Resident Evil Veronica: A Dive into the Past to Prepare for the Remake

The announcement of Resident Evil Veronica, which kicked off Summer Game Fest with a bang on June 5th, confirmed what was already known: after Resident Evil Requiem, which personally left me dissatisfied, the only two other possible options were a remake of Resident Evil 5 or Code: Veronica. Capcom opted for the latter, a somewhat predictable decision if we consider that the series' revamp started with Resident Evil 2, which is Claire and Leon's shared story, and then continued with Leon's path in Resident Evil 4 first and Resident Evil Requiem later. Barring the brief interlude of Resident Evil 3, it was logical to pick up the reins of Claire's story again, especially considering the rumors that she would be the protagonist of a forthcoming, tenth official chapter. We'll see what the future holds.

That said, and aside from a few observations I'll make at the end of the article following all the news that emerged this week, this special aims to be more "informative" than speculative: to accompany you on a journey to discover a narrative universe not always considered by players but which exists, and not only that, greatly influences the dynamics of the series (often including gameplay). Let's rediscover the original chapter, its characters, and some more "hidden" gems you might have missed.

The Code: Veronica Project

The Code: Veronica Project

Let's start with the video game's title. Everyone noticed the reduction to simply Resident Evil Veronica, dropping the word "Code," and some expressed perplexity about it. As far as I'm concerned, I find the choice apt, because Code: Veronica has nothing to do with the T-Veronica Virus, which is indeed a fundamental element of the game; the latter is a consequence of it, and not even a direct one – it might not have existed at all. The name Code: Veronica refers only and exclusively to the project promoted by Alexander Ashford that bore fruit in 1971 with the birth of the twins Alexia and Alfred.

To better contextualize this project, we must, as always, take a few steps back. Alexander Ashford is the son of Edward Ashford, the latter being a co-founder of the Umbrella pharmaceutical company alongside Oswell E. Spencer and James Marcus, as well as a brilliant virologist. Although talented, Alexander was not on the same level as his father, who died in July 1968 in an incident orchestrated by Spencer himself – who years later would also commission Marcus's death. He was hired by Umbrella to work as a geneticist and, despite discovering the gene that regulated intellect, was never considered on par with Edward. With the risk of seeing the Ashford family's reputation collapse, and with it their influence on Umbrella, Alexander embarked on a project to create a clone of the deceased Countess Veronica, a woman of incredible intellect and beauty, founder of the Ashford family, who lived in the 19th century. Upon her death, she was embalmed and preserved in the family mansion until Alexander exhumed her to extract a DNA sample. Having overcome the first two phases, namely the discovery of the gene to regulate intelligence and the obtaining of Veronica's genetic material, the Code: Veronica project became a reality in 1971 with the birth of Alexia from a surrogate mother whose identity is unknown. The child was supposed to be the sole result of the project; however, an anomaly in the process led to the generation of a second embryo from which the twin, Alfred, would be born.

While Alexia perfectly embodied Alexander's expectations, her brother, though intellectually above average, was not on the same level, almost certainly because he was born due to an error and was not sought after. Despite this, Alexander adopted and raised both in the house beneath the Antarctic base. Alexia's superiority was confirmed when, at the age of ten, she graduated from a prestigious university and was hired by Umbrella as a virologist, but this played a strong role in her social isolation: too far, by age, from her colleagues and at the same time too distant from her child peers due to her intellect, Alexia found comfort only in Alfred and already harbored resentment towards her father, whom she considered no different from the ignorant masses surrounding her. The definitive hatred towards Alexander by both children solidified in 1983, when they discovered the truth about their true origins. This prompted them to capture their father and use him as the first human guinea pig for the T-Veronica Virus, on which Alexia had already been working for several years, having discovered a particular retrovirus in the genome of some queen ants which she hypothesized, combined with the Progenitor along with the gene of some plants and another older one, would lead to a variant of the T-Virus where the host would have their intellect preserved.

The virus was named "Veronica" by Alexander himself, unaware that it would be used by his children on him and would lead to failure, mutating him into a monster that the twins imprisoned in his eternal agony. Realizing the rapid degeneration the virus caused, Alexia, intending to use it on herself, concluded that she needed to hibernate for fifteen years to allow the T-Veronica to take hold optimally without disastrous consequences. This did not lead her body to complete stasis, but rather to a slowing of growth, which is why despite hibernating at twelve years old, she would later appear to be about twenty (although chronologically she was twenty-seven). Following the events of Code: Veronica, the virus was used as the basis for the C-Virus in Resident Evil 6 by Dr. Carla Radames, who drastically reduced the incubation period necessary to preserve the intellectual faculties of the host body.

