Recently, foreign media outlet Game Informer published an article analyzing the powerful adaptability of Capcom's in-house RE Engine.
Many players mistakenly assume "RE" is an abbreviation for Resident Evil, but official Technical Director Kazunori Abe clarified that RE stands for "Reach for the Moon." The Resident Evil series just happened to use this engine; the original Japanese name for the series is Biohazard. The engine's logo, featuring a hand reaching for the moon, symbolizes how developers' game concepts can be brought to reality with the help of the engine.
The RE Engine team is part of Capcom's internal structure, unlike commercially licensed engines. When a project requires specific features, the development team can directly request them from the engine engineers, who then customize and add new functionalities. Instead of games adapting to the engine, the engine adjusts to meet project needs. A prime example is the new title Onimusha: Way of the Sword, where the development team requested a dynamic dismemberment system to achieve combat effects that sever enemy limbs while preserving complete death animations.
The RE Engine powers a wide range of Capcom titles with vastly different styles, including the Resident Evil remakes, Street Fighter 6, Monster Hunter Rise, Dragon's Dogma 2, Exoprimal, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Pragmata.
Many players believe the RE Engine excels in linear, level-based games, but others point out that it remains controversial when handling large-scale open-world projects. Dragon's Dogma 2, for instance, experienced performance and loading issues, proving that the "universal engine" label cannot be applied universally.