9 Awesome Video Game Moments That Didn’t Need To Happen

Resident Evil 7 was a huge turning point for Capcom in the Resident Evil series. Given how underwhelming Resident Evil 6 was when leaning fully into all out action and trying to balance 3 different co-op character campaigns, RE7 had a lot riding on it. 

What we got was an incredible changeup to the series – a mainline first-person instalment following new protagonist Ethan Winters who is searching for his missing wife Mia. 

It was a successful return to the survival horror routes the series is known for, with its clever switch to first person pulling you more into the horror experience. 

Its gritty VHS horror movie aesthetic is more akin to Evil Dead, which ditches the prior instalments heavy action focus at levels seen in Milla Jovovich’s movies of the same name (because those movies… yeahhh...)  

Ethan searches for Mia in a derelict family home belonging to The Bakers, an infected family consisting of Jack, Marguerite, Lucas and Zoe (Oh and Grandma Baker is chillin’ throughout the game as well!)

The initial 3 Bakers we meet in the infamous dinner table scene serve as bosses to face within the game. However, Jack is the more consistent antagonist as you come to face him 5 times throughout with a mixture of running away from him or taking him on in boss battles.

He is persistent in his pursuit, serving as this game’s Mr X or Nemesis villain – bursting through walls and doors to hunt you down. However, there is a moment we share with Jack which completely changes your perception of him.

Later on in the game you enter what can only be described as a shared consciousness within the mould in a cutscene. You wake with Jack standing over you and initially Ethan throws his hands up to defend himself. 

But instead of suffering yet another attack from the man you’ve either ran from or battled as a boss by this point, Jack consoles Ethan with a calming voice as he says “I’m not gonna hurt you, hell I never would have if I could have helped it.” 

He explains that none of his family are killers and that the main antagonist, Eveline, took control over them all. He then begs you to save his family before Ethan fades back out of the shared consciousness.

Without this cutscene, we would have framed Jack and his family as typical boss encounters we’ve seen before in the likes of Wesker, William Birkin, Nemesis and Tyrant – the big bads we kill to complete the game. 

But this moment flips the script in the way we understand the Bakers, giving incredible dept to otherwise familiar Resident Evil bosses. It can be argued that some have emotional layers, such as William Birkin still caring for his daughter Sherry after his mutation.

However, we are observers of this, we don’t engage with William in the way that we do with Jack. His emotional plight hits differently, speaking to Ethan directly (and by first-person extension, the player) which humanises him as a man simply pleading with you to save his family. 

This poignant moment is incredible in executing layers of vulnerability and an emotional tenderness we rarely get to see in a Resident Evil game (although Claire Redfield crying out for Steve in Code Veronica still gets me every time!)