Do you understand now why I consider the remake's title change an excellent choice? Code: Veronica is the project from which Alexia and Alfred were born; it has no reference to the virus itself: a title like Resident Evil Veronica is universal and, in my opinion, places the figure of the countess even more at the center of all narrative dynamics.

T-Veronica Virus

T-Veronica Virus

The T-Veronica virus, despite its name, has no direct correlation with James Marcus's T-Virus; it can be considered part of the "T" family only because it was developed under the T-Virus project, but there are no links to James Marcus's work. Its creator is Alexia Ashford, who on July 27, 1981, at just ten years old and following a degree from a prestigious university, was appointed Chief Researcher at the Umbrella laboratory in Antarctica, effectively superseding her father who until then had not achieved any satisfactory results with the T-Virus.

It was during this period and the following two years that Alexia developed a particular fascination with ant ecology. Examining the genes of a queen, she discovered the remains of a virus as ancient as it was natural, capable of causing insect-like mutations in the host. It was deduced that, just like the Progenitor, this virus was also responsible for the development of entomofauna on Earth – although the Progenitor, given its ability to infect and mutate arthropods, played a more universal role. In general, we can speak of a correlation between these viruses, just as it exists with the Abyss Virus regarding deep-sea creatures. The virus was renamed "Veronica" by Alexander, in honor of their ancestor, and was implemented in T-Virus research at the Antarctic base. However, as written above, this does not mean there were hybridizations between Veronica and T. Alexia combined the queen ant genes containing the renamed Veronica with the Progenitor to create a new hybridization: the T-Veronica. Despite the name and rumors of a direct correlation between the two, with Alexia subsequently implementing T into the new viral strain, thus leading to a result of three different viruses, there are no real confirmations, and it remains that T-Veronica bears its name because it was developed under the larger T-Virus project, without targeted hybridizations with the latter.

Alexia's unnatural intelligence, combined with her very young age which made her dissimilar to her lab colleagues, not only made it impossible to relate to others but led her to develop a total contempt for humanity. In her eyes, humans existed for the sole purpose of serving her according to the same eusocial concept that drives some insects (including, in fact, ants). Therefore, she secretly directed the development of the T-Veronica towards this specific goal: to enslave the entire human race to her will as queen. On the surface, then, where Umbrella could also see, the virus continued its development with the aim of satisfying the company's ambitions, but the reality was very different.

The discovery of their true origins prompted Alexia and Alfred to capture Alexander and use him as the first human guinea pig for a then-prototype of the T-Veronica, leading to failure and Alexia's subsequent assessment that to avoid the side effects of all Progenitor-derived viruses (i.e., the deterioration of cognitive functions), the spread of the virus in the body needed to be slowed down through cryogenic preservation. In 1983, at the age of twelve, Alexia injected herself with the T-Veronica and immediately entered a cryostasis phase which, according to her calculations, was supposed to last fifteen years. Her brother Alfred took control of the Antarctic base, watching over her, and Rockfort Island, but without Alexander's authority – whose death was faked by the twins – the Ashford family's influence on Umbrella collapsed once again. Not that this interested Alexia, given her ultimate goal of making the world her slave.

Contrary to what one might think, the T-Veronica infected almost no one during the game. All the infected we face in the game, with the sole exception of Alexia herself and her father Alexander, are infected because they are corrupted by the T-Virus following a targeted attack by the H.C.F. on Rockfort Island with the aim of stealing a sample of the T-Veronica. From the game's events, we know that Alexia awoke precisely in 1998, as Alfred's final act after a deadly confrontation with Claire and Steve, and captured the latter to then use him as a guinea pig not for the T-Veronica but for the T-Alexia – a further, unique variant present within Alexia's body after fifteen years of cryostasis. Although still to be perfected, considering Steve's act of rebellion against his "queen," the T-Alexia could indeed have become what its creator hoped for. It cannot be known, considering that Alexia was eliminated at the end of the events of Code: Veronica and a sample of the T-Alexia was indeed recovered by Wesker, who took Steve's body after his death. However, after delivering it to a rival company of Umbrella, it was confirmed that the way Alexia had designed it made its use for the creation of biological weapons impractical; the only exception was the development of the Jabberwock S3 (which partly resembles Steve's appearance after his mutation). Beyond this, its use in its current condition, and consequently its sale on the black market, was deemed too dangerous.

