Copies of Resident Evil Village have prematurely made it into the hands of some players with over a week to go before the horror titles launch.

Some players have already gotten their hands on Resident Evil Village, despite the game being more than a week out from official release. A seemingly broken street date isn't the only leak that's plagued the latest Resident Evil entry. Late last year, publisher Capcom became the subject of a ransomware attack on its networks, which culminated in the spread of sensitive data that included RE Village details.

The hack-induced leaks featured information involving the horror title's ending, Chris Redfield's role in the overarching narrative, and other major points of interest related to the plot and characters. Even footage of a boss fight made the rounds online due to the data breach, though Capcom managed to quickly scrub traces of it from the web. But it seems as though fans who unfortunately had the title spoiled need not worry too much. Until Resident Evil Village's official release, there's no way of knowing how the leaked plot information compares to the final build. After all, it's possible some details stem from the project's nascent phases of development. Those who've avoided the leaks may still want to remain wary about potential spoilers, however.

Based on a post shared by Twitter user Kaiser499 (via Comicbook.com), retail copies of Resident Evil Village are already surfacing in the wild. Kaiser shared an image of themselves holding the title's PlayStation 5 version in hand. The "R 18+" rating tag suggests the street date was broken at a store in Australia; however, Kaiser hasn't revealed how exactly they managed to secure a copy. Other bits of interesting information were confirmed in subsequent posts from the Twitter user, though. For one, RE Village's file size weighs in at approximately 27GB, which isn't nearly as large as the Resident Evil 3 remake's 43GB download. Kaiser additionally confirmed that Capcom has yet to implement a post-release patch. Thus, whether or not players can expect a day one update presently remains a mystery.

Again, fans looking forward to this entry would do well to remain wary of spoilers in the lead up to Resident Evil Village's release. This especially holds true considering uncertainties about what other territories may have launched the game ahead of its scheduled May due date.

Fortunately, Capcom has rolled out a few demos that allow eager players to try out the latest Resident Evil installment for themselves. The final PlayStation-exclusive trial went live over the weekend, while RE Village's multiplatform demo will become available on May 1 in North America and May 2 in Europe.

Resident Evil Village is set to follow on from the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Players will be reunited with Ethan Winters once more, this time as he searches for his missing daughter, Rosemary, in a snowy Eastern European setting. Resident Evil regular Chris Redfield has also been confirmed to make an appearance in Resident Evil Village, although his allegiance is unknown. In some of the earliest trailers for Village, Chris was shown to shoot Ethan’s wife Mia, and take away her and Ethan’s infant daughter. For what purpose is still unclear but given all of the other teasers surrounding Village so far, it appears that baby Rosemary is a key part of some kind of ritualistic ceremony.