Resident Evil Village: Mercenaries Mode is Back!

Resident Evil Village

For 25 years now, the Resident Evil series has stood - sometimes more, sometimes less - for horror and horror in video games. Part 7 in particular took a path that made the players' knees shake again with its ego point of view.

But that was not really right for some fans who had got used to the more action-packed parts. Resident Evil Village, which will be released on May 7th for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series and Xbox One, nonetheless retains the perspective of its predecessor and wants to continue to scare you. Still, action fans don't have to be sad because - hurray! - Resident Evil Village also has something in store for action lovers.

Resident Evil - The Mercenaries

With Resident Evil Village (buy now), a game mode celebrates its return that many fans had in its predecessor missed: the mercenaries fashion. Since the third offshoot of the series, it has actually been an integral part of the main series and always expands the games with a fun and action-packed minigame, which you can usually unlock after playing through the campaigns once.

Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I agree that external content can be displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. In Mercenaries you are detached from the rest of the game in different areas of the game world. Your goal is to kill as many monsters as possible before a timer runs out or before you run out of time. You can use special skills such as the knife attack or collectibles on the map to extend your remaining time. The monsters are getting more and more powerful - so you slowly climb up from simple cattle to hard chunks.

The opponents in the game vary depending on the level. Source: Capcom After the mode paused in Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Capcom is now bringing it back. But instead of just offering a copy of the earlier versions, the developers have also come up with a few new features.

Item shop, skills & customization - these are the new features in mercenaries mode

The first small innovation concerns the process itself. It is still about driving the highscore up by riveting monsters. Instead of always being out and about in one area, you now fulfill smaller challenges like "defeat 15 monsters". Once you've done that, an exit will appear that will take you to the next level and the next area.

At the dealer you can buy equipment, new weapons or weapon upgrades after each level. Source: Capcom The new item shop also comes into play. If you have survived an area, you will always stop by the stout dealer that Capcom presented at the last showcase and who is also part of the campaign.

You can squander the money you have earned through kills and with him prepare yourself for the next level. In the shop you will find, among other things, medicits, but also new weapons that better suit your playing style.

But instead of simply buying all weapons and walking through the areas armed to the teeth at the end, you can Upgrade your weapons now too. With the help of the new customization option, you can find out for yourself in the various stages which weapon suits you best. So that it doesn't degenerate into a pea gun with tougher opponents, you increase various values ​​such as damage, stability and the size of your magazine.

Once you have picked up a skill pick-up, you can choose from different skills. Source: Capcom You can pimp not only your weapons, but also yourself - the magic word here is: "Skills". It's not completely new, after all, there were special skills in the Mercenaries mode of Resident Evil 6. But you could only select them before starting the levels. This time you collect your skills as pick-ups in the areas. You are not limited to one skill, but can choose from three bonuses. These include helpful things such as higher damage at a distance or a health boost when you shoot enemies with your gun. Together with the weapon improvement, each playthrough can be highly personalized and adapted to your preferences.

The Mercenaries mode of Resident Evil Village, like its predecessors, is aimed primarily at high score hunters who are after the campaign want to keep busy. Capcom generally puts together a comprehensive package for them. Finally, every buyer of the eighth part of the horror series gets the multiplayer offshoot Resident Evil Re: Verse for free. How we liked it so far, you can read in our preview from the alpha.