This did not prevent Wesker from selling it to Javier Hidalgo, a drug trafficker operating in South America who purchased it in the hope of saving his daughter Manuela from the deadly disease afflicting her. After the events of Operation Javier in the video game Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, which saw agents Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser put an end to Hidalgo's empire, his daughter Manuela was taken into custody by the United States. This is how Derek Simmons, the national security advisor during President Adam Benford's term, obtained the T-Alexia sample (or, more correctly, the T-Manuela) which he handed over to Carla Radames for the development of the C-Virus in Resident Evil 6.

The Events of Code: Veronica

The Events of Code: Veronica

At the end of 1998, three months after the events of Raccoon City, Claire Redfield decides to go to France in search of her brother Chris, who had decided to conduct a personal investigation into Umbrella following the events at Spencer Mansion. Finding himself opposed in the USA by the corrupt Raccoon City police chief, Brian Irons, Chris had orchestrated his own suspension to have the opportunity to fly to France, where the European branch of Umbrella was headquartered. Referring to the original game, Claire manages to infiltrate one of the company's laboratories and after creating chaos, with shootouts and chases worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, she is captured and sent directly to Rockfort Island. The dynamics of her capture are the first difference in the Resident Evil Veronica remake, as we saw in the announcement trailer, and I must say I greatly appreciated this change because it puts Claire's character on a more plausible footing: however capable, even thanks to the terrible events of Raccoon, she is still too young and inexperienced to successfully infiltrate a laboratory of a company of Umbrella's level. Her capture in the apartment building where Chris had taken lodging makes much more sense, also aligning with the concept that Umbrella has eyes and ears everywhere, and cannot be challenged so easily.

That said, we move to Rockfort Island. An atoll in the South Pacific Ocean, owned by the Ashford family for decades and exploited by Umbrella, apart from the 90s, both as a base for its paramilitary unit Umbrella Security Service (U.S.S.) and to carry out experiments on the T-Virus with the aim of training its soldiers in the management and containment of viral epidemics. Unfortunately, during her imprisonment, Claire finds herself involved in the H.C.F. assault led by Albert Wesker (whose involvement remains a mystery until he himself decides to show up) to obtain samples of T-Veronica. During the chaos, the destruction of one of the laboratories leads to the leakage of the T-Virus and the subsequent infection of a large number of people, many of whom are mistaken for dead and buried in the cemetery – from which they will later return.

Very few survivors manage to escape that hell, but with the exception of only five individuals, they are all infected: when, therefore, they reach the airport and use the C-130s to escape, they end up at the Antarctic base due to the autopilot set on all planes and infect that area as well. The five I refer to are Claire, Steve Burnside, the young son of an Umbrella employee imprisoned on the island with his father after the latter's attempt to sell sensitive company material, an unnamed researcher who nevertheless meets an untimely end at the hands of a creature known as Bandersnatch, Rodrigo Juan Raval, a member of the U.S.S. and Claire's jailer, and of course Alfred Ashford. The latter, furious at the attack on the island and convinced of the existence of a mole, believes Claire is to blame, thus doing everything to eliminate her during her escape attempts with Steve.

Aware that the island is now lost, Alfred triggers a series of explosions aimed at containing the epidemic, still failing to kill Claire and Steve, who will escape aboard one of the last remaining C-130s. The next day, Chris Redfield, warned by Leon Kennedy of his sister's kidnapping and having consequently abandoned his investigation, arrives on what remains of the island, now completely infected except for the H.C.F. soldiers, who, having found no trace of the T-Veronica, prepare to reach the Antarctic base. Chris will do the same, and after some difficulties, he will escape aboard a jet.

