Summary
Every good franchise needs a good villain, and thankfully,Resident Evilhas its fair share of them. A franchise that sees players go up against hordes of the undead, brainwashed villagers, an array of mutated monsters, and even werewolves,Resident Evilhas no shortage of horrifying foes to throw at the player, but by far its most compelling adversaries are those who play a much larger role in the series' overall story.
Over the last 27 years, theResident Evilfranchise has brought a good few overarching villains to the table. While a handful of these have been a tad forgettable, the vast majority ofResident Evil’s main antagonists have been immediately iconic. FromResident Evil 2’s Mr X toResident Evil 3’s Nemesis, including the likes ofResident Evil 4’s Lord Saddler andResident Evil Village’s Lady Dimitrescu, the series has seen plenty of excellent villains in its time, but even they don’t hold a candle toResident Evil’s Albert Wesker, whose upcoming iteration has some big shoes to fill.
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Resident Evil 5 Remake’s Albert Wesker Can’t Stray Too Far From the Original
In it from the very beginning, Albert Wesker made his debut in 1996’sResident Evil, where he worked alongside the rest of S.T.A.R.S.' Bravo team to secure Spencer Mansion. Of course, Wesker reveals himself to be a double agent towards the end of the game and injects himself with a version of the T-Virus that saves him from a near-fatal stab wound fromthe Tyrant B.O.W.he was tasked with waking. Though Wesker’s first appearance is a great one, the character didn’t really solidify his legacy untilResident Evil 5.
Though he’d crop up occasionally in games likeResident Evil: Code VeronicaandResident Evil 4, Albert Wesker’s most iconic portrayal comes fromResident Evil 5. Taking on the role of the game’s primary antagonist,Resident Evil 5’s Albert Wesker is perfectly campy and ridiculous. With a strange faux-British-American accent, Wesker is a blend of smarmy and intimidating. ThoughRE5’s Wesker is capable of committing some heinous acts, he’s also lovably cheesy and over-the-top.
It’s this cocky and weirdly charming version of Wesker that’s gone on to inform just about every iteration of the villain since, whether it’sResident Evil’s own animated spinoff movies or Wesker’s crossover appearances ingames likeDead by Daylight. This is the version of Albert Wesker that fans now expect to see in the franchise, and it’s going to be a tough job for the nextResident Evilremake to try and live up to it - and from what fans have seen so far, it’s not looking all that great for Wesker in the near future.
InResident Evil 4 Remake, fans got a brief tease of this new iteration of Wesker during the game’s post-credits. Though he only really said one or two lines, fans were a little worried that this new version of Wesker might come off as a little generic. Unfortunately, therecently released Separate Ways DLCessentially confirms that theory. Though the character model certainly looks the part, Wesker’s portrayal in Separate Ways left a lot to be desired. While this new version of Wesker retains the cool factor from past iterations, it loses practically all of its cheesy charm, with Wesker’s new voice coming across as just generically gruff. IfResident Evil 5 Remakewants to deliver the best Wesker portrayal it can, then it needs to just embrace the personality that made him such a compelling villain in the originalResident Evil.
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