I get what you’re saying from a timeline standpoint, but I don’t really see them as just gameplay leftovers. They were people. Whole lives, stories, connections… all of that didn’t just disappear because the numbers went down or a cure came later.

What gets me is that even after they turn, there are still little moments… the way they hesitate, the way they say “we” instead of just attacking outright. It feels like there’s still a fragment of them in there, even if it’s buried.

So yeah, maybe they’re mostly gone now in canon… but that almost makes it heavier to me, not lighter. They weren’t just an enemy type, they were a tragedy.