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How Capcom Designed Resident Evil Village's Lady Dimitrescu, and Why She's So Big Online

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

“In the early stages of planning, we decided on going with [a] castle and vampires motifs,” says Tomonori Takano, Village’s Art Director, in a recent interview with IGN. “However, we did not want to be constrained by how vampires have been portrayed in various forms of popular entertainment.”

Takano began with the concept of a “bewitching vampire,” and says they drew inspiration from figures like famed 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer Elizabeth Báthory, the Japanese urban legend Hashaku-sama, and Anjelica Huston’s Morticia Addams.

Lady Demitrescu definitely doesn’t look like a traditional vampire. While she’s pale and has bright yellow eyes, she looks more like she stepped out of a 1920s speakeasy rather than some Eastern European castle (and she probably stepped over people entirely on her way). “The very first piece of concept art I drew was the scene in the trailer where Lady Dimitrescu ducks down to walk through the doorway,” Takano said. “From that moment, I knew I had to do that scene.”

“Like any good character that makes people horny, [Lady Demitrescu is] a combination of a bunch of different niche fetishes,” says Emily Gaudette, a pop culture and relationship columnist who has written about the intersection of kink and pop-culture. “Obviously, she’s a vampire, and the fantasy of being devoured or consumed by a vampire is classic at this point. They desire something taboo about you – your blood, your life force – and they have to hurt you to get it, but the ecstasy of having your blood drained is always framed as sexual.”

Gaudette says that for a lot of men the idea of being physically overpowered by a woman is novel and exciting – which would help explain why there are so many memes and jokes about being stepped on, chased, or crushed by Lady Dimitrescu. “There’s been this proliferation of straight men identifying as ‘simps’ online,” she says. “It’s just a reversal of the typical hetero sub/dom dynamic.”

“A lot of memes I see are riffing on this idea that a gamer might lose on purpose to get reamed out by the giant beautiful woman, and that’s the sort of fun sexual play that a sub/dom couple might get into.”

It’s also worth noting just how stylish Lady Dimitrescu is when compared to other (no pun intended) Big Bads in the Resident Evil franchise. One of the first scenes we saw her in has her sitting in front of a mirror applying make-up. Takano says they didn’t want to “lean too heavily into gothic horror designs for the entire village,” and incorporated “elements of the Great Depression-era into the overall design.”

Even compared to past women villains in the Resident Evil series, Lady Dimitrescu stands out. She’s not some overly monstrous creature like Lisa Trevor or someone conventionally attractive that mutates into a monster like Alexia Ashford. Lady Dimitrescu sits in between the two as something wholly unique and original for Capcom.

Takano says this is a continuation of Capcom’s new direction for the series that began with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. “We analyzed the characters and elements in the Resident Evil series so far to see if they were truly scary,” says Takano, “or if they had become so conventional that they lost their effectiveness in scaring players.” He says even the series’ longtime producer, Jun Takeuchi, mused that “If we want people to be scared, we need to think beyond the stereotypical zombies.”

“I tried to forget the design logic of the past, and began to think about the best ways to create fear,” says Takano. “For Resident Evil Village, we are using similar concepts of ‘Evil’ like we did in Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, which was neither based on normal humans nor zombies.”

According to Takano, the response has been overwhelming, and even non-gaming outlets like The Guardian picked up on the internet’s new 9’6” obsession. "I don't think anyone [on the team] could have predicted how wonderfully fans have reacted to Lady Dimitrescu," says Takano. “Personally, “I was particularly struck by comments like, ‘I want to be chased by her.”.

Of course, the next chapter in the Resident Evil adventure isn’t just about big ladies with even bigger hats. “What we’ve shown so far — Lady Dimitrescu, the village, and the castle — encompass just a section of Resident Evil Village,” Takano says. “We have prepared many other elements that created a much bigger experience than Resident Evil 7 Biohazard.
 

j0hnnix

Member
bob GIF
 

Spaceman292

Banned
I like what he said about moving away from the traditional design choices that they used to think were 'scary'. No one's really scared by zombies anymore, but a crazed old man with a shovel is absolutely terrifying. It's great that they're coming up with fresh stuff.

Also *tits*
 

sublimit

Banned
She's a HUGE (pun intended) improvement over the cliche hillbillies of Texas RE7 Massacre that's for sure.

Of course the game doesn't look like Resident Evil at all (same as RE7) but who cares at this point?
 
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Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I personally haven’t seen a scary side of her. The only thing I’ve actually thought was scary was her appearing out of a small doorway in the trailer. I hope the game sells well, especially with as much cosplay attention that she’s getting.I bought my digital copy, so I was sold day 1.
 
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Astral Dog

Member
imo this is getting a little annoying, but at least it should bring new players , RE Village looks awesome either way and i hope its succesful for Capcom even more than 7 was, perfect marriage of RE7 and 4
 

Astral Dog

Member
Lets see what the experts on resetera can tell about this.
ERA already has a few good analysis
 

Aldynes

Member
It's great in my opinion that CAPCOM try to do something else and experiment more on new ideas, the horror genre needs it to avoid being stale when you're getting more comfortable after seeing the same monster/things dozens of time, what works best is atmosphere and mysteries, the setting is very interesting and i can't wait to play RE 8.

