• • • The top game in 50 countries!!! • • •
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the upcoming next title in Capcom’s acclaimed survival horror series, Resident Evil. The game has been the talk of the town ever since it was announced at this year’s E3 owing to many factors, including its large focus on the horror element as well as for being the first main instalment in the series to be based on a first-person perspective.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard has been in development since 2014, and from its earliest inception, the devs knew that they wanted to implement some thematic and technical changes in the upcoming game. As a result, Resident Evil 7 will see a substantial toning down in scale and amp up the horror element by making its gameplay follow a first-person perspective. This will in effect immerse the players once again into the very trope that once was the core focus of the Resident Evil series. On the technical side, Resident Evil 7 will run on a new engine, called the RE Engine, which will allow the game to come with VR support, which in turn would allow users to get a real feel of the atmosphere that the series so heavily relies upon.
As mentioned earlier, Resident Evil 7 will have at its core the theme of horror, and judging by all the footage we have come to see so far, Capcom has done a stellar job of showcasing the eerie. Every aspect of the game is built around how the makers are trying to scare the living daylights out of you. Add to that the fact that Resident Evil 7 is slated to come with VR support, and what we have on our hands is a game that feels very different from its most recent predecessors. Even the game’s plot differs in flavour: Resident Evil 7 has a modern day setting and features a new protagonist who lacks the combat skills of the series’ earlier central characters. The protagonist, a man named Ethan, is on the hunt for his missing wife, and his search leads him to the formidable Baker Mansion. However, despite the makers plotting out a completely different direction for the new game, materials from the earlier games in the series will feature in the upcoming game, so that fans of the series still have that bit of nostalgia to hold on to even as they play something completely different.
In terms of gameplay, the player will play as Ethan who will have access to a bunch of different weapons, some of them pretty old school, including chainsaws and flamethrowers. According to some leaked images of the game’s pre-order DLC item packs, players will have access to functional sets with specific purposes. Some of the items included, such as the arms and ammunition and the healing herbs, are reminiscent of previous Resident Evil games. The different coins that were spotted along with each set also hint at earlier, well-known game mechanics, like puzzle solving and trading (weapons and other survival necessities) with the help of its in-game currency system, though this largely belongs to an area of speculation. However, some other familiar mechanics like the QTEs will be absent entirely.
TGS 2016 was witness to a lot of news about Resident Evil 7: Biohazard alongside the reveal of new gameplay trailers and demo videos. We got to see the horrifying members of the Baker family up, close and personal, as well as witnessed some of the first-person gameplay mechanics.
One of the major questions that fans had on their minds regarding the upcoming game was that its shift in thematic focus will result in a substantial lessening of the combat aspect, something which has been as crucial to the series as the horror. But while Capcom has reassured fans that the game will pack in quite a punch in terms of combat, they added that players should not expect a gun fest like in the earlier series.