On a driverless tram heading into the endless night, I lean against the handrail, one hand on my hip, the other resting on the window, casually watching the scenery fly by outside.
The sky is overcast, allowing only a faint moonlight to illuminate my melancholic and handsome face. Although it isn't raining, the rain constantly falling in my heart has dampened the first half of my life, marked by hardships. "Yare yare," I sigh softly, lamenting that the world cannot see through my depth. If melancholy is a talent, then I have long reached its peak.
After reading the opening above, don't rush to question me or call me shameless. This super cheesy, melancholic copywriting that even I couldn't keep a straight face while reading is actually related to the resurgence of Resident Evil 6, or rather, the viral popularity of its character selection screen.
Just recently, the long-awaited Resident Evil Requiem was finally released.
And that man, so handsome it's overwhelming—Leon—has finally returned.
Despite approaching fifty years of age, Leon has not weakened with age; instead, he seems to have awakened a demonic form.
In Resident Evil Requiem, he remains the unyielding beast, parrying Everythinggj. Seeing the Tyrant's第二阶段 (Phase 2) muscular arm deflected by Leon's mere small hand axe, anyone who can hold back their laughter must be suffering from depression.
But even before Resident Evil Requiem officially launched, while players were enjoying the game and giggling at Leon, another group on the internet had already started viewing Leon as a melancholic idol and began imitating him.
And the pose they are imitating is exactly the one struck by Leon and his partner Helena in the character selection screen of Resident Evil 6, released in 2012—
To be honest, when I played Resident Evil 6 back then, my attention was entirely focused on the Hollywood-level spectacle in the cutscenes and Sherry's outfit. I never paid much attention to the character selection screen, which only appears briefly at the start of the game.
But looking back now, I realize its design indeed holds many clever ideas.
First, the entire frame is filled with cold tones, with dim lighting, maximizing the sense of loneliness and oppression. In terms of composition, there are only two characters in the train car, one standing and one sitting, maintaining a certain physical distance with no interaction. This reinforces their mutual loneliness and spiritual disconnect, echoing the plot point early in the story where the two haven't yet built deep trust and remain reserved towards each other.
Finally, paired with "Una Mattina" remixed by a DJ into a cheesy love song, the entire scene leaps to become a melancholic masterpiece claimed by the "Plague Youth"—just like when Leon made his reappearance in the Resident Evil Requiem trailer. After seeing Leon's cold, sharp profile, which Jiahao could resist saying, "Oh my god, that's literally me"?
Regardless of background, appearance, age, or experience, once you step into this train car, anyone can become the most melancholic person online, accompanied by the lyrics "Ain't got nobody to call me baby anymore."
Besides claiming the identity in comment sections, some netizens even woke up early specifically to recreate the video in an empty subway, mimicking the camera angles and movements of the original animation. As for the actual results produced by most people... it easily brings to mind an advertising slogan: Kidney deficiency sometimes occurs after excessive fatigue.
However, in today's era, the efficiency of manually shooting videos using traditional methods naturally cannot compare to using AI tools. So, besides real-life reenactments, video platforms are flooded with AI-generated character replacement videos using the character selection screen templates from Resident Evil 6. For a time, the "melancholy virus" spread from person to person, with characters from various works and meme cultures all entering a state of "that day's melancholy rising up."
Thus, you can see Ganmao Cat lose its usual silly innocence, no longer satisfied with snacks and cola, starting to look up at a 45-degree angle, its eyes revealing a numbness born of experience. You can also see Maodie leaning back in a chair, slowly holding his forehead with one hand. Despite displaying an imposing dragon-like demeanor, he also exhibits a loneliness of "it's lonely at the top."
Image source: Bilibili @WanYouXiDeShaoNian
We can also see Hope and Shu from Arknights. Their melancholic state fits the storyline of losing their sisters, though Sister Shu's physique looks quite robust, feeling like she could punch me into the ground with one hit.
