It’s a good time to be a Resident Evil fan between the upcoming live-action movie and the recent Requiem game, but there’s also Resident Evil: Veronica to look forward to. A remake of Code Veronica, the original game is admittedly dated in several areas, including the problematic portrayal of the original game’s villain. Alfred Ashford. If you’re looking to enter the remake with fresh eyes, consider this to be your spoiler warning before you carry on reading.
In Code Veronica, players are menaced by Ashford during their imprisonment on Rockfort Island. Alfred happens to have two personalities, switching between himself and his sister, Alexia, during the campaign. When the Alexia personality takes over, she dresses the part, and at one point in the game, protagonist Claire Redfield refers to him as a “crossdressing freak” after learning the truth in the English localization of Code Veronica. The game also has several other unsavory implications with regard to Ashford’s relationship and co-dependence on his sister. Again, nothing is ever confirmed, just heavily implied.
When asked about this, Resident Evil: Veronica producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi addressed how Capcom is aiming to dig deeper into the characters that appear, while also respecting their differences in this reimagining of Code Veronica. Hirabayashi added that the original tone of Code Veronica was to tap into the darkest themes of being human, and that tone will be very prominent in the Veronica remake.
While that isn’t much of an answer, we did get more concrete responses to our other questions. Hirabayashi spilled the beans on why Capcom chose to remake Code Veronica and how the remake is being treated as a mainline game in the franchise. And in case you were wondering, yes, it is a third-person game from start to finish. Resident Evil: Veronica launches in 2027 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.