Resident Evil 7 Teases More First-Person VHS Horror
Hesitant Evil
Capcom have released some more “found footage” from the upcoming Resident Evil 7 [official site]. Their foray into first-person frights has seen a lot of comparisons to P.T. and with good reason. But this is a loyal sequel, the developers insist, or at least a story contained within the familiar universe of zombifying viruses, parasites and corporate nastymen. Come and see it after the jump.
BOO.
That was a jump scare. Geddit? Jump scare? Here’s the trailer.
It’s a haunted house story. Jack and Marguerite Baker, the folks up in the old plantation house, haven’t been seen in a long time. And it looks like you are heading in to find out why. This footage, however, isn’t your character, but a recording that you’ll find and play through as you explore the old manse yourself.
Resi is making the switch to first-person, we learned at E3 this year, and Capcom were even gracious enough to release a lengthy demo, the “Beginning Hour” (but not so gracious as to release it on PC). Adam suffered the indignities of PlayStation to bring back his thoughts, and said it was a great new angle for the series. But he also pointed out that long-form games of this kind can become exhausting. I tend to agree. While Alien: Isolation was a brilliant game, I often wonder how many other people made it past the 3 hour mark? I almost didn’t go back to it myself, only the love of that world compelled me to dive in again. The same problem may await Resident Evil 7.
But a bigger problem than this might be how the old guard react. Fans of the usual gun-filled, third-person survival horror style might not welcome this new one, pandering as it is to popular scares of P.T. and Outlast, and courting the world of scary VR. It remains to be seen exactly how much of the old Resi is left behind all these VHS tapes and candle-strewn hallways.
We’ll find out on January 24, when it's released on Steam and the Windows 10 Store.