We can also see Omnic leader Ramattra, who in netizen fan creations was merely a comedic character crying and shouting "I can't take it anymore" and "Feel my pain," return to his original persona. Standing with arms crossed in the snow, he contemplates the path and future of omnics amidst anger and sorrow.
You can even see a奇妙联动 (wonderful crossover) between Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil 6, with veteran Bill barging into Tall Oaks City to continue fighting zombies in a different game. However, in the Left 4 Dead universe, ordinary zombies are just fodder, not tanky enemies that don't flinch after taking a full magazine of bullets. So, wouldn't you agree that Old Man Bill's K/D ratio is higher than Leon's?
There are also the two feeling deeply melancholic about entering a members-only restaurant. One can only say these two are truly melancholic; no criticism needed.
Image source: Bilibili @ChangChangz
As for these two, not only are they both stylish, but they've also been banned. Truly a pair of melancholic ill-fated lovers.
Image source: Bilibili @QiLiXiang78
As more netizens join in creating fan content, more unimaginable characters have squeezed into this increasingly crowded train car, focusing mainly on the bizarre and anthropomorphic.
For instance, taking inspiration from the comment section meme "Jiahao Bro thinks he's Leon," we put the Licker into the train car. Looking at the Licker touching its head in contemplation, it's probably wondering why, as a $14 million bio-weapon, it couldn't beat a worker wielding a small axe.
Although the Licker's combat performance in the game is quite lackluster, as a classic image of the "Resident Evil" series, its level of horror and grotesqueness is unquestionable. However, after the even more bizarre Melancholic Laughing Nailong appeared, the Licker seemed insignificant by comparison. Now I understand: Laughing Nailong isn't an evolved form of Nailong, but an infected mutated form. Come to think of it, those two prominent eerie big eyes look quite like the series' formulaic monster weak points.
Image source: Bilibili @QiLiXiang78
In the end, the replaced characters don't even have to be living beings—take two bottles of drinks, place them according to the character selection template positions, pull back the camera, twist the bottles slightly, and they too can be enchanted with the melancholic tag, tasting of the bitterness and helplessness of the adult world.
The little robot is still chasing me. Image source: Bilibili @AiSheYingDeLaoTuLv
Actually, examples like "Melancholic Leon," where someone goes viral for being "cool" and triggers a wave of imitation, are far from unique.
For example, earlier last year, K' from The King of Fighters 2000 had a walking animation in the opening cinematic that was so cool it was dubbed "God's Walk" by many netizens, leading to widespread imitation.
Image source: Douyin @YiZhiQiMingMiao
The results of these remakes can roughly be divided into three categories: skilled and authentic, unskilled and awkward, and purely comedic for entertainment value.
Image source: Douyin @WoJiaoLongZhou
Thus, Resident Evil 6 breaking out of its niche in this way can be seen as a "remake" of this phenomenon within pop culture.
Bro is fantasizing about being Makoto Yuki again
Moreover, now that everyone has access to powerful tools like "Seedance 2.0," the barrier to producing such fan-made videos has been significantly lowered, almost to the point where anyone can participate. Perhaps in the future, more old games that have faded from attention will be rediscovered by the public thanks to a cool character animation, returning to the spotlight and even attracting new blood.
For instance, the viral success of Resident Evil 6's character selection screen has somewhat boosted the game's recent sales and player count.
From my observations, the concurrent player counts for the entire "Resident Evil" series on Steam have recently increased. Therefore, the key factors behind the rise in Resident Evil 6's player count are more likely the hype generated by the release of Resident Evil Requiem and timely significant discounts on the game. The conversion rate of players who noticed Resident Evil 6 due to the viral character selection screen and ultimately purchased the game might not be as high as everyone imagines.
However... although few in number, there are indeed people who became interested in Resident Evil 6 due to the widely spread fan-made content of the "melancholic character selection screen," and joined the ranks against bio-terrorism.
From this perspective, although Resident Evil 6's breakout this time was unexpected, it is ultimately a good thing.