Resident Evil 1 Remake Reportedly in Pre-Production, But Don't Expect It Soon

Resident Evil 1 is reportedly being remade again, and this time it is not another remaster or a resolution bump on an old port. From what I am hearing, we are talking about a full modern remake built from the ground up, with the Spencer Mansion rebuilt inside the RE engine, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine redesigned for current timelines, the hunters, crimson heads and giant spiders intact, and that iconic first zombie completely reimagined.

If Capcom handles this the right way, this could end up being the scariest Resident Evil game the company has ever made, and that is saying something. The bad news is that we may actually be waiting a while before we get to play it.

An insider claims pre-production began last year, but Capcom has not confirmed anything

An insider who covers Resident Evil leaks claims the project entered pre-production around August or September of last year, which would mean Capcom may have been quietly working out the direction of the game for almost a year now. None of this is officially confirmed by Capcom, and that is worth keeping in mind. There is no trailer, no logo, no screenshots, no platform, and no release date attached to any of this.

Even without those pieces, the fact that early production has reportedly begun is a significant development on its own. We have moved beyond people simply pointing out that Capcom has remade two, three and four, so one has to be next. There is apparently information now pointing in that direction specifically.

Why RE1 has to wait behind a confirmed Code Veronica and a rumored Zero

Apparently the plan is for Resident Evil 1 to move into full production once the team working on Resident Evil Code Veronica gets through the heaviest stage of development. That detail matters because Capcom has officially confirmed Code Veronica for next year, and it appears to be the company's main priority right now. That also means RE1 probably is not the next remake we are getting, and it may not even be the one after that.

The rumored schedule has Code Veronica coming next year, Resident Evil Zero potentially following in 2028, and RE1 arriving somewhere farther down the road, with some people saying 2030 or later. There is a very real chance we end up playing this on the PlayStation 6. But if Capcom is going to remake this a second time, it has to take its time.

The GameCube remake set an extremely high bar

"This is a harder project than people realize," and here is why. The original Resident Evil came out in 1996, and Capcom already remade it for the GameCube in 2002. A lot of Resident Evil fans consider that remake to be one of the greatest remakes ever made. It kept the identity and structure of the original but improved on everything, with rebuilt visuals, an expanded environment, and new story material including the addition of Lisa Trevor.

The Crimson Heads also turned leaving dead zombies lying around the mansion into one of the worst decisions you could make, and that game understood what made Resident Evil special. So Capcom is not trying to fix a bad game here, it is trying to improve on a remake that a lot of people already consider perfect. That is a high bar.

RE1 is the missing piece in the modern remake timeline

There is still an obvious reason to remake it. The current version of RE1 does not match the modern remake series. RE2, RE3 and RE4 all use an over the shoulder camera, modern controls, cinematic performances, rebuilt environments and the RE engine. Then you go back to the beginning of the story and suddenly you are dealing with fixed camera angles and pre rendered backgrounds. I love that style, it is iconic, and I know a lot of people do too, but if Capcom wants one continuous remake timeline that new players can follow easily, RE1 is a giant missing piece.

New fans meet Leon and Claire in RE2, then they meet Jill after the mansion incident in RE3. They are constantly hearing about Umbrella, the Outbreak and everything that came before Raccoon City, but they never get to experience the beginning in the same modern format. A new remake would solve that.

Tying Zero, RE1 and Code Veronica into one connected story

This is where the whole thing gets interesting. The most recent Resident Evil game pushed the franchise back toward tighter, slower environments that honestly felt inspired by the Spencer Mansion, and fans were dissecting footage asking if Capcom was preparing to return to where everything began. Now we have Code Veronica officially coming and Zero heavily rumored, and those are three games that cover the most important early events in the entire timeline. Zero shows what happened to Bravo Team immediately before the mansion incident, RE1 introduces Chris, Jill, Barry, Rebecca, Wesker and the discovery of Umbrella's experiments, and Code Veronica takes Chris, Claire and Wesker forward from there.

Capcom has an opportunity to take three games that originally used different technology and presentation and make them modern together. Rebecca could carry directly from Zero into RE1 without feeling like a completely different version of the character, Wesker's actions could be expanded across all three games, and the voice actors, character designs and locations could remain consistent. Small choices made in Zero could even affect details in RE1. I do not necessarily expect Capcom to go that far, but if it is going to do the remake, give us a real reason beyond prettier hallways and a better looking doorknob animation.

What the Spencer Mansion could feel like in the RE engine

The Spencer Mansion is perfect for the modern Resident Evil formula. RE2 proved the RE engine can take a classic location and turn it into one massive interconnected nightmare, and imagine that treatment applied to the mansion. You hear something moving in a hallway, but the fixed camera angle is not protecting you anymore or showing you where the enemy is standing. You have to turn the corner yourself, hear a hunter land somewhere behind you, watch a door slowly start opening at the other end of the hallway, or catch something moving across the ceiling with your flashlight.

If Crimson Heads return, every zombie you leave behind becomes a decision that could come back and destroy you later, and that would be incredible.

Keeping RE1 slow and claustrophobic instead of an action shooter

It would only be incredible if Capcom does not lose its nerve and turn the game into an action shooter. RE1 needs to be slow and claustrophobic, where a single zombie matters and finding a box of shotgun shells feels like hitting the lottery. "The mansion should feel like a puzzle that you are slowly solving, not a shooting gallery."

Yes, I want giant spiders back. I want them back. "Don't be cowards here." Capcom already gives us mutated wolves, parasites, giant insects and walking bioweapons, so it can put a giant spider on the ceiling and ruin my night. I do not want enemies quietly removed because somebody thinks modern players cannot handle them. The mansion should feel like every room is waiting to introduce you to something worse than what you just escaped.

Splitting Chris and Jill's campaigns while letting their paths cross

There is another big question of how Capcom would handle Chris and Jill. The original game gave two different campaigns with two different supporting characters, different routes and different endings, but neither campaign perfectly represented every part of the official story. A remake could keep the separate campaigns while also letting Chris and Jill's paths intersect more naturally, and personally, that is what I am looking for.

Give each character a complete campaign with meaningful differences. Jill should still work alongside Barry and Chris should work with Rebecca, but let the stories overlap enough that it feels like these characters are trapped inside the same mansion on the same night.

Don't water down Barry Burton

I need Barry delivering ridiculous dialogue with complete confidence. Capcom can improve the writing and make the performances more grounded, but that man had better still sound like Barry. The original game had a strange personality that was part genuine horror and part ridiculous B movie, and that should be preserved.

So yes, RE1 is reportedly coming. Pre-production reportedly started late last year, but full development may not begin until Code Veronica gets closer to completion, which means an official reveal is probably not coming anytime soon. We will likely be talking about Zero before that. The release could still be four or five years away, though plans could change, and if Capcom is already working on it to some degree, the pieces are lining up with Code Veronica returning, Zero heavily rumored, and RE1 tying all three together.

How do you think Capcom should handle splitting or connecting Chris and Jill's campaigns in a new RE1 remake?