Meanwhile, Claire and Steve have unwillingly reached the Antarctic base. The C-130, like all the others, was programmed to land there, and the two find themselves in a situation as unfavorable as, if not more so than, Rockfort Island. The Antarctic base was built in 1969 at the behest of Alexander Ashford using the remains of an abandoned mine: it includes a warehouse, an airport, a laboratory, and a residence for Alexander himself along with his "children" Alexia and Alfred. Following the kidnapping of their father, used as the first (unsuccessful) human guinea pig for the T-Veronica, and Alexia's self-induced cryostasis after injecting herself with the virus, the two were officially declared dead, the laboratory consequently abandoned, and all work transferred to the transport terminal. In the 1990s, when Alfred joined Umbrella, the terminal came under his command, but he proved incapable of any form of leadership or control: the place soon suffered from a shortage of personnel, and the few workers present were kept on site for up to eight consecutive years without any breaks, to the point that the terminal was considered identical to a forced labor camp. This led to a significant number of logistical problems, forcing the American branch of Umbrella to provide resources where necessary.

After the arrival of Claire and Steve, who face a scenario not unlike Rockfort Island, with infected individuals here too, Alfred continues to pursue them with the intent to kill them, but Steve shoots him, causing him to fall into a disused underground tunnel. Believing him dead, the two continue to search for another escape route, ending up clashing with Nosferatu – none other than Alexander himself. Imprisoned by his children after his mutation, he manages to break free and attacks Claire and Steve, finally meeting his end at the hands of the young Redfield (here the game introduces manual aiming for the first time thanks to the sniper rifle, foreshadowing the paradigm shift of Resident Evil 4). Meanwhile, a mortally wounded but still alive Alfred drags himself to the laboratories where Alexia is still in cryostasis, and since fifteen years have passed, he awakens her: seeing her dead brother as the first thing upon waking, Alexia reacts violently, using the plants in the Antarctic base's subsoil, under her control thanks to the adaptation of the T-Veronica in her body (which became the T-Alexia), to attack the snowmobile Claire and Steve were using to escape, taking them prisoner.

Infected by the T-Alexia, mutated from the T-Veronica in Alexia's body during the fifteen years of cryostasis, Steve inevitably mutates into a creature at her service in front of a helpless Claire when she manages to find him. His feelings for her, however, allow him to resist mind control and rebel against the order to kill her. Annoyed by the betrayal, Alexia kills Steve and traps Claire. Chris will find her enclosed in this cocoon but will first have to deal with Alexia, perfectly integrated with the virus and therefore seemingly indestructible. Unexpected help comes from Alexander, though not directly: having noticed his daughter's personality and fearing the consequences of her actions, he had secretly developed a weapon, the Linear Launcher, the only one capable of permanently defeating Alexia. During the confrontation with her, it is automatically unlocked when the final phase is reached; in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, its unlock is preceded by a video message from Alexander begging whoever is watching to use the weapon to stop his daughter's madness. It is one of the few aspects of the game that I appreciate and hope can be implemented, not only because it contextualizes the presence of such a lethal weapon (which Alexia would never have allowed), but also because it helps to delineate Alexander's character in relation to his daughter.

With Alexia eliminated and Claire freed, Chris has one last open confrontation with Wesker, who reveals his presence and thus the fact that he "survived" the events of Spencer Mansion (the reality is that he was reborn thanks to the Progenitor in his body). Their fight, which sees Chris in serious difficulty, is interrupted by the base's self-destruct system triggered by Chris himself, forcing both to retreat. Reunited with Claire, Chris finally manages to abandon the base shortly before it is destroyed by the explosion.

This is a summary of the plot, which in itself presents several other interesting aspects that I expect to be revisited and re-elaborated in the remake, along with some segments from Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. The latter, due to constraints related to its nature as an on-rails shooter, changes several things compared to the original narrative, but some of these (like the aforementioned video message from Alexander Ashford) are very interesting, and better, than the original counterpart, which is why I expect a "retelling" that takes into account the strongest aspects of both games. For example, I would never want the remake to adopt the cruel and childish version of Alexia where she kills her brother, guilty of waking her too late: it does not align with what is, in fact, their mutual (albeit distorted) love, which is also labeled as incestuous – and was censored even at the time of the original game's release. I would, however, like it to pick up Steve's transformation and the subsequent boss fight, which is clearly preferable in The Darkside Chronicles compared to the original.

