Capcom's Resident Evil 7 is still a ways out from release, not expected to hit shelves until January 24th. However, some of the game's deeper secrets and hidden content have already been dug up by data miners digging through the PC version of the demo.
According to Eurogamer, the miners uncovered some Major Spoilers in regards to a character that may return in Resident Evil 7. So once again, *Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead*
The data findings were posted up over on the Resident Evil sub-Reddit, where they dumped the findings from debugging the hex of the Resident Evil 7 executable. They're purely objective findings with no actual explanation of the data. However, one of the data strings mentions having a final boss fight with "Albert".
Many assumed this meant Albert Wesker was making a return to Resident Evil 7 and that he would be revived for the game. Others assumed that this could make the seventh game a prequel that takes place before the events of Resident Evil 5, where Chris Redfield killed Wesker in an epic showdown involving exploding boulders and a fiery lava pit.
However, you should take note that one of the other strings mentions that there may be an Eveline Wesker in in the game. A user commented in the Reddit thread not to panic or "get your hopes up" because it could be a relative of Wesker and they're using "Albert" as a code string to refer to her and not necessarily Albert Wesker. We do know that whoever the "Albert" is will be in the game in an active way because there's a string for them to use a handgun, which means that they'll, at the very least, shoot at something.
In Resident Evil 6 gamers took on the role of Jake Muller, Albert Wesker's son. They didn't explore his story much since he spent most of it running from an angry monster, but it does make you wonder if maybe Eveline will have any relation to Jake?
Capcom had previously mentioned that the "heroes" of Resident Evil wouldn't be making an appearance in Resident Evil 7, so if Eveline really is the Wesker referred to in the strings, then that would fit in line with their previous comments. That doesn't mean that Albert Wesker is out for good, but just don't expect to see the leather-clad villain make an appearance, based on what the data miners have uncovered.
Now, is it possible that they could allude to Albert Wesker in some way? It's possible. But according to the Eurogamer article the strings point to Albert being able to use a handgun and a shotgun, and that there's a string to call Albert for the "LastBoss".
However, I think some people may be misinterpreting the strings. One of the strings asks "IsDamagedByAlbert", indicating if something other than the player is damaged by Albert. It also counts Albert's damage dealt, and Albert interacting. Also, it mentions a handgun reward in relation to Albert.
Based on the strings, it sounds like there's a call function for an NPC Albert to appear to help the player with a handgun or shotgun, and they will help you fight the main boss. It also notes that for the last boss there's a string to "finish" and "get [the] gun". Again, just speculating here, but it sounds like another call function to reward the player with Albert's custom handgun after defeating the main boss.
Keep in mind that this is all speculation and the data strings in the demo could be placeholders. Heck, they could be hooks for future DLC. When it comes to reading hex sometimes there's left over code in there that isn't even used. So, we'll have to wait until Resident Evil 7 comes out in order to have these questions answered.
