The upcoming Resident Evil Village DLC: Winters is well worth exploring. Indeed, Capcom has been making some serious strides over the past couple of years, to the point of well and truly earning the title of one of the finest modern AAA game publishers. One of the things that makes Capcom's offerings special, in particular, is that the company is keen on proper expansion packs. Y'know, not microtransactions. As some of you are bound to have already seen, the upcoming Resident Evil Village Winters DLC is a prime example of this being the case.

Now, it was obvious early on that RE: Village was special. A new type of Capcom horror experience that bundles the new with the old in the best possible way. A subsequent DLC release was inevitable, for sure. The thing we didn't know, however, was whether Capcom would lean into its Arcadey Mercenary Mode side, or continue the main Village narrative. And, as it turns out, it's a bit of both!

Indeed, we already have a reasonably solid idea of what to expect out of the Winters DLC. Here, you too can get up to speed quickly. And, of course, decide if this exciting new X-pack is the right choice for you, too. Let's get to it!

Grab the RE: Village Winters' Expansion today!

What is The Latest Resident Evil Village DLC: Winters?

Priced at €18.99 via 2Game.com, the so-called Winters' Expansion is the very first major expansion pack for Resident Evil: Village. It's substantially more comprehensive than most will have expected. Namely, the DLC comes with both a narrative expansion and a Mercenaries Mode expansion, as well as a slew of other gameplay improvements and additions. For example, if you ever wanted to play Village in third-person mode - this is the way to go.

Though there are some cosmetic items included in this DLC, too, they're barely noticeable compared to other, more interesting content. Said content can be separated into two distinct categories. Those are, of course, featured in their own respective sections in the continuation of this article. Not much is known about it all at this time, but we do know some tidbits.

It's noteworthy that, while Gold Edition owners of RE: Village will receive this DLC at no additional cost, the Winters' Expansion isn't included as part of the Deluxe Edition of the game. It may be worth double-checking which version of the game you purchased - if you already own a copy - just to make sure you don't double-dip for no good reason.

Resident Evil Village: Winters' Expansion is coming out on October 28.

Story Expansion Elements in RE: Village DLC

Narratively speaking, Village left a whole heaping spoonful of unanswered questions after its main story was done. We talked about RE narratives and how they fit into a bigger whole not too long ago, and it seems Capcom recognizes this notion, too.

Winters Expansion takes place roughly 16 years after the events of Village. Players step into the shoes of Rose Winters, who needs to take after her father, Ethan, and uncover certain hazy details about her upbringing and, indeed, genetic heritage. By the looks of it, Rose will traverse the undisclosed Eastern European landscape, too. Except, now that such a long time had passed, the castle fell into further disrepair, and BOWs run rampant still. Yet, Rose received combat training from Chris Redfield, and seems to have some special abilities all of her own...

At this time, we don't know how big or small the new campaign - Shadows of Rose - might be. The only real frame of reference we have, in this sense, are the RE7 DLCs, such as End of Zoe. These took a few hours to beat and offered a decent change of pace. The new Shadows of Rose campaign may be a bit larger still, but it's unlikely to be longer than the base game's 10ish hours of gameplay.

Mercenary Mode Expansion in RE: Village DLC

As much as we enjoyed Village's Mercenaries Mode on launch day, it didn't take too long to see that the mode could've done with a bit more content at launch. Thankfully, the Winters' DLC aims to alleviate this, too. This is, by the looks of it, the single biggest post-launch Mercenaries expansion ever seen in a Resident Evil game.

Namely, there are two big levels being added to the existing roster of encounters: Bloody Village and Bloody River. This portion of the DLC is billed as Additional Orders, and it features no less than three new playable characters. Now, players may recall that Village only really had unique equipment loadouts that Ethan could choose from at launch. With Chris Redfield, Lady Dimitrescu, and Heisenberg now added to the roster, the mode is being upgraded by a fair margin.

The specific implementation is, of course, yet to be seen, but Additional Orders should add heaps more replayability to Village, broadly speaking. High-score hunters, in particular, are sure to get a kick out of it!

Is more DLC for RE: Village on the way, too?

On top of certain campaign-exclusive cosmetics and the surprisingly well-made third-person mode, the content that's being added to the mix with the Winters' Expansion is looking mighty fine indeed. RE: Village already made its way onto the list of best Capcom games of all time, and fresh expansion packs can only further improve its standing.

That, of course, begs the next big question: what comes next? Does Capcom have more plans for DLC after the Winters pack is out? To these questions, we have no real answer at this time. Village did remarkably well, that's for sure. And while Capcom usually pushes out a DLC or two for its biggest successes, it's probable that the studio is already working on the next Resident Evil too.

In fact, Resident Evil 4 Remake's already been announced. To that end, while it's not impossible that there's another X-pack coming out after this one, it's not an absolute certainty.

Closing Thoughts

Resident Evil is doing remarkably well as of late. Not only are mainline releases back on track, but the remakes are stellar, too. It's apparent that the franchise is in better hands than ever before, we feel. Yet, this doesn't necessarily tell us much about the quality of this particular DLC. The pre-release footage certainly looks stellar, but narrative developments are the big thing here.

We'll have more DLC coverage ready to go over the coming weeks. If you'd like to learn more about the expansion ahead of its release, be sure to check in with our Community Hub! In the interim, Resident Evil Village Winters DLC is set and primed to hit the stores on October 28, 2022.

Grab the RE: Village Winters' Expansion today!