The Resident Evil 7 video game is back in the radar of airsoft players again after the surprise announcement of Tokyo Marui, revealing the “Thor’s Hammer” or “Albert. W. Model 02” Automatic Electric Shotgun (AES) that is based on the SGR-12 AES that is a totally original design by Tokyo Marui.  The “Thor’s Hammer” is part of the “Not A Hero” free DLC that was announced by CAPCOM.

Some unfortunate news for fans of the video game as CAPCOM has to take back its announcement of releasing the DLC in the Spring of 2017. Whilst the story of Resident Evil 7 is about Ethan Winters’ search of his wife Mia leading him the Baker House, the “Not A Hero” DLC is a story chapter on Chris Redfield. Chris Redfield is one of the original player protagonists of Resident Evil, apart from Jill Valentine. Together with Valentine, they managed to take down Umbrella Corporation in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.

As to when it is going to be released, CAPCOM, no new release date has been mentioned. The company says that they find the DLC to be “not good enough to meet” the high expectations given that critical praise to Resident Evil 7 when it was released early this year.

Chris Redfield had a cameo at the end of Resident Evil 7, though fans are divided as others don’t think it is really him. However, CAPCOM confirmed that it was Chris Redfield, with director Koushi Nakanishi saying that they went with a more “photo realistic rendering” of the characters and thus, looking less bulgy. As for the “Not A Hero” DLC, no details yet on what Redfield will be undertaking.

For the Tokyo Marui “Thor’s Hammer/ Albert. W. Model 02” AES, it will be going to have a limited release in Summer 2017. Since it uses the AES tech as seen in the Tokyo Marui AA-12, the first AES released, it is capable of shooting 30 rounds per second on full auto with three inner barrels with their own hop-ups. This is a bigger version of the SGR-12 AES which was revealed last year by the company during the press event of the 3rd Tokyo Marui Festival.  Just like the SGR-12, it will be able to use the AA-12 AES drum magazine, and uses the M-Lok rail system.

The appearance of “Thor’s Hammer/ Albert. W. Model 02” in the “Not A Hero” DLC marks for the first time that a weapon that is originally designed by airsoft manufacturer is adopted for a video game. The weapons used in the video game are based on real world designs. With the collaboration between Tokyo Marui and CAPCOM in releasing airsoft versions of the Resident Evil weapons, this is a new level of partnership, allowing Tokyo Marui to introduce its own weapon designs for the video game.

As always, the Japanese airsoft company chalks up another first in airsoft (and perhaps video game) history.