Today marks the launch ofResident Evil Village, also known asResident Evil 8. The new first-person horror game is already well-known for going viral several times pre-launch, the most notable example being the ever-popular Lady Dimitrescu, the very tall vampire lady. Yet as players begin to dive intoResident Evil Village, a new concern is quickly becoming players' focus. That concern being the constant violence protagonist Ethan Winters' hands repeatedly go through.
Just to be clear, this meme is somewhat of a spoiler for bothResident Evil 7andResident Evil 8. Twitter is having a lot of fun talking about Ethan Winters' hands in both of the last mainResident Evilgames, specifically because of the treatment his hands go through. “Can’t y’all leave Ethan Winters' hand in peace,” reads one message. “I quite like Ethan Winters, gotta hand it to him,” reads another mocking post. A common post is simply “Ethan Winters' Hand:” with theGrand Theft Auto: San Andreasmemewith CJ saying, “Ah ****, here we go ahead.”
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The issue at hand refers to the frequent harm Ethan Winters experiences specifically via his hands. In the opening gameplay sequence ofResident Evil 7,for example, his hands are slashed repeatedly, stabbed with a knife, stabbed with a fork, and ultimatelyEthan’s left hand is lopped off with a chainsaw. Ethan didn’t have it so bad, though. He did regrow the hand later. InResident Evil 8, let’s just say that Ethan’s hands, both of them, end up going through some painful events all over again.
Needless to say, the visuals associated withEthan Winterslosing his hand inResident Evil 7and what then happens to him inResident Evil 8are striking, horrific, and stand out in peoples' memories. That’s why so many people are finding common ground sharing memes about poor Ethan Winters' misfortune.
There’s a good reason why these specific hand injuries keep happening to Ethan Winters, of course. It’s not like Capcom isn’t aware of what it’s doing. It starts with what makesResident Evil 7and8unique in the franchise –first-person mode. The players' biggest connection to Ethan Winters is his hands, which they’ll see all game long. Violence toward Ethan’s hands connects with the player in a unique and horrifying way, without doing so much harm that Ethan can’t continue in the game.
Resident Evil Villageobviously features manydifferent methods of scaring the player– a full game’s worth, even. It’s both hilarious and apt that players key into this one specific way that Capcom’s been able to communicate what the game is about to them.
Resident Evil Villageis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Resident Evil Village: Everything We Know About Ethan Winters So Far
