It’s no secret that Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami’s The Evil Within looks like a fantastic survival horror game. We haven’t seen too much of it in terms of gameplay footage, but for me, the simple fact that it’s a non-sequel is what makes it most exciting. After seeing multiple entries in this generation’s biggest horror franchises — like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, F.E.A.R. and Dead Space — the opportunity to get excited over something that isn’t another installment in an established brand is a welcome one.

In a recent chat with Eurogamer, Mikami discussed horror sequels and how they’re a “big problem” for the genre. More after the jump.



According to the creator of Resident Evil, a series that certainly isn’t sequel shy, “Sequels are a big problem in horror entertainment. As a horror game series continues you begin to know who the enemies are going to be. Just this knowledge naturally makes the game less scary. So to capture a wider audience designers add more action. That further reduces how frightening the game feels.”

I agree completely. My only issue with this is the enemies we’ve seen in The Evil Within don’t look all that unique — the four-armed blood witch being the only exception. Other than her, we’ve seen a big guy with a big metal contraption over his head — very reminiscent of Pyramid Head — and a slew of torch and weapon-wielding villager looking guys who look alarmingly similar to the Ganados/Majini/Jaavos from the last three Resident Evil games.

Much of the game has been kept under wraps, so we haven’t seen a majority of what The Evil Within has to offer. To call its arsenal of enemies familiar would be unfair, because there’s a good chance we haven’t seen most of them.

Mikami has claimed that Resident Evil, the series he helped make what it is today (more or less), is what inspired him to make his next game. My guess is that means he’ll want to do his own thing, something terrifying and unfamiliar — two things Resident Evil hasn’t been in quite some time.

“[The Evil Within] has the capacity to make the fear much closer to you. We can add in a far greater amount of animation and make it context based, so, for example, we can change how a character moves in a certain situation,” Mikami told Eurogamer.

“Really, I’m making this game just because it’s fun to scare people,” he added. “Instead of trying to introduce new ideas, I want to return to survival horror’s roots. We’ve strayed from that. I want to explore fear again, and that sense of overcoming fear, one that’s unique to games.”

We’ll find out if The Evil Within is as scary as he says it will be when it launches on the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One next year.

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