In the upcoming PS4, Xbox One, and PC remake of Resident Evil 3, Jill Valentine’s character design has been tweaked from the original game. Included in this tweak was a decision to tone down the character’s sex appeal in favor making the character more believable and practical. Of course, this hasn’t sat well with some fans, but according to Capcom, going with the original design — aimed to maximize sex appeal — was not the right direction to take.
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“There were a lot of discussions internally about that direction,” said Yonghee Cho, art director on the game, when asked about Valentine’s new design. “The original design of Jill Valentine was clearly going for sex appeal, but that was not the right direction. This is a very strong character, and it is a character that’s going through a lot of adversity, so we wanted to home in on that and make sure that there’s a certain level of believability in what she’s wearing, a certain level of practicality.”
As you will know, this type of redesign is common. For example, Mortal Kombat has been toning down the over-the-top sex appeal of its characters for more practical and reasonable designs over the past few installments. Meanwhile, when Tomb Raider was recently rebooted, Lara Croft’s sex appeal was also toned down.
Jill Valentine also isn’t the only character to get a redesign in the upcoming remake. Nemesis — the game’s big baddie — has also been tweaked in order to bring the villain to modernity.
[The Nemesis design] just felt like more of the same, so we went back to the drawing board,” said Cho. “The first thing I saw was the clothing. It felt strange to be creating a bioweapon and have it wear clothes. Rather than having him wear clothes, we had him wear something synonymous to a body bag, something that made him feel like a restrained weapon. At the same time, I wanted to stay true to the original, so the silhouette of the Nemesis still has that iconic look.”
Resident Evil 3 is set to release worldwide on April 3 via the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Meanwhile, tomorrow, the game’s free demo will go live, featuring a new trailer.
H/T, Game Informer via Tech Raptor.