And I could go on citing examples, but in general, my hope is that in the intent to tell a revisited story (as stated on the official website), all possible backstories will be considered, and we will be offered the absolute best version. Unlike Resident Evil Requiem, which I consider narratively terrible and in some respects even offensive to the player's intelligence, Resident Evil Veronica is being worked on by the same teams (and directors) as the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, the latter in particular being excellent in its retelling operation. This makes me more confident in the game's rewriting, but we can only be sure when we play the complete experience – which, by the way, I wonder how it will handle those subtle narrative "crossroads" like Rodrigo's fate, and especially if it will introduce others. They are not so different from those, for example, of the original Resident Evil with Richard Aiken, whose final fate did not change (i.e., he died) but depending on the player's choices, the way it happened could be different. Similarly, at the time, the clash with Nosferatu was particular precisely because of the possibility, never before seen in a main chapter of the series, of managing aiming thanks to the use of the sniper rifle; no longer being able to rely on such a "surprise effect," I wonder if the developers will have something else in store. Despite the disappointment of the ninth chapter, which also makes me more cautious about the future of the saga, it is undeniable that Resident Evil Veronica is an extremely important chapter and somewhat fuels my curiosity.

Considerations on Resident Evil Veronica

Considerations on Resident Evil Veronica

A few days after the Summer Game Fest announcement, interviews conducted brought up some interesting points on which I would like to make more concise considerations than what has been written so far. I will condense them for convenience.

• Yoshiaki Hirabayashi is the producer of Veronica; he held a Q&A session, confirming that Veronica will be exclusively third-person, that it is currently in development, and that it is being made by the same development team as RE:2 and RE:4. > This reassures me more, as already written, on the narrative level but also on the gameplay level, confirming that the announcement trailer was structured in first-person to maintain a surprise effect. While the hybridization of perspectives in Resident Evil Requiem worked (and even then I still found myself assigning first-person to Grace and third-person to Leon, being the best for them), Resident Evil Veronica works much better in third-person.
• The reinterpretation of Veronica's story will undergo "aggressive" changes, disrupting events, narrative pacing, and characters compared to the original work. > As above, this reassures me but I cannot help but remain cautious; despite confidence in the development teams, given their track record, Requiem's upheavals were too many to take similar statements lightly.
• Confirmation that this is primarily Claire's story, that she is the protagonist of the game, and that the plot is centered on her. > As trivial as it may seem, this should not be taken for granted, without considering, again, that Requiem was supposed to be a shared story and turned out to be "Leon-centric" to excess, leading to both narrative and gameplay missteps regarding the distribution of gameplay between him and Grace. Since Code: Veronica divided the experience between Claire and Chris, taking care to tell their relationship, I expect the declared upheavals to be positive and not risk turning into the fanservice carousel of Requiem.
• He states that they will not cut scenes, but that one should expect many things to be moved, repositioned, rethought, and transformed, even more than what was done in past remakes. > This may suggest a cut-and-paste job with The Darkside Chronicles, which, I repeat, has very brilliant ideas compared to the original but also missteps like Alexia's consideration of her brother. Alfred's death, in the original, is miles above Darkside's revision in terms of construction and music, so once again I hope for a reconstruction that knows how to take the best from both sides and further refine it with the general revision they have in mind.
• They confirm that, from now on, the main style for Resident Evil titles will be "Resident Evil (Word)," and that "Veronica" was simply the name that made the most thematic sense for this reinterpretation. > This partly confirms my assumption about wanting to use a more evocative and comprehensive title than the original, which focused only on one aspect of the Ashford story, however fundamental it was in leading to their actual birth.

