Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
UPDATE: RE7 was revealed at E3, now we can look back at what people expected, who was more right or wrong, and be amused. Post $223 is where the last of the pre-reveal guesses end. Can also use this topic to guess on RE7 now also that it's been revealed, I'd be interested in reading back on that too.
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So, this might be one of the last opportunities to take a swing at the hypothetical on the title, so I'm curious to ask what people expect out of Resident Evil 7? It's all but confirmed that Resident Evil 7 is releasing between October 1st, 2016 and March 31st, 2017, both in that Capcom has said that they want to hit hard with Resident Evil in the second half of the fiscal year for the series 20th anniversary a few days ago, and now showing they have a "Major Title" which they expect to sell 4 million copies before the fiscal year is up. This, along with Capcom saying October of last year that Resident Evil 7 news was "Coming soon," and countless hints (along with the obvious it's been almost four years since RE6 released) basically points to the fact that Resident Evil 7 is releasing within the next year, and more-so it's probably going to be revealed in a month (E3 seems to be the safest prediction, which is about a month away).
So with all of this overwhelming evidence and the highly likely chance we'll be seeing the game in a month's time or so, I thought it might be a bit of fun to ask what people expect of the next mainline entry in the Biohazard franchise?
Before letting you all loose, I've taken the time to collect literally everything we know about RE7. So if you'd like to take an educated guess outside of whatever your gullet tells you, please read the following:
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-Capcom has been working on Resident Evil 7 since late 2012. According to a Capcom representative a few years ago, they started development of Resident Evil 7 less than a month after Resident Evil 6 had shipped. This is also backed up with a few listings, including a costume designer apparently working on costumes for Resident Evil 7 between 2012 and January of 2013. Interestingly, before RE6 had released, Capcom had talked they had wanted to cut development time down to two years, specifically mentioning the RE franchise due to the series famous long development cycles in the past. However, evidently this never ended up happening, as here we are four years later and RE7 isn't out. This might imply that, like the series has famously done in the past (most famously with RE2 and RE4), they may have scrapped a version of the project and started from scratch again, or redid major parts of it. This has literally been done with every mainline entry in the series BUT Resident Evil 6 & RE3, so it wouldn't be incredibly surprising if true.
-In an interview with MCVUK, an old Capcom marketing lead representative talked with them about Resident Evil 7 in June of 2013. He mentioned Capcom had looked long and hard at both the critical and consumer response to Resident Evil 6, and said at the time the following:
-In 2014, voice actors had come together for some 'top secret project', and took some group photos and posted. They were working on video game project they confirmed, but couldn't say what. However, the voice actor of Hunnigan, Leon's long-time operative, as well as the voice actor of Leon himself, Mathew Mercer, were on the scene. The voice actress of Hunnigan cited reoccuring roles in video games were the best along when the group shot was posted, and the only video game role she had that could be reoccuring was Hunnigan. Now, there's a chance this may all be in reference to the recently confirmed Resident Evil: Vendetta, which is the third CG Resident Evil film slated to be released next January and Leon is in it (as well as Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers), but it is worth nothing.
-Speaking of which, Resident Evil: Vendetta, the third CG Resident Evil film, is coming to DVD next January. What we know about it is that it is supposed to be more of a 'zombie' horror movie compared to the first two CG films, this piece of concept art exists:
-To the above point and a general assumption, it is to note that the most recent Resident Evil title, Resident Evil Revelations 2, definitely had some Last of Us/Tomb Raider inspiration behind it. Maybe this was the title the market rep was talking about, since it was a direct sequel to the 3DS Revelations game, or maybe it was Capcom experimenting the waters for what people wanted? Regardless, anyone who's played Resident Evil Revelations 2 knows there's a kind of cliffhanger in its narrative that would take place after Resident Evil 6, if they explore that possibility now or down the line as a hanging plot thread (similar to Sherry from RE2 previously or Albert Wesker previously) is to be seen.
-Umbrella Corps comes out soon, and Capcom have reiterated several times it is a canon entry in the RE series and takes place after Resident Evil 6. The game is about secret mercenaries under the payment of seedy corporations to go to the site of major biohazard outbreaks and collect samples and data from these sites, since Umbrella was at the lead of bio-organic weapons and similar genetic study compared to the rest of the world by years. Their data has become invaluable, and interested parties are fighting in secret warfare to get their hands on such data and samples from the sites these major incidents have occurred in. If this is just a useless footnote or ties into something is to be seen, but Capcom have re-established multiple times that this is a canon occurrence in the main series, so it might tie in somehow?
