Resident Evil 7 First Look at E3 2016; Insights from Capcom
Ted Hentschke
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It’s been a bit shitty trying to talk about Resident Evil for the past several years. Spirits were high with the release of Resident Evil 4, which roundhouse kicked enough ass to slaughter an entire hive of Plagas. It spawned a generation of action/horror games, including the beloved Dead Space series. However, it might have been too dizzying a height for Capcom, as each subsequent title has been kind of shit by comparison. I wouldn’t go as far as to call RE5 or 6 bad, just unfocused, uninspired, and lame.
While the main franchise titles have been panned by both fans and critics, the side projects Resident Evil: Revelations and Revelations 2 were minor hits. The games shifted towards a return to the horror core, with some cool asymmetric play in Revelations 2 that made for some genuinely tense and frightening moments. Capcom has also been re-releasing their past hits like Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0, which while underwhelming for me is nice for those that never got a chance to play the classics.
If I were a bit more clever, I might have realized that this was a sign of Capcom testing the waters for a return to a horror focused Resident Evil. With the gobs of money that the action/horror Resident Evil titles and various clones made, it must be a terrifying proposition to return to the pure horror format. Sure, it’s what put your game on the map, but horror is a niche market, and there are more casual to moderate gamers than ever. Even if critics and hardcore gamers love your product, if 90% of the market is saying no from the get-go it’s going to be a flop.
Lo and behold, Capcom has decided to take that risk anyway with Resident Evil 7. The market has spoken, and our demands for an actually scary Resident Evil game have been heard. Praise be to the Dark Gods! Revealed at the Sony press conference during E3 2016, we got to see a glimpse of a Resident Evil unlike any we have seen before. Check it out:
It’s a surprisingly bold move for a franchise whose titles have been, “same shit with a new gimmick” for the past 11 years. Not only is this a return to horror, but a new kind of first person horror unlike any of the previous titles. So when I got to ask the team at Capcom some questions, this was the first on my mind. I was told that with Resident Evil 7, they wanted to once again revolutionize the formula, just like they did with Resident Evil 4. It’s a distinct change of mentality, realizing that what made RE4 great was its uniqueness and not its replicable mechanics. It’s risky to try new things, but without that design mindset it’s almost impossible to innovate.
Something to note is that this is not a narrative departure from the series. This game takes place after the events of Resident Evil 6. How the two are related, the team at Capcom wasn’t ready to discuss yet. There certainly wasn’t any hint in the demo. Exploring the house, watching the tape, and sussing out snippets of backstory, I couldn’t piece together anything more than “crazy shit is going down.”
After seeing the announcement first hand, playing it on Playstation VR, and talking to the team, I’m definitely more excited about Resident Evil 7 than is warranted given the scarce information. If you want to know a bit more about what I found out and how I felt about the demo, check out the video I did as part of our E3 2016 coverage series here:
And as a bonus, here are some photos of the demo area from E3 2016!
What about you, horror fans? Are you skeptical or excited for the new direction? Do you think the move to VR was a good idea? What do you think this says about the future of horror gaming? Let me know below!
Categorized:Editorials Horror Gaming News
