Resident Evil 4 Remake Adding A Franchise Favorite Villain?
Long-running bad guy Albert Wesker is reported to be appearing in the remake of Resident Evil 4.
The remake of 2005’s Resident Evil 4 is perhaps one of the most anticipated gaming releases scheduled for 2023, and for a good reason—the original stands as the best Resident Evil game that revolutionized the third-person shooter/survival horror genre. Most recent rumors surrounding the remake now suggest that the franchise’s villain, Albert Wesker, is making an appearance. Many believe that Wesker didn’t show up in the original game, but that’s actually not true—he made several appearances in Resident Evil 4, though his role in the narrative was sporadic.
Albert Wesker’s appearance was discovered on Resident Evil 4’s IMDb page, listing Connor Fogarty as the voice actor behind the legendary villain. This is the same actor that voiced Wesker in Dead by Daylight’s crossover with the Resident Evil franchise. However, it’s important to note that IMDb listings have been wrong in the past, so the game’s fandom, along with Fogarty’s fans, should take this information with a grain of salt because Wesker’s appearance in the remake wasn’t yet officially confirmed by the game’s developer.
Albert Wesker has been a major character in the Resident Evil franchise since its very inception. He was introduced in the original Resident Evil game as part of the investigative team sent to Raccoon City, but it was eventually revealed that his allegiances lie with the infamous Umbrella Corporation. He has since appeared as a villainous figure in many Resident Evil games and has seemingly died in several of them, only to reappear in some of the subsequent releases. Since his importance in the series can’t be overstated, killing him off simply isn’t viable.
Many believe that the character hasn’t appeared in Resident Evil 4, and that’s factual information as long as the game’s main narrative is concerned. However, the game’s protagonist, Leon S. Kennedy, runs into Ada Wong, a covert operative for shadowy organizations, several times during the course of the game, not knowing that she’s operating under direct orders from Wesker. All of this isn’t addressed in Resident Evil 4’s mainline story.
But the game shipped with a complementary narrative titled Separate Ways, which is unlocked by completing the main game.
Separate Ways is entirely focused on Ada Wong’s role in the mainline narrative, where it’s revealed that she’s operating under Albert Wesker’s orders. Wesker’s appearances are limited to video communication with Ada only, but his influence on the overarching narrative of Resident Evil 4 is substantial. With that said, it’s currently unknown whether the remake of Resident Evil 4 will contain the Separate Ways narrative or if Wesker is appearing in an entirely different capacity.
Unfortunately, Capcom is pretty tight-lipped regarding its upcoming release, which is scheduled to launch on March 24, 2023. The game was initially scheduled to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but Capcom decided to develop Resident Evil 4 for PlayStation 4 as well, given the absence of the newer console from the console market—a shortage that’s coming to an end, according to Sony. No Xbox One copy of the game was ever announced since the console was officially discontinued.