-One of the bigger questions for many is what sort of direction the series will go in, a more action one, a more horror one, will they try to make a hybrid? Capcom have talked a long time about their "split playerbase" for Resident Evil, ever since RE5. And since RE5, they have tried to make titles they think will appeal to both audiences (which started with the Lost in Nightmares/Desperate Escape DLC split for RE5). Interestingly, they are working on two titles that are obviously aimed at different extremes for both audiences; they have Umbrella Corps, which is squarely a competitive shooter, and they have REmake 2, which is squarely a remake of one of the most beloved classic entries in the series. With these two (kind of obviously) pandering titles, what does that leave RE7 to fill? Could RE7 be attempting to be ambitious and change up the series again, ala RE4? Could they aim for the same market RE6 did? Could they think horror is more liable again as they said and be aiming more for horror this time? The situation surrounding this is interesting, all the same.
-ON THIS FRONT, in October of 2014, series producer Michiteru Okabe talked about what he believed fans wanted from Resident Evil 7 with Game Informer. He said fans want something darker, more horrific, and more in-line with things the series had in its past.
Here's a small transcript of the important parts of that interview (I have a scan of this interview, but don't think it's alright for me to post scans):
-In September of 2014, when talking about Resident Evil 7, Michiteru Okabe from above also said for Resident Evil 7:
-Serkan Toto claims Resident Evil 7 is returning to horror, and Capcom hired ex-Konami staff, including Jordan Amaro, a designer on MGSV and P.T..
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Capcom's E3 2016 booth looks like it might be horror themed, a closed off area to make it dark resembling a decaying house:
---
To my knowledge, the above is all we know. It does paint a picture to me writing it all up here. But regardless, I ask to you GAF, what are your expectations for RE7?
---
So, this might be one of the last opportunities to take a swing at the hypothetical on the title, so I'm curious to ask what people expect out of Resident Evil 7? It's all but confirmed that Resident Evil 7 is releasing between October 1st, 2016 and March 31st, 2017, both in that Capcom has said that they want to hit hard with Resident Evil in the second half of the fiscal year for the series 20th anniversary a few days ago, and now showing they have a "Major Title" which they expect to sell 4 million copies before the fiscal year is up. This, along with Capcom saying October of last year that Resident Evil 7 news was "Coming soon," and countless hints (along with the obvious it's been almost four years since RE6 released) basically points to the fact that Resident Evil 7 is releasing within the next year, and more-so it's probably going to be revealed in a month (E3 seems to be the safest prediction, which is about a month away).
So with all of this overwhelming evidence and the highly likely chance we'll be seeing the game in a month's time or so, I thought it might be a bit of fun to ask what people expect of the next mainline entry in the Biohazard franchise?
Before letting you all loose, I've taken the time to collect literally everything we know about RE7. So if you'd like to take an educated guess outside of whatever your gullet tells you, please read the following:
---
-Capcom has been working on Resident Evil 7 since late 2012. According to a Capcom representative a few years ago, they started development of Resident Evil 7 less than a month after Resident Evil 6 had shipped. This is also backed up with a few listings, including a costume designer apparently working on costumes for Resident Evil 7 between 2012 and January of 2013. Interestingly, before RE6 had released, Capcom had talked they had wanted to cut development time down to two years, specifically mentioning the RE franchise due to the series famous long development cycles in the past. However, evidently this never ended up happening, as here we are four years later and RE7 isn't out. This might imply that, like the series has famously done in the past (most famously with RE2 and RE4), they may have scrapped a version of the project and started from scratch again, or redid major parts of it. This has literally been done with every mainline entry in the series BUT Resident Evil 6 & RE3, so it wouldn't be incredibly surprising if true.
-In an interview with MCVUK, an old Capcom marketing lead representative talked with them about Resident Evil 7 in June of 2013. He mentioned Capcom had looked long and hard at both the critical and consumer response to Resident Evil 6, and said at the time the following:
In basic, he shared that Resident Evil 6 came off mixed, thought people liked Leon's campaign for RE6 as well as the first Revelations game on 3DS, and thought 'zombie post-apocalyptic survival horror' still had a market, but pointed its finger to The Last of Us and Tomb Raider.
