Longtime Resident Evil villain Albert Wesker seemingly died in Resident Evil 5, but voice clips in the new Umbrella Corps game suggest he’s still around. Whether this has any impact on Resident Evil 7, though, remains to be seen.




Rely On Horror’s interest was piqued when they seemed to hear Wesker’s voice over the radio at the end of a match in Umbrella Corps, the new multiplayer-focused Resident Evil game that’s unfortunately not very good.

“That was...satisfactory.”

If you click the clip below, you can hear what they’re talking about:

That seems a little odd, given that Umbrella Corps is canonically supposed to take place in present day, following the events of Resident Evil 6. Wesker already bit the bullet—well, bit the rocket—at the end of Resident Evil 5.

D.C. Douglas, who’s voiced Wesker for the past several games, added fuel to the fire with a tweet about his involvement with Umbrella Corps:


Douglas seemed to quickly realize he’d fanned the flames a bit much, however, and published a blog earlier this week explaining what he knows.

For one, Douglas was personally told Umbrella Corps wasn’t canon, so bringing back Wesker was seen as an easter egg that wouldn’t violate the main storyline. Capcom later contradicted him in a GameSpot interview:

The game is not a hypothetical, “what-if” side scenario. Umbrella Corps is set in the present day of Resident Evil, which means it’s after the events of Resident Evil 6. It’s almost in an ironic way that we’re using the title Umbrella Corps. If you know your Resident Evil lore, Umbrella no longer exists at this time in the universe; it’s been destroyed. There’s definitely a kind of a background of the Resident Evil universe that forms the basis of the game’s premise.

Huh.

“When we were recording the dialogue the producers/designers [of Umbrella Corps] were on Skype,” Douglas wrote. “After I finished my Wesker session I asked point blank if Albert Wesker was back. They smiled and said ‘We have no idea. And we wouldn’t. We’re only working on this game.’”


If Wesker is back—personally, I hope he’s not—it may not involve Douglas, who claims to not have recorded any dialogue for Resident Evil 7.

Capcom has already confirmed the latest sequel is not a timeline reboot.

“The Resident Evil 7 production team, as of this writing, has not booked me for any voiceover work,” said Douglas. “So, while Wesker fans can hope (no one hoping more than I), it’s 99% doubtful he returns in RE7. My take is that Wesker’s appearance in Umbrella Corps is more of an easter egg than anything. But what do I know? I’m just a voice actor.”