Earlier in the week, we were privileged enough to have some hands-on time with the playable teaser for Resident Evil 7. Called “The Beginning Hour”, the teaser lets you run around a mansion while solving minor puzzles and slowly unraveling a mystery. I personally enjoyed it, but questioned just how “Resident Evil” the whole experience was. Thankfully, it seems that the final game won’t be totally devoid of the Resident Evil hallmarks.
Capcom held a post reveal stream where the producers of the title sat down and answered some questions that the community posed which might help to allay some concerns that die-hard fans of the franchise may have.
First off the team wanted to stress that the demo was designed to focus on demonstrating the style of exploration and horror that players can expect from the final game – but that the demo itself will not appear in the final game as the team wanted to make sure they gave as little as possible away to keep the mystery and a sense of uncertainty strong. And much like the demo, Resident Evil 7 won’t have quick time events.
The team also talked about the lead up to the game and its development – namely that Resident Evil 7 and the VR demo KITCHEN came together in parallel, that one was not turned into the other with little regard. Similarly, the team thought that a first person camera (which will also be in the final game) was more conducive to the brand of horror they were going for.
The team has kept everything vague on purpose as this is not a game that throws away the story and the canon of previous games – but a lot of the intrigue and mystery as you piece together how everything fits into the existing story is something developers want players to experience themselves.
Not much was discussed in terms of details about the game itself – although the producers did confirm that the playable character will not be an existing character. The developers chose this path because they felt the existing characters are all “superhero” or “macho hero” and are too accustomed to situations like this.
Once again, to go with the brand of horror they’re aiming for, they’ve chosen an ordinary person who is stuck in “an extraordinary situation”. The producers also assured fans that there will be enemies and combat – just that they didn’t want to explore it in this demo. Finally, it was also revealed that the game will take place in more locales than the plantation mansion, but to keep the intrigue high they didn’t want to reveal anything more.
The stream ran for roughly forty-five minutes (or at least, the Resident Evil segment did) but producers closed with a final comment – that they’ve been reading the feedback and see that fans are concerned that Resident Evil has become a ghost occult story of sorts. Without saying much, they reassured fans that they haven’t thrown out Resident Evil’s DNA and that it “should all make sense in the end”. Super intriguing!
Polygon also had the opportunity to sit down with the producers and managed to confirm that there will be a “biohazard event” surrounding the game and that the series mainstays, the herbs, will make a return in the final game. In a rather encouraging move, the game will also have weapons that the player character will be able to defend themselves with.
Resident Evil 7 launches on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC in Australia on January 24th, 2017.
