Resident Evil Requiem is one of this year’s biggest hits, and Capcom plans to build on that success with new story DLC. While it hasn’t yet revealed when it’ll be out or what it’s about, one of the game’s writers, Haris Orkin, recently teased that the DLC will shed new light on Oswell E. Spencer, one of the biggest villains in the Resident Evil series.
“I think villains honestly are really fun to write, because I usually see every villain as a hero of their own story. So the villain is like in their mind they’re a hero,” Orkin said in an interview with the Distance Nerding podcast. I mean, Victor Gideon thinks he’s going to save the world in Requiem. We have an arc for Spencer in Requiem. “Where you understand that more. And then in the DLC you will understand that even further. I probably shouldn’t say that, but yeah.”
Resident Evil Requiem spoilers below
Compared to his appearances in previous Resident Evil games, Oswell E. Spencer is more sympathetic, harboring genuine regret for his role in establishing the Umbrella Corporation, his research on the Progenitor Virus, and his ambitious goal of remaking the world with his bioweapons. As revealed in Requiem–and spoilers if you haven’t played it yet–Spencer adopted a baby girl called Grace in 2001, and he successfully developed the powerful antiviral Elpis so that he could eliminate all Progenitor-based viral weapons, as part of his mission to atone for his sins.
That version of Spencer is narratively at odds with the version we see in Resident Evil 5, as before his death in 2006 at the hands of Albert Wesker, he was a bit of a bastard who apparently still harbored delusions of grandeur and had started work on a new virus to help him become immortal.
Then again, Capcom has been rewriting Resident Evil lore with its remakes, and this new version of Spencer is arguably more fascinating than a stereotypical mustache-twirling villain. While we don’t know if Capcom plans to eventually make Resident Evil 5–one of the more controversial entries in the series–it’ll be interesting to see if Spencer succumbs to his ambitions once again before Wesker finishes him off.
Since its launch, Capcom has updated Resident Evil Requiem with some photography tools and a new “Leon Must Die” mode. Resident Evil producer Jun Takeuchi also spoke about the meaning behind the title, adding to the confusion. Following the blockbuster success of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil movie, the next entry in the video game series is out soon. The remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica launches in 2027.