Resident Evil 1 Remake Entered Pre-Production Last Year

For a franchise that's been on one of the best runs in gaming since Resident Evil VII Biohazard, it was always a question of when, not if, Capcom would circle back to where it all started. According to longtime Resident Evil insider Dusk Golem, a remake of the original 1996 game entered pre-production around August or September of last year. But here's the contradiction: the game everyone's been asking for is also the one that's furthest from actually shipping.

Dusk Golem shared the update on X, stating that a small core team has been handling initial concepting and prototyping for a Resident Evil 1 remake. Pre-production, as the insider explained, involves a skeleton crew working through early ideas before the project expands into full asset creation and proper development. Full production reportedly won't begin until after Resident Evil Veronica wraps up, and Capcom is currently throwing everything it has at getting that game out the door.

Veronica and Zero First

Ressident Evil Veronica, the Code: Veronica remake announced at Summer Game Fest in June, is targeting a Q1 2027 release according to Dusk Golem, with Q2 2027 as a fallback if the team needs more time. Capcom has made that project its priority. And even once Veronica ships, the RE1 remake may not be next in line. Dusk Golem later noted that a Resident Evil Zero remake entered full production in late 2022, which could position it as the next remake after Veronica rather than the RE1 project.

If you follow Capcom's pattern of alternating between remakes and mainline entries, a Resident Evil 1 remake landing somewhere around 2029 seems plausible. That's a long wait, but given how Capcom has handled this era of Resident Evil, I'm not bothered by the timeline. The RE2 Remake, RE4 Remake, and the critically and commercially successful Resident Evil Requiem have all been worth the development time. Rushing the most iconic entry in the series to hit an anniversary window would have been the wrong call, and it seems like Capcom agrees, having passed on a rumoured plan to release it for the franchise's 30th anniversary in 2026.

Dusk Golem has a mixed but generally reliable track record, having correctly predicted the timing of several Resident Evil releases and revealed unannounced projects before their official unveilings. This isn't a Capcom confirmation, so take it accordingly, but the insider's history lends this more weight than a random Reddit post.

Capcom already remade the original Resident Evil once, releasing a faithful GameCube version in 2002 that was later remastered in 2015 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. A modern remake is widely expected to follow the template set by the RE2 Remake: third-person camera, expanded environments, and reworked mechanics. Spencer Mansion rebuilt in that style is the kind of project that could define this generation of Resident Evil, and I'd rather Capcom take the time to get it right than rush it out between other releases.

While you wait for any of this to materialise, there's an indie worth keeping on your radar. Pulsebreaker, a PS1-styled survival horror game with fixed camera angles, limited inventory, and a unique Focus Meter combat system, has a free demo on Steam right now. It's clearly wearing its Resident Evil influence on its sleeve, and for fans starving for classic-style horror, it might scratch that itch until Capcom gets around to remaking the original.

With Veronica aiming for early 2027, a Zero remake potentially in the pipeline, and the RE1 project still in its earliest stages, Capcom's Resident Evil roadmap stretches well into the end of the decade. The studio's track record over the past several years has earned it that kind of patience.