-In 2014, voice actors had come together for some 'top secret project', and took some group photos and posted. They were working on video game project they confirmed, but couldn't say what. However, the voice actor of Hunnigan, Leon's long-time operative, as well as the voice actor of Leon himself, Mathew Mercer, were on the scene. The voice actress of Hunnigan cited reoccuring roles in video games were the best along when the group shot was posted, and the only video game role she had that could be reoccuring was Hunnigan. Now, there's a chance this may all be in reference to the recently confirmed Resident Evil: Vendetta, which is the third CG Resident Evil film slated to be released next January and Leon is in it (as well as Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers), but it is worth nothing.
-Speaking of which, Resident Evil: Vendetta, the third CG Resident Evil film, is coming to DVD next January. What we know about it is that it is supposed to be more of a 'zombie' horror movie compared to the first two CG films, this piece of concept art exists:
Some of the people involved include people pretty famous in the Japanese anime/film/horror industry (Kenji Kawai is the musician, the director is Takanori Tsujimoto, the writer is Makoto Fukami, the executive producer is Takashi Shimizu), and like the other two CG films, it probably ties in to RE7 somehow. Also since the film releases in January, and the other two films released about a month before their game counterparts, that does make it extremely likely RE7 will release in February/March of 2017.
-To the above point and a general assumption, it is to note that the most recent Resident Evil title, Resident Evil Revelations 2, definitely had some Last of Us/Tomb Raider inspiration behind it. Maybe this was the title the market rep was talking about, since it was a direct sequel to the 3DS Revelations game, or maybe it was Capcom experimenting the waters for what people wanted? Regardless, anyone who's played Resident Evil Revelations 2 knows there's a kind of cliffhanger in its narrative that would take place after Resident Evil 6, if they explore that possibility now or down the line as a hanging plot thread (similar to Sherry from RE2 previously or Albert Wesker previously) is to be seen.
-Umbrella Corps comes out soon, and Capcom have reiterated several times it is a canon entry in the RE series and takes place after Resident Evil 6. The game is about secret mercenaries under the payment of seedy corporations to go to the site of major biohazard outbreaks and collect samples and data from these sites, since Umbrella was at the lead of bio-organic weapons and similar genetic study compared to the rest of the world by years. Their data has become invaluable, and interested parties are fighting in secret warfare to get their hands on such data and samples from the sites these major incidents have occurred in. If this is just a useless footnote or ties into something is to be seen, but Capcom have re-established multiple times that this is a canon occurrence in the main series, so it might tie in somehow?
-One of the bigger questions for many is what sort of direction the series will go in, a more action one, a more horror one, will they try to make a hybrid? Capcom have talked a long time about their "split playerbase" for Resident Evil, ever since RE5. And since RE5, they have tried to make titles they think will appeal to both audiences (which started with the Lost in Nightmares/Desperate Escape DLC split for RE5). Interestingly, they are working on two titles that are obviously aimed at different extremes for both audiences; they have Umbrella Corps, which is squarely a competitive shooter, and they have REmake 2, which is squarely a remake of one of the most beloved classic entries in the series. With these two (kind of obviously) pandering titles, what does that leave RE7 to fill? Could RE7 be attempting to be ambitious and change up the series again, ala RE4? Could they aim for the same market RE6 did? Could they think horror is more liable again as they said and be aiming more for horror this time? The situation surrounding this is interesting, all the same.
-ON THIS FRONT, in October of 2014, series producer Michiteru Okabe talked about what he believed fans wanted from Resident Evil 7 with Game Informer. He said fans want something darker, more horrific, and more in-line with things the series had in its past.
Here's a small transcript of the important parts of that interview (I have a scan of this interview, but don't think it's alright for me to post scans):
The biggest things to pull from this is they don't want to do a full reboot exactly but may want to explore something new, while Revelations 2 was made with the MT Framework engine, they have thought about making a Resident Evil-specific engine (which might be what Resident Evil 7 is being made on?), and they reiterate that they think fans want horror again.
-In September of 2014, when talking about Resident Evil 7, Michiteru Okabe from above also said for Resident Evil 7:
-Serkan Toto claims Resident Evil 7 is returning to horror, and Capcom hired ex-Konami staff, including Jordan Amaro, a designer on MGSV and P.T..
---
Capcom's E3 2016 booth looks like it might be horror themed, a closed off area to make it dark resembling a decaying house:
---
To my knowledge, the above is all we know. It does paint a picture to me writing it all up here. But regardless, I ask to you GAF, what are your expectations for RE7?
