It seems that Resident Evil: Resistance will not be canon, Capcom has stated.
In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine (via GamesRadar), Resident Evil 3 producer Peter Fabiano stated that Resistance is not a canonical new story in the Resident Evil series, but rather an experience with connections to the franchise's universe. He clarified that the multiplayer spin-off is set in Raccoon City with scenarios that make it impossible for it to fit the actual series' timeline even though we will see characters from the franchise. Fabiano continued by stating that Resistance's connection to Resident Evil 3 is purely thematic, which is why Capcom bundled the two games together.
"You'll remember that the Japanese subtitle for RE3 was Last Escape," Fabiano stated. "Both of these titles have characters that are trying to escape somewhere or something, so thematically it made sense. We also wanted to take up the challenge of building out an online game set in the RE universe."
Resident Evil: Resistance was revealed this past September at the Tokyo Game Show. Resistance is an asymmetrical multiplayer mode that sees four survivors trying to escape from a player-controlled Mastermind. While survivors can deter the villain, the Mastermind can drop zombies, traps, and enemies in order to stop the survivors from making it out.
Earlier this month it was revealed that there will be a number of changes made to the remake of Resident Evil 3. The remake will be getting rid of the fixed camera angles that were featured in the original, and will replace them with an over-the-shoulder perspective that we saw in the Resident Evil 2 remake. The game will no longer feature multiple endings, bringing into question how the game's story will be altered. The original's Mercenaries mode will be dropped in favor of Resistance.
Resident Evil 3 will drop for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 3rd.
