Capcom is currently sailing in the success of the eighth mainlineResident Evilgame.Resident Evil Villageis now the fastest-sellingResident Evilgame of all time, though the game’s real success lies in its ability to surprise long-time fans as well as newcomers. From a technical point of view,Resident EvilVillagedoes plenty of things right, and has avoided some of the pitfalls that other AAA games of late have suffered. All of this bodes well, especially for Capcom’s upcoming new IPPragmata.
Pragmatais the one of the most mysterious upcoming games from Capcom. Its cryptic reveal trailer did little to explain what the game is all about, which led many to comparePragmatawith Kojima Production’sDeath Stranding.Pragmatais targeting a 2023 release window, so it could be a while before fans get a decent look at the game, although looking atResident Evil Villageand other recent Capcom games reveals a lot about this upcoming new mysterious IP.
RELATED:Resident Evil Village: All the Callbacks to RE4
A Highly Polished Launch
This past generation has seen a massive increase in unoptimized broken AAA game releases, all of which is followed by a humungous day zero or day one patch. It is mainly because AAA game development has become more complex, with many developers striving to makemassive open-world experiences. Live service games have become increasingly popular as well.
On the other hand, Capcom remains focused on making relatively small, if not entirely linear, video games that feature hand-crafted environments and are polished at launch.Resident Evil Villagehad the most stable AAA launch from a third-party publisher in a while, with a day one patch less than 500 MB in size. That is surprisingly low compared to day one patches for other third-party games, which are sometimes even larger than the game’s original size.
Resident Evil Villageis an absolutely gorgeous game with hand-crafted environments that look almost life-like. Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X version of the game boasts next-gen features such asinstant loading time, raytracing, and 60 FPS. It’s important to acknowledge thatResident Evil Villagetargets 45 FPS with raytracing enabled on both the next-gen devices but achieves near-constant 60 FPS on both of them, something that not many other next-gen third-party AAA games are able to achieve.
Resident Evil Villageisn’t the only Capcom game that launched in such a polished state with such impeccable visuals. 2019’sDevil May Cry 5and its next-gen variantswere equally optimized at launch as well. While the information onPragmatais scarce at the moment, all these details from Capcom’s recent titles indicate thatPragmatacould have a similarly polished launch that doesn’t rely on a massive day one patch to fix it afterward.
Doing What They Do Best
Whereas most third-party game companies caved into makes games that would attract a wider audience, Capcom continues to do what they do best. In the last few years, the company has released hugely successful sequels to its decades-old franchises, and it’s finally gearing up to release a new IP. It’s important to acknowledge that Capcom could makePragmataa massive open-world game or a live service game that adheres to modern gaming norms, instead, it seems to be sticking to its guns.
Pragmata’sofficial PlayStation store description calls it a brand new sci-fi “action adventure game from Capcom, the creators ofResident EvilandDevil May Cry.” It’s necessary to acknowledgePragmata’sconnection toResident EvilandDevil May Cry, as it would be carrying the DNA of these highly successful franchises. BothResident EvilandDevil May Cryare quirky on their own, andResident Evil Villageproves that Capcom is sticking to its strengths. All of this seems promising forPragmata, that just likeResident Evil Village, could be bizarre in Capcom’s sense of style, featuring hand-crafted labyrinth-like set pieces, breath-taking visuals, and a polished day-one experience that Capcom fans have grown to expect from the company in the last few years.
Resident Evil Villageis now available onPC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Capcom’s Pragmata is Taking a Very Death Stranding-Like Approach to Marketing
