designed as a return to survival elements with limited resources. According to Morimasa Sato, who was a writer for Resident Evil 7 and the director of Resident Evil Village (2021), the development team initially thought of Ethan as merely "a camera for the player" and "transparent", while scriptwriter Antony Johnston said "It's a balancing act between giving Ethan his own personality, but also helping the player imagine that it could be them, reacting in the same way."

Towards the end of