They can afford to go that direction because they got remakes, it would be problematic otherwise not having an alternative for the other half of the fanbase, granted we don't have Classic RE anymore and they could have done MUCH more with RE2 and 3 Remakes but you got the point.

What remains after multiple playtroughs is the gameplay, this is primordial, take call of cthulhu dark corners of the earth, the game clearly nailed the atmosphere but it's a chore to play.

New ideas are always welcome for me, after RE 7 and ALIEN ISOLATION I need a THE THING game now, imagine the potential that would be insane!

I think RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE is CAPCOM way to give RESIDENT EVIL 7 fans a RESIDENT EVIL 4 experience with a first person view, (the whole village / castle / merchant / inventory system / guns upgrades) while giving something to please RE 4 Remake fans while they wait.

From a development point of view, it's not far fetched to assume it's gonna save CAPCOM time and money if they can re-use assets from RE 8 to RE 4 remake and see what works and what don't, pleasing a large portion of their fans while doing so, RE 4 is a hugely beloved game and you know CAPCOM they LOVE to recycle, for the longest of time they did that for pretty much every game in the franchise using RE1 and 1.5 left over ideas.
 

Astral Dog

Member
She's a HUGE (pun intended) improvement over the cliche hillbillies of Texas RE7 Massacre that's for sure.

Of course the game doesn't look like Resident Evil at all (same as RE7) but who cares at this point?
I rather take it doesn't look like Resident Evil but its scary, good and PLAYS like one than whatever shit RE6 and Rev were supposed to be.

first person Resident Evil is pure awesome 😁💕
 

sublimit

Banned
I rather take it doesn't look like Resident Evil but its scary, good and PLAYS like one than whatever shit RE6 and Rev were supposed to be.

first person Resident Evil is pure awesome 😁💕
RE7 wasn't RE just like RE6 wasn't RE either.

RE2 IS RE though (even if i didn't liked some of the changes they did to the original) and that is the right way for the series to move forward IMO.

RE8 isn't RE either but at least the setting looks much more interesting than RE7's and i'd rather have a giant sex bomb chasing me than that lame hillbilly Jack.

And First Person although i understand why they implemented it (it's trendy and it appeals to Twitch streamers) does not belong in this series IMO. In a perfect world they would have made RE7 and RE8 a new IP series but obviously it would have sold much less without "Resident Evil" on their covers.
 
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Astral Dog

Member
RE7 wasn't RE just like RE6 wasn't RE either.

RE2 IS RE though (even if i didn't liked some of the changes they did to the original) and that is the right way for the series to move forward IMO.

RE8 isn't RE either but at least the setting looks much more interesting than RE7's and i'd rather have a giant sex bomb chasing me than that lame hillbilly Jack.

And First Person although i understand why they implemented it (it's trendy and it appeals to Twitch streamers) does not belong in this series IMO. In a perfect world they would have made RE7 and RE8 a new IP series but obviously it would have sold much less without "Resident Evil" on their covers.
I think it fits Resident Evil perfectly (obviously there will be more third person games as well, much more), its fresh yet it plays like classic RE far more than the previous action games were, while presenting a new perspective (Capcom loves to call it 'isolating')RE7 is unlike other first person horror games thanks to its design the southern setting, combat, puzzles, ítem managment, etc.
 
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Interfectum

Member
ERA already has a few good analysis
The answer to the REEE question is yes. We are obsessed with sex. It's how we were created and continue the creation cycle. It's built in and never going away unless you visit REEE on a daily basis for 1 year.
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
She's a HUGE (pun intended) improvement over the cliche hillbillies of Texas RE7 Massacre that's for sure.

Seeing the movie you were referring to is the scariest movie I've seen which in turn made RE7 one of the most nerve wrecking games I've played I would have to agree with you.
 

Zeroing

Banned
There’s real tall women!
Men for many years been chosen for their size! Society tell us that men needs to be bigger than women - in order to be considered attractive.

Well that concept is changing and it’s liberating (I assume) for men and women. Mix all that with “big bosses” power play, sexual fantasies and there you go!
That is why the character is so talked on the internet.
 
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According to Takano, the hundred witches in the original concept were to be mostly naked. A giant countess and her three creepy daughters is what that idea became once the team “brought it back to horror.”
So big titted amazon is the compromise. Based devs.
 

MarkyG

Member
“A lot of memes I see are riffing on this idea that a gamer might lose on purpose to get reamed out by the giant beautiful woman, and that’s the sort of fun sexual play that a sub/dom couple might get into.”
Made me chuckle. 'reamed out' :D
 
There’s real tall women!
Men for many years been chosen for their size! Society tell us that men needs to be bigger than women - in order to be considered attractive.

Well that concept is changing and it’s liberating (I assume) for men and women. Mix all that with “big bosses” power play, sexual fantasies and there you go!
That is why the character is so talked on the internet.
My girlfriend is 6ft tall. I'm a trendsetter.
 
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