After a challenging and tumultuous three years, Resident Evil: ReVerse will shut down on June 29, bringing an end to the multiplayer third-person PvP shooter. If you're only now hearing about the game for the first time, you're not alone!
Resident Evil: ReVerse was a free bonus for anyone who purchased Resident Evil: Village. It was an additional 25th Anniversary gift for fans — a hero-shooter version of Resident Evil, where players could choose from iconic characters and battle each other online.
On paper, it was a clever concept, one that had the potential to attract hardcore Resident Evil fans. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to expectations. The game turned out to be a barebones, uninspired experience, which felt more like filler — or worse, a cash grab for Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise.
Few players engaged with it, and those who did found little enjoyment.
Critics and players alike criticized the game's lackluster take on the PvP multiplayer genre. As a result, Capcom was forced to remove it from digital storefronts and spent a year attempting to fix it. Or so it seemed. The game languished in what could be described as "Capcom purgatory."
Eventually, the game came out and the developers addressed some issues, including the game's clunky cel-shaded art style, improving its playability. However, it was too little, too late. The Resident Evil hype train had slowed, and many who finished Resident Evil: Village had already forgotten about ReVerse.
Now, the game is being shut down. By March 3, Resident Evil: ReVerse will be delisted from online stores, and any purchasable DLCs will be removed. On June 29, the game’s servers will officially shut down, and ReVerse will no longer be included in any Resident Evil: Village pack.
This marks yet another example of Capcom attempting to capitalize on its franchise through a multiplayer format that doesn't resonate with players. A similar fate befell Resident Evil: Resistance, another multiplayer game bundled with Resident Evil 3 Remake. Resistance, an asymmetrical horror game inspired by titles like Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th, showed promise but ultimately failed to capture a lasting audience, with support ending within a year of its release.
With Resident Evil: ReVerse shutting down, Capcom would do well to reconsider its approach to multiplayer games. Perhaps titles like Mercenaries or Outbreak could find a better reception, but for now, these multiplayer experiments seem to fall short of what Resident Evil fans truly want.