Resident Evil 4: Why There Is No Kid In The Village? All You Need To Know
As per the Japanese comic, published months after the game’s release, explains why we only encounter adult enemies during the adventure.
It’s extremely difficult to create an adventure good enough to be inducted into the towering pantheon of ‘greatest games ever’, but Capcom can boast of having accomplished this feat after releasing one of the most iconic and influential instalments we’ve ever seen in the industry: Resident Evil IV. The story starring Leon S. Kennedy exceeded the expectations of all fans through mechanics that marked a before and after in the industry, but the Japanese also demonstrated their good work in building stories, turning a potential controversy into a key aspect of the lore of the game. Which, in short, allows us to learn about the fatal fate suffered by the children in the town.
To get you into the picture, you just need to know that Capcom seriously considered introducing zombie children into the first Resident Evil. But ended up scrapping the idea, obviously out of fear that the community would see it as distasteful. This, however, did not particularly attract the attention of the players; it made sense that Spencer Manor didn’t have children in its rooms. However, taking into account that RE IV takes us to a Spaniard town, Capcom’s philosophy does not quite fit here.
The fate of the kids in Resident Evil 4 is explained in Biohazard Incubate, a prequel comic published 2 years after the game’s release. The comic, which recounts the events leading up to Resident Evil 4 and is known as Biohazard Incubate, is about a kind of diary signed by a villager named Rodrigo. The first part of this script, in short, explains that life in his town was truly idyllic: its inhabitants took care of the daily tasks, the children helped where they could, and the feeling of community was practically palpable. To show his love for the village, Rodrigo began drawing its landscapes in illustrations that can also be seen next to the end credits of the Capcom game.
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Throughout this description, the owner of the newspaper also emphasizes the role of the little ones in the village: “Children are the treasure of this village, raised on the backs of the villagers. Everyone’s wish is that the children grow up happy and healthy. ” To complete the idea that Rodrigo lived in a place that was as placid as it was welcoming, Capcom also included anecdotes such as the celebration of a festival that, after the harvest, encourages all the inhabitants with music, dance and more.
However, this period of happiness ended with the arrival of Osmund Saddler to the town, who together with Bitores Méndez convinced the inhabitants to hold a meeting with catastrophic consequences. “After speaking with the village headman, we attended Saddler’s sermon. Lord Saddler is a distinguished member of the Illuminati, a group held in high esteem by the village headman. He has come from far away to visit us and spent many hours regaling us with wonderful stories. The Character taught us that through a ritual to purify our blood, sinners like us can save our souls and achieve even greater happiness. “Discarded sketch of a zombie-boy in Resident Evil.
Saddler’s ritual caused serious consequences for the health of the villagers, especially the children
The ritual mentioned by Saddler consists of a blood transfusion that, involving the entire community, seriously affected the health of the villagers. A few days later, Rodrigo witnessed not only that his wife coughed up blood as a result of having participated in the strange ceremony, but also that her daughter began to foam at the mouth and convulse before exhaling her last breath from her.
The side effect was not only seen in Rodrigo’s daughter but was also observed in the other young people in the village: “In a matter of days, all the children in the village were dead, my precious children were gone, not a single one was left. Not a single one… More adults went bit confused and lost their minds […] I vomited blood this morning. ” Finally, and with an artistic design far removed from the affability that permeated its first pages, the last page of Rodrigo’s diary talks about Méndez’s request, on Saddler’s orders, to kill any foreigner who entered the town. What, ultimately, closes this chapter-prequel that serves to contextualize everything that happened on stage before the arrival of Leon.
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Because yes, obviously the absence of children in the Resident Evil saga is a decision more aimed at avoiding controversy, but the development of Biohazard Incubate shows that Capcom can transform this detail into a small piece of Resident Evil 4 history. This added to what we already knew about the gameplay and narrative of the work, only increasing the quality of the game.