I've grown more excited for Resident Evil 7 within the last month. Firstly, it's weird to think it's already almost been a month since RE7 was revealed, but more so I don't think this was the direction anyone was quite expecting RE7 to take. In retrospective, it makes some sense, even though it wasn't inspired by P.T., and there was evidence months to a year before... The Kitchen logo T being a cut off 7 being one of them, the fact the Capcom report from earlier this year mentioning the Resident Evil team was working with VR (which I brought up meant they were probably making a VR Resident Evil game, though some thought it was something else, but neither I nor them would of expected it was RE7 I think), and all of these comments from Capcom over the last few years about 'horror being liable again,' 'the mainline titles give us an opportunity to be more experimental,' and the works. Turns out they were giving small hints for years, just everybody had it so ingrained into them that RE7 was going to be a co-op action title maybe with stronger atmosphere I don't think anyone really saw this coming.
I actually literally commented a bit before E3 that I hope RE7 takes place in the isolated farmland country. I think desolated farms are underused in horror games, and re extremely creepy and can give the right vibe for a RE title, but I didn't expect them to go through with it, and not quite like this. The one potential issue I may see coming is that Outlast 2 releases three months before RE7, and it is a first-person horror game taking place in a small country village, but I also suspect that RE7 will be very different from Outlast 2 for too many comparisons (RE7 has combat, probably designed quite differently), that and the demo being out there may make the opposite comparison actually be made. Anyways, I'm all for two bigger budget isolated country games to look forward to.
But outside of this, I think I've simply just grown fonder of the idea sitting on it. I didn't have an extremely negative reaction when I saw RE7, my first reaction was actually curiosity and bewilderment, it wasn't what I was expecting at all despite I called it was RE7 right at the beginning of the trailer, since it mentioned Kitchen (a previous Capcom VR Horror game, after all) and it was certain that RE7 would be at E3, so I thought this might be it before the footage even started rolling past the Kitchen logo. But I didn't know quite what to think. I actually liked the demo well enough, despite how relatively simple it is and lack of scares, but it did have a good mood.
However, I think I've just grown kind of excited for the idea. Outside of the fact this is one of the few AAA first-person horror games, or hell, AAA horror games to be made in something like the last 10 years (the indie scene is booming, but there is only a small handful of big budget horror games made these days, and surprisingly less from the first-person perspective), this could work well based on how they handle it. They have confirmed this is not a supernatural ghost story, and is tied into the events of the Resident Evil franchise. I'm curious if we may see some new twist on some old Resident Evil monsters in the game... Which actually leads me to something I personally and hugely excited about. I have said for years that Resident Evil could become scarier simply by making less supplies, more isolated environments, creepier sound design, and a focus on more individualized but threatening monsters who aren't always best to just shoot at, but running is for the best at times too and the monsters, while more limited in number, have more personality and memorable encounters stacked with them. They have commented that RE7 will feature, 'Fewer But More Meaningful Enemies. Were trying take it into a more personal and intimate scale of horror by there being fewer enemies, but each one poses a significant threat. Thats the kind of horror approach were going for." <-- That is something I am really excited for, for some reason.
There's a lot more now that the storm is gone, and I appreciate their approach to mostly not show anything from the main game and instead focus on these demo's (it seems next to confirmed another demo will be releasing in September), I don't know. I have this feeling that this game will actually be something really special, but to be seen. This comes from a person who's a fan of the older and newer style games and a broader interest in horror, so I may be more open-minded to this possibility than some, and I probably would of been happy with it being a co-op action shooter with horror tones... But I wouldn't of been this excited for it. I can feel myself getting more excited for it. I guess we'll see it in a little less than half a year, and sounds like we have at least one more, if not more, demo's to look forward to.
