Retire Some Characters or Plot Threads
Put simply, this series cannot sustain the bloat that it has foisted upon itself. Some characters and chunks of plot need to mount a horse and gallop off into the sunset…immediately.
Sure, it is fanservice, but the intent is marred by the follow-through. Characters are present, sure, but they are taking part in events much larger than themselves, events that only now tangentially relate to their original roles in the series. Seeing Chris Redfield (or any other remnant of the PS1 era) is momentarily interesting, but that spark of recognition of the past is immediately beset on all sides by goals that are obligatory, uninteresting, or confusing. If players feel the characters themselves have no stake in what is happening, how can we, the gamers, feel invested?
After the tying up that sort of occurred in RE6, now is the perfect time to invent a new crisis or bring one or two new characters forward to investigate some as yet unexplored phenomenon in the zombie apocalypse. I recognize that new characters are constantly being introduced in RE, but they are immediately thrust into these weird, zany situations, already tied up in the events of the past, that it becomes difficult to care about them. Combine some fresh blood with a new, tight, frightening story, and that will be something bordering on interesting.
