"Lickers Are Kind Of Cute" suggests the official Resident Evil team

After the record-breaking launch, Hideki Kamiya – legendary creator of Bayonetta, Devil May Cry and Okami, and system designer on the original Resident Evil – urged Capcom to make a “non-scary” version of Resident Evil Requiem because he just wants to “enjoy the puzzles and the combat”.

Capcom quickly obliged, not by making the entire game cute, but by giving one of the game's Singer zombies a kawaii cat, overlaying a pink filter and surrounding her with cherry blossoms.

But not content with just making the singer cute, Capcom has now set its sights on one of the series' most terrifying foes, The Licker, saying they can actually be “kind of cute,” UwU.

Resident Evil developers are now asking us to love one of the series' most terrifying creatures

The Licker first debuted in Resident Evil 2. With its exposed brain and long tongue, it quickly became one of the series' scariest enemies. After its debut, it went on to make sporadic appearances in other Resi games, including Resident Evil Outbreak, Resident Evil 3, and, most recently, Resident Evil Requiem.

In an attempt to change its image, the official Resident Evil Japanese social media account has posted a picture of a Licker with three little question marks above its head, suggesting that “Lickers are kind of cute when they look confused!”

a licker with a question mark above its head.

The slicker in question, brain exposed and terrible teeth on display, walks over Claire Redfield in a scene from Resident Evil 2's 2019 remake, and apparently some question marks now make it lovable.

Now in Japan they have a penchant for finding strange things cute. I remember laughing my ass off at some of the stuff in the gacha machines over there, which were designed to be cute, but were more terrifying than anything else: like these Kobito Dukan toys, but I think these brain-exposed, t-virus-infected creatures might be taking things a step too far. Come on, Capcom.