Resident Evil Village Gold Edition: Every Major New Feature Explained

Too often, the special editions of video games aren't worth the added price. Despite sometimes costing as much as $20 or $30 more than the standard copy (or even more than that), these re-releases often only offer new character skins or other insignificant add-ons that could be earned in the main game. If you're worried this might be the case for "Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition," don't be. Compared to most special edition games, this title offers a great amount of added value to the eighth installment to the "Resident Evil" franchise. 

A week ahead of the "Gold Edition" Oct. 28 release date, Capcom dove deeper into many of the game's brand new features in its "Resident Evil Showcase 2022 Livestream." If nothing else, the game developers were able to make one thing very clear: Players willing to spend the extra bucks necessary to buy the "Gold Edition" are going to get their money's worth. 

While third-person mode and the upgrades to The Mercenaries are both worthy additions, the main attraction is the DLC, "Shadows of Rose." This new chapter in the Winter's story flashes forward to the epilogue at the end of "Village," where Ethan and Mia's daughter Rose is a 16-year-old trying to better understand her own unique abilities. 

"She's trying to get rid of her unwanted powers," Kinoshita said during the showcase, "but to do that, she is forced to return to the origin of her misfortune." This is, of course, referring to the setting of "Village." Getting an entire DLC from the perspective of Rose is certainly exciting, since many have been curious as to what the youngest Winters' powers are and where her story is headed.

Kinoshita stated that the setting for "Shadows of Rose" is the "Realm of Consciousness." What does that mean? Well, it seems that the developers are taking a more cerebral approach to the horror in this expansion. "The word 'nightmare' is synonymous with fear," he said. "For instance, if you've ever had a childhood fever that caused a nightmare, even if they only last for an instant, like the feeling of being attacked by a giant doll, or something else similarly so unrealistic, can remain as a fragment of a memory for the rest of your life." As such, Rose will face many nightmarish, dream-like enemies.

Believe it or not, camera perspective has played a very important role in the history of the "Resident Evil" franchise. The first few games featured fixed camera angles that often made them difficult to navigate. The transition to the smoother, over the shoulder POV in "Resident Evil 4" redefined third-person shooters for generations. It's a large part of the reason "RE 4" is considered one of the greatest horror games of all time. It also led to the franchise adopting this perspective for every game until Ethan Winters was first introduced in "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard." Now, it seems that gamers will get to see the man with no face in a brand new light.

During the 2022 "Resident Evil" Showcase, the director of the "Winters" expansion, Kento Kinoshita, talked about several of the new features that the team was adding. He explained that although Capcom believes that the first-person perspective is more immersive for a horror game (since it feels like the player is experiencing it with their own eyes), others might either feel too afraid or dizzy to enjoy it from this perspective. For these reasons, the team has created a third person mode that has a classic, over the shoulder POV. And this new mode should give everyone a good reason to replay the game all over again.

Players shouldn't hold out hope that they'll finally get a look at Ethan's face, however. The developers deliberately made it so that Ethan will look away if players ever try to angle the camera in order to get a good look at him.

"The Mercenaries" is a game mode that allows players attempt to kill as many enemies as possible within the time limit. Iterations of this minigame have appeared in "Resident Evil 3," "4," "5," and "6," but the version present in "Village" changed things up a bit by giving the players multiple stages to clear in order to proceed.

During the showcase, Kinoshita revealed that players will now be able to play as several popular characters from the campaign in "The Mercenaries." Chris Redfield, Karl Heisenberg, and Alcina Dimitrescu were among the playable characters were shown during the event. Chris might not be a surprise, since players already got to play as him during a segment of the campaign and might have enjoyed his more militaristic combat style and weapon set, but Kinoshita said that the villainous Lords were chosen because of their unique abilities. "Playing as them allows you to perform amazing skills and attacks that a regular human could not," he explained. Footage aired during the showcase showed Heisenberg using his massive hammer, shooting lightning from his hand and summoning Soldat allies. Meanwhile, Dimitrescu uses her claw-like fingers and summons her vampiric daughters, among other otherworldly abilities.

Kinoshita also went on to describe adjustments his team made to the gameplay. He said that enemies are now more aggressive, so that they will now chase after players who are attempting to escape. This tweak makes "The Mercenaries" into a more fast-paced gameplay experience than it was in the previous version.

In addition to all of the major gaming upgrades that are coming with the "Gold Edition," there will also be a few more subtle bonuses. For one thing, players will get the Street Wolf Outfit for Rose. This hoodie and beanie combo makes for a much more casual look for the protagonist of the "Shadows of Rose" DLC, although the description notes that it will appear in the expansion only, not in the original epilogue for Village.

Xbox and PlayStation players who buy the "Gold Edition" will also get the Trauma Pack, which comes with new safe room music, an exlusive weapon charm, the Samurai Edge – AW Model-01 handgun, a few other "Resident Evil 7"-centric bonuses, and the ability to instantly unlock the "Village of Shadows" difficulty level. Fans of "RE 7" will no doubt recognize the Samurai Edge as the the handgun developed by Albert Wesker for combating bioweapons. It's most notably used by Ethan used at the end of the game to kill Eveline.

So, players wary of overly-expensive special edition games can rest at ease when it comes to "Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition." You'll be getting some absolute bang for your buck.