Joe Baker

"This is a farewell from the family, brother!"

- Joe Baker before delivering the final blow to Jack

Joe Baker is a Louisiana civilian who lived in Dulvey Parish. He is the older brother of Jack Baker, who ran the family ranch until his death in 2017. He is determined to save his niece, Zoe Baker from her impending death.

Biography
Joe is as physical as his brother Jack was. Joe broke Jack's nose during a fight in their childhood days and clothes-lined Jack in the swamp.

Joe also served in the U.S. military like his brother Jack, wearing his pair of ID tags around his neck and possessing extreme hand-to-hand combat skill. Despite sharing a similarly strong familial values with the rest of the Bakers, he had not been in contact with them since at least October 2014; with neither the family nor Eveline realizing he was much closer in proximity than they thought. Following the deaths of Marguerite and Lucas, Joe stumbled upon a pair of Blue Umbrella soldiers and his niece, Zoe, who had escaped from the plantation after three years of captivity by the rogue B.O.W. Eveline. After attacking and interrogating one of the soldiers, mistakenly assuming they were responsible for Zoe's deteriorating health, he learned of where to obtain a cure for his niece's worsening condition. Joe then vowed to save Zoe by any cost, acknowledging that she is the only real family he has left. Throughout his journey, he was thwarted by a mysterious creature, later revealed to be a revived Jack Baker. After escaping a coffin his monstrous sibling entrapped him in, he brings the cure to Zoe's affliction to the Baker main house, where it was found to be under quarantine by Umbrella. However, Jack had slaughtered the staff and left Zoe in the main hall as bait for his older brother. Undeterred, Joe faces his younger brother and finally euthanizes Jack with a prototype Blue Umbrella AMG-78 gauntlet before curing his niece, freeing her from Eveline's affliction. He comforts his niece, assuring her that his brother, Marguerite and Lucas loved her even under the virus' influence. Shortly after, he and Zoe reunite with Ethan Winters via phone call courtesy of Chris Redfield.

Appearance
Joe is a well-built man with a thick white beard. He wears army pants and a collarless shirt and has a military tag around his neck.

Skills and Abilities
Compared to Ethan's more civilian aligned background, Joe is a unique survivor with higher level of resourcefulness than the former. Living in the swamps of Louisiana his whole life and doubling as a war veteran granted him extensive survival skills; knowing which insects are edible, is able to create makeshift bombs out of scrap metal, make spears out of tree branches, and is able to put his hand to hand combat knowledge to extensive and highly skilled use. Despite his advanced age, he has shown exceptional stamina and no signs of slowing down while going up against a Molded B.O.W or Jack Baker.

His incredible strength allows him to utilize his bare hands through boxing and pro wrestling moves against a B.O.W. who comes through his path. Joe’s strength is so vast that he was able to stop a punch from mutated Jack with just one hand and fight him to a standstill.

He is the only character in the game who is able to dispatch and execute Molded with nothing but his own bare hands.

Personality
As evidenced by his play style and his past with Jack, Joe has a belligerent personality and often leaps before he looks as shown when confronting two Umbrella operatives trying to cure his niece only to violently attack them out of fear for Zoe's life. Evident by his seasoned experiences, he revels in beating up the various creatures from Molded to alligators around the swamp with his bare hands and is absolutely fearless in trekking the nightmarish swamps, leaving him with humorous interactions. He is shown to be impatient and easily angered as when using his fists to force Blue Umbrella's computers to formulate a vaccine by force. However, his indomitable spirit and loyalty to his family is his endearing trait as he goes to the greatest lengths and monstrous odds to save Zoe from crystallization. Brutish albeit loyal, Joe is not too dissimilar to his younger brother in the latter's more human days.

Gameplay
Joe is the player character of the "End of Zoe" scenario in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. He has 20 inventory slots and starts off with Bare Fists and Joe's Survival Manual. Thus, Joe uniquely can use left and right punches and combos when no weapons (or the Bare Fists themselves) are equipped. He also has access to the finisher, stomp, and stealth kill melee prompts, and can still preform actions while moving through water.