Resident Evil Village PR stunt leaves Somerset locals scratching their heads: ‘Is it a dragon? Crash Bandicoot? Let’s welcome our new werewolf hill, it’s cute’

Quiet news day? Possibly. An excuse to write about Resident Evil Village, the game of the moment? Maybe. The kind of quirky news post we like to write on ENUK now and again? Most definitely.

Residents in Somerset, UK, were left puzzled after a 58x100m chalk artwork appeared on the hills nestled between villages in Somerset on the Blackdown Hills.

The artwork depicts a Lycan, a monster in the new Resident Evil Village game (aka Resident Evil 8), which launched on Friday May 7th. Lycans are apparently known for ‘possessing superior strength, reflexes and speed’, and is the latest of more than 50 chalk figures scattered across the English countryside.

Locals first spotted the hillside artwork during the Bank Holiday weekend and were left scratching their heads.

News publication Somerset Live covered the artwork, with the headline, ‘mysterious figure appears on side of hill in the Mendip Hills in Somerset overnight,’ prompting residents to guess about its origins.

“Crash Bandicoot is what it is,” Adam Poynton said on the Somerset Live Facebook post.

Judi Lomas commented: “There is not a dragon on the Somerset flag! It is a wyvern.”

Other guessed it was something to do with Game of Thrones, aliens or even a Banksy artwork.

“I welcome our new werewolf hill. It’s cute,” Thea Sandford added.

Following a week of speculation surrounding England’s latest hillside artwork, the mystery was revealed as Capcom’s PR reps added the game’s name, Resident Evil Village, beneath the artwork.

Tsuyoshi Kanda, producer of Resident Evil Village at Capcom, said: “The Resident Evil franchise is known for introducing some of video games’ most iconic characters, and has always tried new things as the series has progressed. To celebrate the launch of the latest installment, Resident Evil Village, we’re thrilled to have brought one of the new, most iconic and fearsome enemies players will encounter within the game to life in a whole new way.”

Resident Evil celebrated its 25th anniversary in March 2021. It helped popularise the survival horror genre back in 1996 when the first Resident Evil launched on the original PlayStation (and gave 10-year-old Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco nightmares)!

Resident Evil Village is now available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam and Stadia. Buyers of the game will get access to the free multiplayer experience Resident Evil Re:Verse coming in summer 2021.

Earlier this year, Ubisoft and Capcom announced Resident Evil skins for competitive shooter Rainbow Six Siege.

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.