Though the new expansionResident Evil Village: Shadows of Rosefocuses on the titular Rose’s mission to rid herself of her powers, her dad Ethan makes an appearance despite his tragic end in the base game, except his face still remains conveniently obscured. After serving as the lead protagonist for bothResident Evil 7andResident Evil Village, Ethan’s face has remained a hot button topic among fans which is only exacerbated by revelations thata third-person update toResident Evil Villagestill hides his face. So for the DLC following Rose’s perspective, an inevitable encounter with Ethan faced this challenge ironically head-on.
Yet for every cutscene and in-game moment where Ethan appears,Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rosegoes to great lengths to keep Ethan’s face mostly obscured. While this was somewhat expected, fans had already seen Ethan’s “face” after modders were able to remove the shadows from an unlocked render model of Ethan that revealed his head in full. But despite this, Capcom seems to have instead continued to keep Ethan’s face a mystery even after the character’s presumed death at the end ofResident Evil Village, and there could be a good reason for this that complements Ethan’s overall development.
RELATED:Why Resident Evil Village’s Shadows of Rose Makes Sense as Its Own DLC
Ethan is Still Camera-Shy in Shadows of Rose
As far as reveals go, Rose’s “guardian angel” Michael turning out to be Ethan was fairly predictable consideringShadows of Rosetakes place within the consciousness of the Megamycete. In fact, it had been something fans were anticipating givenResident Evil Village’sbittersweet endingwhere Ethan sacrificed himself and would never see his daughter grow up. However, even though it seemed inevitable, Capcom saved the pair’s official reunion for the most emotional moments of the game that would best be served by it, such as before or after the DLC’s final boss fight.
But while in-game chase sequences can put Ethan just ahead of Rose with his back always to the player, the DLC’s cutscenes aren’t able to pull the same trick. Instead,Capcomuses a number of scenery censors or camera positions to keep Ethan’s face covered just enough to not reveal it once and for all. Examples of this range from always placing the player watching the cutscene from behind Ethan to using Rose’s limbs or body to block out his face. However, the more it’s used, the more it weakens the players' suspension of disbelief until it borders on comical and could have ruined the cutscene and its tone.
Ethan is Resident Evil’s Everyman
Back whenResident Evil 7was announced, it made headlines when it confirmed that it was changing to a first-person perspective. The core reasoning behind this was so that Capcom could deliver a more immersive experience for players, placing them directly in the action instead of the traditional over-the-shoulder view of the earlier games. As such, the new protagonist players would take control of would be one they could reasonably project themselves onto. Unlike characters like Leon or Chris, Ethan isResident Evil’s “everyman” that they can relate to: an average person who isn’t perfectly skilled at handling monsters.
Ethan being faceless is as much a part of this characterization as an everyman as everything else is, as it lets players create their own idea about who Ethan is and by extension what he looks like. Preserving his anonymity inShadows of Roseis not just about avoiding a gap in Ethan’s design, but it’s more about protecting Ethan’s continuity as the players' everyman. This seems especially important to Capcom sinceEthan Winters isn’t likely to return any time soonand futureResident Evilgames could go back to older formulas like its latest remakes or bring back fan-favorite characters.
Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Roseis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
