9 Video Game Recastings That Pissed Everyone Off
4. Chris Redfield - Resident Evil 7
In order to get away from the established lore and allow new players an entry point to the series, Resident Evil 7 had a new brand location and set of characters that almost never touched on the series history. However, in the final scene, a shock reveal left fans very confused. After surviving the ordeal, protagonist Ethan Winters is saved by a soldier who introduces himself as “Redfield”.
The face for Chris was so insanely different from his previous appearances that fans began a spate of theories that this was some kind of strange Umbrella-made clone or even the face of the previously masked HUNK. Future DLC confirmed it was in fact Chris Redfield, who simply had a new face and a new voice to match.
David Vaughn’s portrayal was close to previous Chris Roger Craig Smith but fans were unhappy. Even when playing from a first person perspective, knowing how dramatically different Chris’ design now was caused fans to reject the entire redesign.
Capcom listened and adjusted accordingly for the follow-up, 2021’s Resident Evil Village, which sat at a strong medium between the two. Vaughn did not return and was replaced by Jeff Schine. Considering Schine had played Carlos in the previous year’s Resident Evil 3 remake with exactly the same voice, this was another controversy all on its own.