hallucinations. That didn’t happen, of course, but hey, it could happen here.
Then we see exactly what ends up happening to Rachel once the original trailer cuts to Jill. Well, let’s just say Rachel gets the holy hell beaten out of her by the BOW’s large, spiked fist. And she also gets her head smashed against glass numerous times, before finally being knocked out and then leading to how Jill finds her in the original trailer’s closing scene. I’m actually quite interested in seeing how Rachel survives such a brutal beat-down, maybe those “assets” of hers granted her special, regenerative abilities.
The extended trailer then ends on quite a very high, and mysterious, note.
At the end of the extended TGS 2011 trailer we get to, once again, see Veltro’s leader. We see him enter the room we’ve seen that mysterious man tied to the chair in. Then we find out that this prisoner is none other than Chris himself. But is it really him? Veltro’s head honcho goes on to tell “Chris” that “the show is about to begin.” It’s quite obvious that this Hunk look-alike is planning something huge for the BSAA, with Chris having to play a huge role in it, whether the prisoner we see here is him or not. This, of course, brings back the whole cloning business, especially since we’ve seen Chris partnered up with Jessica already. Unless, of course, their snowy scenario and their arrival on the ship takes place well before Jill and Parker make it there. If this is to be the case then it’ll definitely explain Chris’ last radio transmission coming from that ship– which is what Jill and Parker are working from.
But perhaps the T-Abyss virus can also lead to shape-shifting, which would be a move reminiscent of Gaiden– which also happened to take place within a ship. Said portable entry had a BOW threat that could take on the form of someone else, so perhaps we’re going to see that trait make a return in Revelations. It would definitely add a whole layer of complexity and a sense of “who’s who” to the game’s overall plot, but then again, why complain? Now, if you were to ask me, I would tell you that this prisoner is actually Chris, somehow, but that’s just what I think. And yeah, I know, I know, I fondly recall the end scene in the game’s E3 2010 trailer where we seemingly get to see the tied down man speak– with a heavy accent, sprouting theories of it possible being Krauser. Regardless, I still believe that that particular segment was clever editing at its finest, with us being lead to believe that the same person tied down to the chair was the one speaking. So, yeah, it could still end up being Chris.
Hopefully you all gathered some new insight with my analysis of the game’s TGS 2011 trailer (along with what we’ve read was included in the extended version). Did I miss anything here? If so, let me know in the comments below. Also, make sure to leave your own thoughts of this new trailer below. I’ve already went on long enough about it, now it’s your turn. Hope you all have a good week!
