How Capcom designed Lady Dimitrescu for Resident Evil Village and why she is so great online

How Capcom designed Lady Dimitrescu for Resident Evil Village and why she is so great online

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Resident Evil as a franchise casts a long shadow on video games, but Capcom took it literally with Resident Evil 8: Village. The last villain in the series, Lady Dimitrescu, is a 9’6 ”vampire whose imposing structure and Edwardian style inspired a fervent response from her fans. Fanart, memes and cosplay of the character spread across the internet like the T-Virus in the city of Raccoon – much to the delight of the Village developers. Here’s how she came to be, and why she seduced so many people.

A sorcerer vampire

“In the early stages of planning, we decided to proceed with [a] castle and vampire motives, ”said Tomonori Takano, Village Art Director, in a recent interview with IGN. “However, we didn’t want to be limited by the way vampires were portrayed in various forms of popular entertainment.”

Takano started with the concept of a “charming vampire” and says they were inspired by figures like the famous 16th-century Hungarian noble and serial killer Elizabeth Báthory, the Japanese urban legend Hashaku-sama and Morticia Addams by Anjelica Huston.Lady Demitrescu definitely doesn’t look like a traditional vampire. Although she is pale and has bright yellow eyes, she looks more like she came out of a 1920s stealth bar than an Eastern European castle (and she probably passed over people entirely on her way). “The first piece of conceptual art I drew was the scene in the trailer in which Lady Dimitrescu bends down to pass through the door,” said Takano. “From that moment on, I knew I had to do that scene.”

An Elevated Reception

Takano’s instincts were right – when the scene appeared in a brief teaser in January, viral reactions started to rain. One of YouTuber Suzi Hunter’s first videos put it very concisely:

“Like any good character that makes people horny, [Lady Demitrescu is] a combination of several different niche fetishes ”, says Emily Gaudette, a pop culture and relationship columnist who wrote about the intersection of kink and pop culture. “Obviously, she is a vampire, and the fantasy of being eaten or consumed by a vampire is classic in this regard. They want 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 considered sexual. “

Gaudette says that for many men the idea of ​​being physically dominated by a woman is new and exciting – which would help explain why there are so many memes and jokes about being trampled, chased or crushed by Lady Dimitrescu. “There has been this proliferation of heterosexual men who identify themselves as ‘simps’ online,” she says. “It’s just a reversal of the typical hetero sub / dom dynamic.”

“Many memes that I see are messing with the idea that a player can lose on purpose to be deceived by the beautiful giant woman, and this is the kind of fun sexual game that a sub / gift couple can engage in.”

It’s not your typical monster

It is also worth noting how stylish Lady Dimitrescu is when compared to other (no pun intended) Big Bads from the Resident Evil franchise. One of the first scenes in which we saw her shows her sitting in front of a mirror applying makeup. Takano says they did not want to “lean too much towards village-wide Gothic horror designs” and incorporated “elements of the Great Depression era into the overall design”.

Even compared to past villains from the Resident Evil series, Lady Dimitrescu stands out. She is not an overly monstrous creature like Lisa Trevor or someone conventionally attractive who turns into a monster like Alexia Ashford. Lady Dimitrescu is between the two as something totally unique and original for Capcom.

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

Screenshots of Resident Evil 8 Village Showcase

“I tried to forget the design logic of the past and started thinking about the best ways to create fear,” says Takano. “For Resident Evil Village, we are using similar concepts from ‘Evil’, as we did in Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, which was not based on normal humans or zombies.”

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

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

But are we going to want to be stepped on by any of them? Only time will tell.

Matt TM Kim is IGN News Editor.

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