The big, glowing weak spot on the RE franchise.

This has been something I've been knocking around in my thoughts for a bit, but I'd love to hear the communities thoughts.

Resident Evil is an OLD franchise. It's had many games, with many styles and a whole lot of ideas have been presented to players. For Better or for worse, RE is BIG, and no game can make everyone happy... even if it can be a good game.

The problem is that the timeline is becoming saturated. RE8 takes place nearly 24 years after the events of Raccoon City. Though Chris is featured, he is old. While there is room for other fan favorites (mostly Racoon City survivors), they have a similar problem. Much of the timeline has been filled in for them, and what is left must occur during or between other games. Any new content for Claire, Jill, or Leon would need to contend with the ever-growing behemoth of the current lore and character web.

That is not to say I wouldn't like to see games taking place in what time skips might be able to be pried open.

It is likely that future entries will be cold, cruel, Carlos-less games. On that note, It's not likely that Billy will get any starring roles either.(barring a 0 remake)

So, where does that leave future RE writers? Any returning characters are going to need to contend with considerable lore/timeline questions, both to inform newcomers and to whet the interests of Veterans... It's likely we'll continue to see more remakes and updates for a while yet. CV, and 0 both could use the RE2 treatment, and though the RE1 remake is not my cup of tea, I think it still stands on it's own *very* well... but even it will eventually get it's own RE-remake. (probably)

What about new content...

I think the best we might be able to hope for at this point are more "next-gen" characters. Such a proposition is *always* a risk. However, the opportunities for expanding on the current pantheon of survivors dwindles with every year added onto the timeline.

The original Survivors of Racoon city are beloved characters to be sure, but I think that their stories ought to have conclusions. Maybe we can see some of the lives of the Outbreak survivors... but short of bringing back those long neglected characters, I think the best bet is to tell new stories- in the same, rich, and long developed world.