The last Resident Evil game I played was Resident Evil 4 and it was a really good time. I played it on the PS2 back when it was a current console (God I’m old). While I had a passive interest for Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, I saw them as shooters rather than horror. They were all action, no suspense or atmosphere. When I downloaded the Resident Evil 7 demo onto my PS4 last Friday night, I was unaware of the true horror that I had let loose. This time there would be no weapons, no ammo management, no spray and pray. There would only be fear, fear and my shameful cowardice.

As the demo booted up I was cocky enough to dim all the lights in my room, close the blinds and wear headphones. Once the dark screen turned into a bleak grayish tone, it took my eyes a moment to adjust. My hands were tied up and there was a body in the corner of this messy, chaotic basement. I watched as the events unfolded and was given control of my character with just one instruction “Get out of the house”.

Right away the atmosphere was intense, the lighting, sounds, music, footsteps, it all came together in this horrifically beautiful scene. I had no weapons, I had no clues. Just my wits and a piece of paper on the table in front of me. The paper read “I SHALL DASH THEM ACROSS THE STONES”. For whatever reason, this note made me feel uneasy as I read it. I moved on, looking around this horrific, abandoned living room. The walls were dirty and scratched, paint peeling everywhere. The house creaked like there was someone else around, unaware of my presence.

This demo put the fear in atmosfear (I don’t think that’s how it’s spelled). Never before have I had to psyche myself up to open a door. But that happened with every door I encountered in this demo. The air around me turned from a nerdy comforting vibe to an unsettling, someone was watching me vibe. That’s what really made this demo stand out. After I finished the demo I immediately emailed Nerd Templars own Ken Murray and the subject of the email I sent him was “Holy Shit” and I then went on to explain why I was sweating and why my heart was racing even though I wasn’t playing World of Warcraft or Destiny.

If you want to be scared, actually scared, this is the demo for you. Hell, I may just get a Playstation VR just for Resident Evil 7. This demo was scarier than all of Alien: Isolation, any previous Resident Evil game and even scarier than me naked in the tub (that’s hard to beat, ask my roommate.) If you need something scary to play for your October Scarathon, definitely download this demo and I hope you get the same experience I did!

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