Fresh Resident Evil 6 details bleed in

By Tom Phillips Published 15 February, 2012

Who is the game's third protagonist?

Capcom has teased new details on its upcoming horror shooter Resident Evil 6, following its explosive reveal in last month's trailer.

The trailer raised a number of questions, namely the identity of the game's grumpy third protagonist, who was seen engaging zombies and mutants in bare-knuckle fighting.

"We're still trying to track down his real identity," Capcom wrote of the mysterious third character, playable alongside Resident Evil regulars Chris Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. "But we do know this man is a mercenary."

Sections involving the mercenary are set during a bloody Eastern European conflict where rampaging mutants are the norm. His partner, a blonde woman who looked a lot like Resident Evil 4's Ashley Graham, remains un-named.

Familiar face Chris Redfield is in China, meanwhile. We knew that already, but Capcom has now pinned down the action to Lanshiang, a fictional town on the Chinese coast.

Chris is apparently still recovering from a "personal trauma" experienced sixth months before the events of Resident Evil 6. Chris spends a lot of the trailer cursing an un-named woman for seemingly betraying him. Has his long-time partner Jill Valentine done something silly, again?

Resident Evil 6 is set in 2013, Capcom confirmed, clearing up some doubt over the issue. That's 15 years after Chris and Jill faced the original Resident Evil mansion in Raccoon City and four years since Chris' African adventure in Resident Evil 5.

Capcom's notes also confirm Leon's support officer as Resident Evil 4's Ingrid Hunnigan and his new partner Helena Harper as a government agent sworn to protect the President.

Also detailed is new regenerating zombie breed J'avo: a freshly designed biological weapon able to understand human speech and work in groups. Shoot a body part off and it'll regrow in a new mutated way, such as the huge red tentacle seen in the trailer, able to attack players sheltering in cover.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Inmediasress #1 3 months ago

    Why am I not excited by this?

  • anthonypappa #2 3 months ago

    bare knuckle fighting with a zombie.

    what if you punched a tooth?!

  • beelzebozo #3 3 months ago

    @Inmediasress
    Because it sounds shit. Zombies that understand speech and work in groups?

    A shame, because i'm really enjoying Revelations.

  • Markitron #4 3 months ago

    'Chris is apparently still recovering from a "personal trauma" experienced sixth months before the events of Resident Evil 6'

    Hopefully this referring to the death of sheva

  • Ace-Reject #5 3 months ago

    @beelzebozo i'm also enjoying Revelations but finding it to be a bit sloppy in places so i'm worried for 6

  • Nithron #6 3 months ago

    Aren't zombies that understand speech and work in groups just... people?

  • CORIANA_SIX #7 3 months ago

    mmm...resi :-P

  • bionic_v2 #8 3 months ago

    Those screen shots look great.

  • Architect_z #9 3 months ago

    Yeh i hate to agree with the negged ones, but the idea of zombies talking to each other is abit whack. I like the idea of blasting off a limb means they can turn it into something new, I think that'll create a dynamic twist to the action.

  • abigsmurf #10 3 months ago

    By the next gen, every franchise with a hint of action in it will be a cover shooter. Taking pot shots from cover at what looks like regular walking talking humans carrying guns simply lacks any scare factor.

    It's all well and good if Capcom say that the leon section of the game is more traditional horror but how can you be scared when you're picking them off with ease in the other two modes (which look like they're modelled around god of war and gears of war)?

  • Whitster #11 3 months ago

    So are we looking at full on world wide outbreak here then?

  • guernican #12 3 months ago

    "But we do know this man is a mercenary."
    The current state of the games industry illustrated in one sentence, ladies and gentlemen.

  • guernican #13 3 months ago

    Resident Evil 4's Ingrid Hunnigan
    And I'd so hoped for Wish You Were Here's Gloria Hunniford. Another gaming aspiration dashed.

  • whoyouknow #14 3 months ago

    "Who is the game's third protagonist?"

    The giraffe?

  • CloisterBlack #15 3 months ago

    "Because it sounds shit. Zombies that understand speech and work in groups?"

    They are not zombies, simple as that. The ganados and majini from 4 and 5 respectively could also speak and understand human speech, why is everyone suddenly making a big deal out of it. Heck, even Nemesis was somehow able to be given orders, since he was supposedly sent to kill S.T.A.R.S.

    Just pointing that out.

  • Srift #16 3 months ago

    Gonna be a great year for games. Mass Effect 3 demo was perfection...Binary Domain was actually a lot of fun and awesome graphics..and Resi 6 is going to be incredible no doubt.
    Edited by Srift at 15/02/12 @ 11:31

  • Architect_z #17 3 months ago

    @CloisterBlack

    Good point, they talked in 4 and 5.
    I think someone told me the zombies were going old school, and being slow brainless zombies in resi 6.
    Maybe he was wrong.
    But the zombies with guns in resi 5 was just a bad move altogether imo.

