Jason Hidalgo

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Twenty years after introducing the world to the viral menace unleashed by an unscrupulous corporation, Resident Evil continues to trudge along like the undead legions from its games.

To say that the series has been a financial boon for video game developer Capcom is an understatement. In the last two decades, the main games and their spinoffs have sold about 50 million units across multiple gaming platforms.

The last few legs of Resident Evil’s long journey, however, have proven to be a rough ride.

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After catching lightning in a bottle with Resident Evil 4’s reimagining of the series’ classic formula, the franchise has since experienced a downward trend as it doubled down on the action elements that proved successful for RE4. Resident Evil 5 posted the most sales in the franchise with 7 million units but was less critically acclaimed than its predecessor. Then came Resident Evil 6, whose hodge-podge approach involving multiple gameplay styles in its campaign garnered the lowest critical reception overall for a mainline Resident Evil game. Its 6.6 million copies sold also underperformed compared to the previous game.

This makes the new approach for Resident Evil 7 all the more noticeable. After the more explosive approach seen in the last couple of games, RE7 feels a lot more intimate. It’s a change that is definitely by design, series producer Masachika Kawata told the Reno Gazette-Journal. It’s also a necessary one in a challenging and highly competitive industry where yesterday’s gaming darlings can quickly turn into today’s has-beens.

“If you just look at the gameplay, it’s actually very similar to the feel of the classic Resident Evil titles,” Kawata said. “We asked ourselves what makes Resident Evil special, so we actually drew a lot of inspiration from the first Resident Evil game during the development of Resident Evil 7.”

Back to basics

Kawata considers Resident Evil 7’s approach a return to the franchise’s classic horror-survival roots. The result can be seen in the initial “Kitchen” demo, which feels more like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” than “Last Action Hero.” One of the challenges for Kawata’s team was how to replicate the classic, claustrophobic feel that fans of the older series adored while getting rid of the downsides of its old-school approach.

The traditional fixed camera, for example, not only leads to some gameplay limitations but would also feel dated today. It’s a problem that the development team tried to approach through various ways. One solution involves a method that would be easily noticeable to players: visuals. This iteration of Resident Evil uses the latest technology to provide a more modernized feel, particularly with the jump to newer consoles.

Another is to tone down the use of elaborate set pieces, which grew with each iteration of the game.

“Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 were more in the action genre and had gotten very grand in scale,” Kawata said. “So, with the next game, we weren’t focused on increasing the scale necessarily.”

Instead, the team worked on bringing back the more confined feel of the franchise’s earlier iterations. Kawata says they were well aware that some fans miss the more cramped perspective of the fixed camera and the tension it provided.

The key for RE7 was to provide that same kind of tension without having to resort to the dated camera mechanic. Kawata’s team opted to move away from the series’ traditional preference for a third-person view by switching to a first-person camera instead.

“In terms of the first person perspective and the fixed camera perspective, what you’re able to see may be different but there is still a blind spot for both camera angles,” Kawata said. “The similarities between the two are that you still have a sense of horror from not knowing what’s in that blind spot.”

The change was not an easy one to make. Third-person has always been a key part of the Resident Evil formula and there’s always the possibility that fans will not be receptive to the change either aesthetically or mechanically. Changing camera perspective also means a need for some technical changes to the formula that the company has worked on since Resident Evil 4, including changes in how players experience horror in the game, Kawata said. The payoff, however, involves the advantages that such a switch provides.

“With a camera that has come closer to the player, it simulates more of a real life experience, which allows more immersion, which in turn allows us to achieve a greater level of fear,” Kawata said.

Defining ‘Resident Evil’

Another advantage of a first-person view is the ability to bring virtual reality into play. In addition to being able to experience RE7 through a TV screen, players with a PlayStation VR peripheral also can play the game with a virtual reality headset.

“The core gameplay content is the same no matter how you play, but of course the VR option heightens the immersion for the player,” Kawata said. “This ... is the main advantage for someone who is playing in VR.”

Not that VR is without its own challenges. The biggest one was involved developing for the actual technology, which the Resident Evil team did not have a lot of experience with. Fortunately, they were able to work and collaborate with Sony, who helped the team troubleshoot and optimize the VR experience for the game, according to Kawata.

Another challenge is how different players react and respond in different ways to the technology, which is always a wild card. Kawata says they tried to address that by including a wide array of options to allow players to fine-tune the VR experience and tailor it to their preference.

For folks who do not have a VR setup, the traditional console experience has its own advantages as well, according to Kawata. One is that you can experience the game on a bigger screen with higher resolution. It also can provide a more social experience when played in the company of friends and family.

Regardless of the method you intend to play the game, expect to get a different experience from the last few games in the main series. This includes an increased focus, not just on survival horror but more exploration as well. At the same time, the latest Resident Evil game is not abandoning its action roots either. After all it’s a key part that differentiates the series from other survival horror games such as Outlast and Amnesia, or even the well-received P.T. demo, Kawata said.

“A lot of horror games try to achieve an element of fear by conveying a sense of fear that comes from being attacked by an adversary,” Kawata said. “For the Resident Evil series, how it stands out from the survival horror genre is that you have this element of fear but you also have the ability to fight back.”

Granted, the protagonist this time around doesn’t quite have the buffed physique of Chris Redfield or the training of Jill Valentine. Despite that, he is not completely helpless. This is part and parcel of what a Resident Evil Game is, even with all the changes in the series over the years.

“This time, your protagonist is an everyman who is not powerful — in fact, he is vulnerable,” Kawata said. “However, he does still have the ability to fight back in order to survive and having this element makes Resident Evil 7 a Resident Evil game.”

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