• Mentions that Code Veronica is set three months after RE:2; although Claire has already experienced a nightmare in the past and can count on the training received from Chris, she will not be a radically different or much stronger character than we saw her in RE:2, but rather she will perhaps be more mentally resilient than physically stronger. > Perfect in the context of giving characters more credibility, without distorting their fundamental traits: Claire immediately proves to be tough and capable of reacting well to danger, even the absurd one faced in Raccoon City, and this is obviously reinforced by the events of that night. But it doesn't make her a female Rambo as we saw in the introduction of the original Code: Veronica. As iconic as that scene may be, it clashes with the concept of making the saga's characters more human and consistent with their background.
• An introductory video shown to the press emphasized the importance of the Redfield siblings as the beating heart of Veronica, as well as bringing Albert Wesker's return back to the center of the timeline. > Excellent regarding the relationship between Chris and Claire, culpably and poorly sidelined over the years both in games and manga (think of Heavenly Island). The discussion of Albert Wesker is more complicated today, but if well managed, it can still lead to genuine involvement and valid handling of his reappearance, even though new players especially know that he survives the events of Spencer Mansion. In years past, Code: Veronica represented an unexpected return to the scene for Wesker, while today this surprise is undermined both, precisely, by past events and by the fact that the Resident Evil 4 remake has already anticipated his return. We will see how they decide to introduce him, knowing, for example, that the X version of Code: Veronica features more scenes with him than the original.
• They confirm that Code Veronica and this Veronica remake are considered by Capcom as important as the numbered titles and are effectively chapters of the main series. > I expected nothing less. Code: Veronica is, in my opinion, the true Resident Evil 3 compared to Nemesis, which could instead be considered more of a spin-off or an integrative chapter, and it is important in numerous respects. I hope it will be given the treatment it deserves.
• It was emphasized that the gameplay will be more similar to that of RE:2, and not to Leon's in RE:4/Requiem. > In this case, there is only gratitude. Although Resident Evil 4 has always appealed to me in its action-oriented direction, both in the original that later helped rewrite the approach of all third-person survival horror, and in the remake, Resident Evil Requiem exaggerated the approach to the point of making it parodic. It is good that Leon is Leon and Claire is Claire, without any contamination, certainly apart from a more active approach due to the over-the-shoulder camera replacing fixed camera angles.

• Capcom emphasizes that they do not believe that "longer is synonymous with better"; for them, content quality is more important than diluting the game with filler. > This is accompanied by the confirmation that Resident Evil Veronica will be at least twelve to fifteen hours long. There is plenty of material to work with, and if managed appropriately, the resulting duration is almost relative; I say almost because, for me, survival horror games must have a limit within which to stay, otherwise even the most beautiful one risks becoming repetitive and losing the bite of tension. This is especially true for Resident Evil games, always known for becoming more chaotic in the second half.
• When asked how they would handle Alfred, Hirabayashi began by saying that, before answering, he wanted to clarify that the game is still in development, so not everything is 100% decided or definitive. However, a fundamental goal of the remake is to focus first and foremost on a horror experience, and with this title, they wanted to delve much deeper into the character than was done in the original. > A rightly evasive answer but one that leaves good hope for a proper revision of the character. Alfred, in Code: Veronica, emerged yes for his not-so-latent madness but above all for his devotion to Alexia. There wasn't much else about him, so a re-evaluation of the character (as, for example, Luis Sera's was in the Resident Evil 4 remake) is more than welcome.
• He states that every Resident Evil game focuses on a different type of horror, and for Veronica, the type of horror they are strongly aiming for is the darkness within people's hearts and minds. They believe that, more than most RE games, Veronica is centered on "emotion," on love, on when love is pushed too far; so for now, while not wanting to go into detail, they say they want to explore the darkness in Alfred's heart that stems from his love, while they are still defining and refining some of the specific aspects. > Code: Veronica offers several narrative and thematic cues, very true, that could find their place without overshadowing the fact that Resident Evil is first and foremost a survival horror series and gameplay, as well as atmospheres, generally take precedence over everything else. The two aspects can still coexist perfectly, if carefully balanced.
• They say that Veronica has ties to subsequent RE games, including Requiem. The producer even states that in the Veronica remake there is some unprecedented "common thread" that leads quite directly to Requiem. > This is the statement that frightens me the most, because from a narrative point of view there is nothing, absolutely nothing, salvageable in Requiem, which even manages the disastrous feat of placing untenable retcons, distorting decades of lore. Personally, I believe that narratively it should be completely forgotten and "crushed" by remakes or any subsequent chapters, because it offers nothing that deserves to be brought back: not the characters, not the events, much less the rewriting of key situations.

Other information that emerged is more peripheral and allows for fewer reflections, but I would say that for now there is enough to look at Resident Evil Veronica with cautious optimism. I was quite surprised that little, if anything, was asked about Chris (or at least nothing emerged beyond the confirmation of his playable part); I don't particularly fear that the focus on him will be reduced, precisely because the attention on the relationship between the two siblings has been confirmed (which also contrasts with that of the Ashfords, highlighting two different types of affection), but it is strange that no observations emerged in this regard. That said, I am curious to learn more and, if not at Gamescom, I certainly expect news during the Tokyo Game Show.