Resident Evil Village is bringing back The Mercenaries for first-person arcade action

Resident Evil Village
(Image credit: Capcom)

Resident Evil Village The Mercenaries is officially part of the game, reviving the fast-paced arcade action mode after it was absent from the last numbered title.

Capcom highlighted Resident Evil Village The Mercenaries in its big Resident Evil Showcase, bringing in game director Morimasa Sato to introduce the returning mode and what's new for Village. It still sets players on combo-counting, time-limited rampages through environments pulled from the standard story mode, but it also infuses the action with some fresh changes that should make for even more replayability.

For starters, you'll be able to head to The Duke's Emporium to go shopping between stages. He'll sell you helpful supplies and weapons, and you'll also be able to upgrade your weapons to fit your playstyle for each run. On top of that, you'll be able to find artifacts out in the field that let you choose new abilities: a few of the examples Capcom showed off during the demo included increasing your movement speed, more damaging long-distance attacks, slight HP recovery when attacking, with a gun, and beyond.

Sato said Resident Evil Village The Mercenaries will be full of surprises and special rewards "for players who persevere," so it sounds like you'll have plenty to work toward beyond the satisfaction of honing your perfect vampire-slaying build.

Before re-introducing The Mercenaries, Capcom debuted a new story trailer for Resident Evil Village as well as another demo coming this weekend on PlayStation.

Hopefully Resident Evil Village will be an instant lock for our list of the best horror games as soon as it arrives in May. 

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

Read more
Resident Evil ReVerse
The Resident Evil deathmatch game that flopped is going offline as Capcom says it's "served its original, celebratory purpose admirably"
Best Resident Evil games - Resident Evil Village's Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters Cassandra, Daniela, and Bela
The 10 best Resident Evil games of all time
Resident Evil timeline - Resident Evil 5
Brand-new Resident Evil 5 and 6 ESRB ratings have survival horror fans wondering what the heck Capcom is doing
Resident Evil 2
27 years later, Resident Evil 2 speedrunners get the "single most needed" quality of life mod, and the fastest world records are already being cut in half
Three Specialists in Killing Floor 3 holding up their weapons
I had to break Killing Floor 3's first multiplayer beta in order to survive, but don't expect this strategy to work again
Resident Evil Remake screenshot of STARS in the Spencer Mansion lobby
10 games like Resident Evil to scare you silly
Latest in Survival Horror
Silent Hill f screenshot showing the protagonist
Silent Hill f hasn't actually been banned in Australia, but it's not out of the woods yet
Silent Hill f art showing a person covered in plants
Silent Hill f has been pre-emptively banned in Australia, with no reason given for the 'refused classification' rating
Silent Hill 2
Famed Silent Hill artist Masahiro Ito, creator of Pyramid Head, says scrapped concepts of freaky creatures "still exist in my mind" and "their children may be" used in future titles
Silent Hill f: A close-up on Hinako Shimizu's face during the reveal trailer for the new Silent Hill game.
Silent Hill f: Everything we know about the new survival horror game
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Silent Hill 2 Remake devs spent many hours "watching, reading, discussing" fan theories about the iconic Labyrinth level and wanted to "incorporate as many" of them as possible
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Silent Hill 2 remake dev says Bloober played up the original's iconic toilet scene to punish its protagonist for being a bad husband: "The theme here is disgust"
Latest in News
Dune Awakening
Dune Awakening launches for $50 without a stay in early access, and while the survival MMO "will not have a monthly subscription" it will have "optional" paid DLC
Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton in Hawkeye
Linda Cardellini cast as Jason's mom, the original Friday the 13th killer, for Crystal Lake prequel series
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red won't make survival games just because they're popular, but Netflix's Edgerunners anime is fueling dreams bigger than RPGs
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot showing female protagonist Naoe
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe actor was terrified to perform until her first mocap scene earned "a standing ovation" on set: "Maybe I can do this mocap thing"
Daredevil: Born Again
Marvel may have just sneakily confirmed one of the biggest Daredevil: Born Again fan theories
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Yasuke actor says that Naoe could beat his samurai in a fight: “Especially with that big a** helmet of mine”