Few companies can buck the trend and afford not to jump on the Unreal Engine 5 bandwagon. Capcom is one of them. After posting its 11th consecutive year of profit growth, the company is in a good place financially, and it’s all thanks to the RE Engine. But, despite the engine’s prowess, it’s starting to get up there in age, which explains why Capcom is planning for the future.
Always at the forefront of video game technology, the RE Engine is about to witness a remarkable evolution that could push the boundaries of gaming realism and immersion to unprecedented heights.
In a revealing presentation on Capcom’s R&D channel, a new generation of the RE Engine, codenamed REX (short for RE neXt Engine), was unveiled. This revelation, which emerged during the RE: 2023 conference, highlighted the company’s vision for the future of gaming technology. Tomofumi Ishida, a programmer at Capcom, shed light on the journey of the RE Engine and the impending transition to REX.
The RE Engine debuted Resident Evil 7 in 2017 and has been the backbone of numerous titles like Monster Hunter: Rise, Devil May Cry 5, as well as every Resident Evil entry since, including both remakes and new installments. It’s one of the few in-house engines still in use, calling the likes of Rockstar Games’ RAGE, Remedy Entertainment’s Northlight, as well as DICE’s Frostbite, among its contemporaries, although the latter has begun to fall out of favor lately – the next Mass Effect game will use Unreal Engine 5. This decision has paid off tremendously, with Capcom titles consistently earning accolades for their technical prowess and innovative gameplay.
With modern gaming demanding ever-larger assets and greater levels of customization for modern day project, the RE Engine has started to show its limitations. Resident Evil 4 Remake, in particular, faced challenges with rendering distant moving objects and handling larger asset files suited for 4K gaming. Capcom is building REX with these shortcomings in mind, offering a higher level of customization tailored for its diverse range of properties and giving audiences a more efficient way of managing massive volumes of assets.
This next-generation REX engine seeks to better accommodate developers across the globe. Recognizing the increasing involvement of foreign nationals and overseas subcontractors, Capcom is enhancing the documentation, samples, and tutorials in multiple languages. This initiative aligns with the growing influx of mid-career hires familiar with commercial game engines, ensuring that the transition to REX is smooth and intuitive.
Notably, Capcom has envisioned a phased approach to introduce the REX Engine, instead of a complete overhaul. It has outlined an eight-phase progression plan, encompassing stages such as REDox, REUI, RELog, and so forth. This strategic move suggests that while the full-fledged REX Engine might still be some time away, forthcoming titles can benefit incrementally from the new technologies and solutions being integrated.
Given the continuous advancements in hardware, the potential of REX is boundless. Capcom’s mention of Nvidia’s 4090 graphics card hints at the seamless integration of the RE engine with cutting-edge hardware, promising gamers a better experience not quite like any other. Imagine a new Resident Evil game where the horrific feeling feels more real and the environments more immersive with more responsive gameplay. The meticulous detail enabled by the next-gen engine will not only make the games look visually stunning but will intensify the terror and thrill that Capcom’s horror titles are renowned for.
Is it possible that Capcom is breaking precedence by skipping the current Resident Evil cycle next year to prepare REX Engine for Resident Evil 9? With Resident Evil 5 and 6 considered as the weaker entries in the franchise and Resident Evil Code Veronica all but primed for a re-release, there’s a path for Capcom to release a new remake between 2024 and 2026.
If this happens, the REX Engine could make its debut in 2027 with Resident Evil 9, mirroring RE Engine with Resident Evil 7 in 2017. And, while they’re at it, maybe it can bring in Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya to work on a modern-day Dino Crisis. We can only imagine how many sleepless nights gamers will have if Capcom can recreate some of Dino Crisis’ most iconic moments on modern consoles.
Of course, this is purely speculation. What’s certain is Capcom’s initiative to elevate their game engine technology to deliver unparalleled gaming experiences. By blending their storied game development history with innovative engine tech, Capcom is poised to craft games that are not only visually spectacular but deeply engaging and endlessly terrifying.
