Zombies in Resident Evil
Zombies (ゾンビ, Zonbi) are recurring antagonists within the fictional universe of Japanese video game company Capcom's multimedia franchise Resident Evil, known in Japan as Biohazard.
The zombies are usually created by biological weaponry, genetic manipulation, or parasitic symbiosis, unlike the corporeal revenants with mythological and supernatural origins common in other works of horror and fantasy.
[3] For Resident Evil 4, Los Ganados ("The Cattle" in Spanish), which have variously been described as "zombie-like non-zombies" or "very-zombie-like-but-not-officially-zombies" by video game journalists, represented a further evolution of the zombie archetype due to their intelligence and nimbleness.
[1] For the remakes of older Resident Evil titles, Capcom's developers could revisit and realize the potential of the original design behind enemies without the technical limitations of dated technology.
[8] The enemy mutant human species called lycans' are werewolf-like design was developed with the game's gothic horror setting in mind, with Sato explaining, "[They] very much spawned from the fact that we wanted to create an enemy that represented the village...We designed it very much where this is kind of the twisted outcome of a human being where we draw a lot of inspiration from werewolves, being able to tap into that gothic horror visual.
[15] Resident Evil 2 also introduced the Licker, a grotesque creature with an exposed brain that lacks skin, which attacks its prey with sharp claws and a long prehensile tongue.
[17] A Licker variant which appears in Resident Evil 5 is presented with a “fairly unremarkable sense of hearing", reflecting the game's action-oriented focus compared to its predecessors.
[18] Resident Evil Village features the lycans,[19] as well as moroaică of Castle Dimitrescu, lumbering shackled creatures described as being very similar to the franchise's traditional zombies.
The Los Ganados of Resident Evil 4 are infected by body-altering parasitic lifeforms known as "Las Plagas": they are capable of speech, somewhat agile, and possess adequate cognitive ability to utilize combat tactics like hurling axes and dynamite at the player character.
[3] Luis Sera, a supporting character in Resident Evil 4, compared these creatures to three species of flatworms, flukes that can influence their hosts' behavior: Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Galactosomum and Leucochloridium paradoxum.
[3] The Majini of Resident Evil 5 are similarly infected with the Las Plagas parasite, though they tend to be better armed with military grade weapons, which serves as the pretext for cover-based firefights as a gameplay mechanic.
When the J'avo experience dismemberment or are sufficiently damaged, they exhibit regenerative abilities which cause drastic mutations similar in concept to hosts of the Las Plagas parasite.
[3] The spin-off title Resident Evil: Revelations 2 feature the Afflicted, which are insane human beings who have been severely tortured and bound in a mass of metal wire and spikes.
[33] Shanley's colleague Richard Newby shared similar sentiments and suggested that the Las Plagas parasite introduced in Resident Evil 4 further broadened the zombie genre.
[36] Both The Guardian and Kotaku considered the zombie dog window scene to be one of the greatest video games jump scares; Kotaku′s Cameron Kunzelman in particular emphasized it as the "original moment in frightening PlayStation users".
[18] Various commentators, including George A. Romero and British actor Simon Pegg, said the Resident Evil series helped revitalize the zombie and lead it to prominence in early-21st century popular culture.
[2][55] The realistic, scientific approach for explaining zombie origins became a standard trope in popular fictional works released after the first Resident Evil video game.
[3] James Mielke from IGN commented that zombies as presented by Shinji Mikami and Capcom represented an evolution of the zombie archetype and are continually reinvented as a mass-market concern, with the franchise setting the tone for the survival horror genre and achieving immense commercial success in a manner which its contemporaries did not achieve:[1] the video game series sold 100 million units worldwide by 2020,[57] and by 2011 the Resident Evil film adaptations was described by Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful film series based on video games.