  • EvilAspirin #18 3 months ago

    @anthonypappa I think the 3rd protagonist is immune to the virus. It says in his bio that "One day, he's told that he is the man to save the world. Whilst he doesn't understand the implications of this, he does immediately think how much money he can make from it." I think they're after him to try and make a cure to save the human race.

    So as a result apart from perhaps bleeding a bit, punching a tooth won't do much to him.

  • anthonypappa #19 3 months ago

    @EvilAspirin : so, without the risk of being infected... they might as well be fighting regular humans?

    used to be a big resi fan, but don't like the sound of this. they already came out and said that they aspired to be like call of duty... jesus :lol:

    i'm looking forward to The Last Of Us. that should be more traditional survival horror. this looks just action orientated to be honest.

  • beelzebozo #20 3 months ago

    @CloisterBlack

    In fairness, the ganados and majini were also shit. 4 was a good game overall, but I can't rate it as highly as 1 or 2. I know that zombies have been done to death now (ho ho), but I still find changing them to be more human in the Resident Evil series to be less enthralling.

    @Ace-Reject

    I agree that Revelations isn't perfect. I like the gameplay for the most part, but the dialogue and scripting is dreadful.

  • keithwithteeth #21 3 months ago

    the personal trauma they are speaking of with chris..
    do they mean resident evil 5?
    i mean that was a shitty game i wouldn't be surprised..
    i'm still trying to recover from it.

  • EvilAspirin #22 3 months ago

    @anthonypappa Yeah, but the protagonists often have no risk of being infected, especially through bites in gameplay, they just risking being gnawed to death (Leon's infection in Resi 4 being an exception but orchestrated in a cutscene). Your main risk will be a group overwhelming you, just like it has been for the last couple of games.

    I too used to like Resi and while RE5 was OK, I can't say I'm overly looking forward to RE6. The Last of Us may be the last hope for the survival horror genre.

  • Kami #23 3 months ago

    Seems like the zombies are more mutants now - which makes sense, seeing the same variant of the virus makes the lickers, hunters and other assorted monstrosities, I always did wonder how in one person it made a basic run of the mill zombie and in another it made a licker with a tongue so long that it bordered on the disturbing side of tentacle shenanigans. Heck, even in Revelations, the virus is a variant of the T-Virus from the original games, put into those sea wormy things. It does make sense in a way.

    However, despite that and despite the feeling that Resi 6 is more of a crescendo of the series - you know, a big event that has been kept secret-ish for a while now goes very public - I am, like others, wondering about this idea of the mutants communicating. I know, I know, they'll explain it away through pheromones like in Code Veronica, or sound waves like in Resi 4, but it does seem odd. I'll grant people that.

    But it looks good and sounds like it is as game that ties up a lot of loose ends - there is still a lot of questions to some of the cast. If the Merc has a blonde assistant, and so does Leon - Leon would probably be Ashley, on the run for shooting Mr Zombie President of the USA. The mercenary... good question. New character? Sherry Birkin? I guess we'll find out in a few months time.

    Revelations is as good an example as I need to feel Capcom are back on the right track though... and I have to say, as much as I loved the old Mercenary modes, I adore and love and applaud and am hopelessly addicted to the Raid Mode in Revelations. That is a fantastic bonus mode. More of that would make me a very, very happy person.

  • CloisterBlack #24 3 months ago

    @Architect_z
    There will be old school zombies as well, the "zombies-who-can-understand-human-speech" are a specific type of enemy, a new one, the "J'avo" (that thing with the many eyes)

    @beelzebozo
    I feel the same for those games you mentioned :) , but I was just pointing out the fact that they have done talking enemies before.

  • stryker1121 #25 3 months ago

    My worry for this is a seeming lack of gameplay focus- 3 different playstyles for the 3 different characters in an attempt to satiate old Resi players while drawing in new ones.

  • FenderMaster #26 3 months ago

    I hope the monsters are scary. Revelations and 5 had nothing on a par with the Regenerators, those Blind guys with the claws or the monster that hunted you through the sewers. Nemesis was the only other scary enemy in the series imo.

  • Ichi-nii #27 3 months ago

    Chris is apparently still recovering from a "personal trauma" experienced sixth months before the events of Resident Evil 6. Chris spends a lot of the trailer cursing an un-named woman for seemingly betraying him. Has his long-time partner Jill Valentine done something silly, again?
    Did Chris finally learn that Jill doesn't swallow?

  • kinky_mong #28 3 months ago

    I was excited for this when I saw the trailer for the first time. However Revelations is boring me to tears, Operation Raccoon City looks appalling from gameplay videos, and the more I hear about the game the worse it sounds.

    I think 2012 is the year the Resi franchise truly gets irreversibly ruined.