Resident Evil Village has some confusing demo nonsense, with limited times and different windows of availability. But if you do get a chance to play the demo you’ll hear a nice little reference to the Merchant from Resident Evil 4 aka the best character in that game.
In Resident Evil Village’s “Castle Demo,” you encounter a shopkeeper by the name of Duke. When you interact with him, he asks the player “What’re ya buying?” in the same way the good old Merchant from RE4 often did when Leon pursued his wares. Duke also mentions an “old friend” of his used to say this.
Reddit user gtageek2k was one of the first people to spot the Easter egg and shared it on the Resident Evil subreddit. YouTube user KendoGunSop Survival Horror uploaded a short clip of the reference found in the “Castle Demo.”
I have many questions. Is the Merchant still around? Did he survive the events of Resident Evil 4? How does the Duke know him? Did he ever see the Mega64 video where they annoy people dressed up like him? I hope so. It’s very good.
I’ve already shared my love and appreciation for Resident Evil 4′s Merchant on Kotaku. He’s just a cool dude, making money and talking to strangers. And if you shot him to see if you could kill him you are a terrible, awful monster.
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(I did it too. But I regretted it and never did it again.)
Resident Evil Village comes out May 7, 2021, for *deep breath* PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC. You might be able to play the demo right now or not. I have no idea. It’s a confusing and stupid mess.
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