One of the highlights from Summer Game Fest 2026 was the reveal that a popular Resident Evil game is getting the remake treatment.
Resident Evil: Veronica is an upcoming reimagining of the classic survival horror game Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. It’s being developed by Capcom with a release date for sometime in 2027 PC, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. There’s a lot we don’t know about what to expect from the remake. But based on what we do know is that Claire Redfield’s opening has undergone a major change.
In the original, Claire comes out swinging
Resident Evil Code: Veronica is set in December 1998, three months after the destruction of Raccoon City. 19-year-old college student Claire has tracked her older brother Chris to Paris and taken the fight straight to Umbrella Corporation. She infiltrates one of their facilities by herself, but is outnumbered. Yet even that isn’t enough to stop Claire.
Thinking fast on her feet, she manipulates the environment around her to evade capture. When a helicopter locks their turret gun onto her, Claire is able to move out of range while making sure her pursuers are the ones who get shot.
When she’s confronted by around a dozen Umbrella operatives, Claire sees a metal container with the word “FLAMMABLE” stamped on it. She drops her gun, then drops down to the floor where she grabs her gun, shoots at the container and BOOM! The container explodes and kills all the operatives.
The only person who can stop Claire is Rodrigo Juan Raval pointing a gun at her head. She’s captured and shipped off to Rockfort Island, a remote prison facility in the South Pacific. That’s when the game officially begins.
The remake takes a more grounded approach
The reveal trailer for Resident Evil: Veronica shows a very different opening. We get a first-person perspective as Claire makes her way through an apartment building in Paris. She’s greeted by an older woman in the hallway who seems pretty friendly on the surface. It’s a slow-burn that’s tense and leaves you on edge.
Once the older lady lets Claire into Chris’s apartment, the former leaves to take a phone call. Before Claire can search the apartment for clues on what happened to her brother, she’s grabbed by HUNK, the iconic masked Umbrella operative sometimes called “The Grim Reaper.”
It’s worth noting that HUNK’s role here is something that was created for the remake. In the original game, he did have a connection to Rockfort Island in the lore, but it was a background detail most players didn’t notice. Making him the one who captures Claire instead of Rodrigo is a huge deviation that expands HUNK’s role in the Resident Evil franchise.
Why Change the Opening?
Fans were shocked at how much the new opening differs from the original. Part of what made Code Veronica so beloved was because of its bizarre, over-the-top moments. The game valued spectacle over everything else.
Seeing Claire storm an Umbrella base like a badass is fun as hell but it’s also a lot to take in. Yeah, the Resident Evil universe runs on the suspension of belief. This is a world where viruses can mutate people into gruesome monsters and even give certain individuals superpowers. Is it really a stretch for a teenaged civilian to storm the facility of one of the most corrupt and powerful corporations out there?
What’s clear is that Capcom is transforming Code Veronica into something more grounded and believable. The trailer hints at a more serious and darker tone that puts more emphasis on the survival and horror aspects of the genre Resident Evil helped popularize. That approach could make Rockfort Island even more dangerous than it was in Code Veronica. Plus, there’s still a chance that Claire can infiltrate Umbrella at a later stage in the game.
Resident Evil: Veronica is supposed to be released in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam.
