Resident Evil Village was reportedly going to include mermaids
Move over Ariel.
When working your way through Moreau’s watery swamp pit in Resident Evil Village, players were reportedly once set to encounter a range of new creatures, including mermaids. But as is to be expected from a Resident Evil game, these mermaids were not going to be the Disney princess versions akin to the likes of Ariel and her family. Rather, they were going to be a (literal) monstrous pain for Ethan Winters and players.
Reliable Resident Evil leaker Dusk Golem, who has a record of insider knowledge on the series' development, has shared more details on Moreau’s area within the game, as well as the enemies players would encounter there. When discussing the mermaid like enemies that were ultimately cut from the final release, Dusk Golem revealed:
"In the water they could swim for you quickly if [they] spotted you, and you had to get to patches of land or kill them successfully before they reached you.
"Even on land though they could be annoying and [would] do this screech attack which stunned you and slowed you down for a time. The screeching had a second purpose though, [as] the swamp had a stalker enemy in it."
So, what of this swamp stalker? Well, it certainly sounds like being hunted by this beast would be a lot less pleasurable than being followed by a certain tall vampire lady through the halls of Castle Dimitrescu.
"I had it described to me as, ‘a slimy sorta' Tyrant-like creature’," said Dusk Golem.
"[This creature had] ‘a giant acid sack around his neck and shoulders’, and when close, could either spew acid or use a clawed hand it had. The screeching of the mermaid monsters would also attract the stalker enemy [to the player], who by land pathways I guess [this stalker] was the main threat."
While Dusk Golem never had it confirmed who this acid spitting tyrant was, they assume it was going to be Moreau.
If evil mermaids and stalking tyrants weren’t enough to contend with, the swamp area in Village was also going to have the game’s Lycans and "witches" performing some kind of ritual in the area.
"There was one part [where] there was some Lycan & 'Witches' (Witches being basically what Dimitrescu's daughters are in the final but played a very different role earlier in dev) around a fire.
"They had items around their ritual site, and [players] could either sneak past them or fight them for the items."
Apparently, this content was all removed from Resident Evil Village to allow the team to focus more on Castle Dimitrescu and Heisenberg's factory.
This is a shame, as Moreau's area (as well as Moreau himself) is often considered one of the weaker points of the game. The inclusion of the above enemies would have added more dynamicity to the area, and certainly increased the overall sense of threat.
Perhaps these ideas may come back again in Resident Evil Village’s announced, but yet to be detailed, DLC... Watch this space.