The Director of ‘Resident Evil 7’ Says the Game Was Born Because of ‘Grand Theft Auto III’

'Grand Theft Auto' 'Resident Evil 7'

With Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition out this week, many in the gaming industry have been reflecting on the series’ enduring influence. And if you ask Resident Evil 7: Biohazard director Kōshi Nakanishi, the GTA games have even made their own indelible mark on horror game design.

Nakanishi explains the relationship between Grand Theft Auto III and Biohazard in some recent remarks he shared with the Playstation blog. He says that the stripped-down, claustrophobic atmosphere of his game was essentially his counterreaction to the sprawling open-world games inspired by GTA III.

Also Read: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Has the Visionary Direction That Made Us Fall in Love All Those Years Ago (Review)

“At the time [of GTA III‘s release], I had not yet joined Capcom and was pitching a project to an American publisher,” Nakanishi says. “I wanted to make a game that expanded on the Tenchu sandbox, but GTA III went way beyond that.”

“I remember thinking, ‘How did they make this kind of game on PS2?,’” he continues. “Not only from a gameplay point of view, but also from a technical point of view. In response to the subsequent development of open-world games, I decided to do the exact opposite and make a small, narrow, dense horror game, and Resident Evil 7 was born. In a way, Resident Evil 7 may have been born because of GTA III.”

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