The early 2000s were an exciting time to be a Resident Evil fan. Developer Capcom was coming off of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in 1999, and was taking risks to evolve the survival horror formula. That gave us great games like Resident Evil – Code: Veronica and the Resident Evil 1 Remake, not to mention the all-time classic Resident Evil 4 in 2005, which blew fans out of the water with its exceptional gameplay. On the other hand, games like Resident Evil: Dead Aim were frustrating projects that never quite hit. In that mold is Resident Evil Outbreak, an online cooperative survival horror game that’s better than it has any right to be, given the era it came out in. Unfortunately, Capcom’s ambitious project was ahead of its time and didn’t get the love it deserved.
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Resident Evil Outbreak Was a Great Game at the Wrong Time
Resident Evil Outbreak tried to bring the survival horror genre to online multiplayer through the PlayStation 2’s relatively new online service. Sony opened its platform to online servers in North America in 2002, a year before Outbreak launched. To say we were in the nascent days of online console gaming would be a massive understatement.
Unfortunately, Outbreak struggled for it. Many PS2 players didn’t even have the adapter needed to run online games on their launch systems, and those that did (or bought the new version with it included) ran into issues with the lack of voice chat and the general connection quality of online games in 2003. On top of that, players in the PAL region never even got access to the online support, making it a tough sell in those countries.
That said, Outbreak does a lot of things well. It took the gameplay from the Resident Evil Remake and put it on PS2. That was a big deal at the time because the remake was exclusive to the GameCube. It also introduced eight new characters, who all come with their own ability.
For example, Kevin Ryman can use his “pot shot” to do more bullet damage. David King can repair weapons and even build new ones if you find the right materials. Jim Chapman has a fun “luck” skill that lets him play dead when zombies attack, with the downside that he builds up infection faster than the other characters.
The way the eight characters played off each other made each scenario exciting. The are five different scenarios to play through, each with its own objectives. It might sound quaint nowadays, but in 2003, Outbreak felt like an exciting new direction for the survival horror genre.
While it was popular enough to get a standalone expansion in 2004, Outbreak always felt like a game that was a bit too ahead of its time. Not that it was a revelation, but that it would’ve performed better as connection speeds increased and fans became more used to jumping into voice chat.
Resident Evil Outbreak Deserves a Remake
Thankfully, Outbreak hasn’t completely died in the eyes of Capcom. Resident Evil Requiem will star the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, one of the characters in Outbreak. Alyssa was also referenced in Resident Evil 7, so we know Capcom has had her on the mind for several years.
With that in mind, it might be the perfect time for Capcom to bring back Outbreak. The developer has played with multiplayer Resident Evil several times over the last decade to varying levels of success. Resident Evil: Resistance had its fans, and Re:Verse did exist, but they never really felt like Resident Evil and were quickly ditched by even hardcore lovers of the series.
Outbreak was much more similar to a classic RE game, but with a multiplayer component. We’ve seen how well-received the various remakes have been over the last decade, so maybe it’s time for Capcom to take a huge swing and remake the cult classic.
It’s a solid game, and if you add the expansion to a package, you’d have plenty of content. Heck, Capcom could even sell extra characters and scenarios if it’s looking for a way to make extra money on microtransactions. I’m not saying it’s a guaranteed hit, but Outbreak would have a much better chance of breaking out in 2026 than it did in 2003.
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
