A partially recovered development build of Resident Evil 7’s Not a Hero DLC has reportedly revealed an abandoned storyline in which Chris Redfield captures Lucas Baker alive, rescues three soldiers and fights a different final boss. The early version, dated March 2017, was recovered from a PlayStation 4 development kit and contains significant differences from the expansion Capcom eventually released.
The findings were presented by Michael Kemp in a video published on October 25, 2026, detailing an ongoing effort to recover Resident Evil 7 development files. The recovered material reportedly includes unused story sequences, altered character outcomes and changes to the DLC’s environments and encounters.
The most significant discovery concerns Lucas Baker, one of Resident Evil 7’s surviving antagonists. In the abandoned version, Chris follows orders to capture Lucas alive so he can be questioned about The Connections, the criminal organization involved in developing and distributing biological weapons.
Rather than killing Lucas, Chris successfully apprehends him. The recovered material reportedly includes an unused interrogation sequence, suggesting that the original ending would have left Lucas available to provide information about the organization.
This differs considerably from the released version of Not a Hero, where Lucas becomes infected, transforms into a mutated creature and serves as the expansion’s final boss. Chris ultimately kills him, eliminating a potentially valuable source of intelligence about The Connections.
Another major change involves the three soldiers Chris encounters during his mission. In the released DLC, the missing Umbrella personnel die despite Chris’s efforts to reach them. The abandoned version reportedly allowed Chris to rescue all three successfully, substantially changing the outcome of the rescue operation.
The early build also features a different final antagonist. Instead of confronting a mutated Lucas, Chris reportedly battles Alan, a scientist associated with the research conducted aboard the tanker featured in Resident Evil 7.
Alan’s involvement would have connected the expansion’s final encounter more directly to the experiments surrounding the E-Series bioweapon. The recovered version reportedly contains documents describing experiments associated with the character, providing additional background for the confrontation.
Beyond its storyline, the prototype reportedly contains differences in dialogue, environmental exploration and the structure of the underground research facilities. These changes indicate that the expansion underwent revisions affecting both its narrative and gameplay.
Not a Hero was originally planned for release in spring 2017 but was delayed before eventually launching as a free expansion in December 2017. The DLC follows Chris Redfield as he enters the abandoned mines beneath the Baker estate to pursue Lucas after the events of the main campaign.
The newly surfaced material adds to the history of Resident Evil 7's abandoned development concepts, which also included early ideas involving Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine and HUNK before the game’s direction was finalized.
The recovery project remains incomplete. Some files extracted from the PS4 development kit are reportedly damaged or missing, and the reconstructed prototype has not been publicly released as a playable build.
The discoveries therefore represent findings from an unfinished recovery effort rather than a complete, independently playable version of the abandoned DLC. Capcom has not publicly authenticated the recovered build or announced plans to release the cut content.
