Capcom Says This Resident Evil Game Is Not Canon

Capcom is releasing not one, but two games in the coming months. The surprise Resident Evil 3 remake will come loaded with Project Resistance, a 4v1 multiplayer mode. Despite telling a similar story of terror, escape, and monstrous harassment, Project Resistance is not part of the Resident Evil canon.

Resident Evil 3 producer Peter Fabiano told PlayStation Magazine that the multiplayer mode is just for fun. It has no impact on the Resident Evil timeline.

"You'll remember that the Japanese subtitle for RE3 was Last Escape," Fabiano said. "Both of these titles have characters that are trying to escape somewhere or something, so thematically it made sense. We also wanted to take up the challenge of building out an online game set in the RE universe."

Capcom wants us to think of Project Resistance, complete with our boy Martin Sandwich, as "fun online experience with connections to the RE Universe" that just so happens to feature "familiar enemies and characters like Mastermind." Fabiano went on to admit that it would have been basically impossible to include the online game in the twisty, turny Resident Evil timeline.

This new remake technically takes place the day before the events of the hit Resident Evil 2 remake. Jill Valentine, a STARS officer, can't make it to the Raccoon City police department due to a date with Nemesis, a hulking monstrosity with the sole goal of destroying all the STARS who were witnesses to the Umbrella Corporation's experiments in the mansion from the first Resident Evil.

The folks in Project Resistance — including Martin Sandwich — are also on the run from zombies in a secret Umbrella facility. There's a capital M Mastermind watching them, trying to prevent these plucky survivors from surviving. Mastermind is controlled by a fifth player who can summon up traps, creatures, and even the stylish Mr. X himself.

Think of Project Resistance as a romp in the world of Resident Evil. It's entirely unattached to the complicated canon of the series, meaning anything is possible.