"It’s the next title in the numbered series, so obviously it’s part of the Resident Evil universe, and overall canon, so to speak. It’s not a separate thing, but we have intentionally made it so that maybe when you first play it you’ll almost think: how could this possibly be related to the rest of Resident Evil? But it is. It is an extension of the series so far. It’s not a reboot. It’s the next main game."

And when I asked would we see any familiar faces – Chris, Jill, Leon – or the nefarious Umbrella Corp?

"Basically no. It’s a whole new set of characters and situations," said Kawata, who has worked on the franchise since 2005's Resident Evil 4. But he did say, "There could be some interesting surprises in store as well." So expect there to be some easter eggs in there at least.

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"I can confirm herbs are going to be in the game for getting health back," says Kawata. And that's on the record.

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We saw a lot of different reactions to Resident Evil 6, both positive and negative," says Kawata. "Both ends of the scale. We took a look at the overall state of Resident Evil and the feedback we got, and we asked ourselves how can we bring the horror experience people remember from Resident Evil ’96, and how can we bring it to modern gamers once again. Exploring that question, and that core identity of the game series – Resident Evil – brought us to make Resident Evil 7 the way it is.

"When it comes to the main series, RE is first and foremost a horror series. I’ve wanted to separate out the different elements, rather than put them together in one game. By trying to please everyone, you please no one.

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"Yeah, that’s a game that’s always a great reference point to have in mind. Not only this time around, but I also replayed Resident Evil 1 as research for working on Resident Evil: Revelations. So it’s a kind of touchstone for me."

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"The atmosphere of '70s, '80s, American horror movies – the lonely house out in the fields or in the middle of nowhere in the countryside where there’s nobody to call for help. I love that kind of atmosphere. That was a big influence on us choosing the Southern United States setting for the game. It feels so helpless and isolated."

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"My motivation for not being able to talk too much about that stuff is really because back in 1996 those of us who weren’t working on the game had the experience of playing Resident Evil with a sense of mystery," Nakanishi tells me. "You know… 'Where am I?' 'What’s happening to these people?' 'What are these enemies like?' 'Where are they going to come from?' 'What’s the story behind them?'

"That mysteriousness is so vital to what we want to get across and what emotions we want you to feel. Again, I tend to repeat myself, every time you ask for more information, but we’re trying to keep it to the minimum as much as possible, so when you finally get your hands on the game it’s going to be such a fresh new experience. You won’t be bored of it already."

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"One thing I can say is it’s not going to be some kind of zombie horror where you have to mow down zombies. We’re trying take it into a more personal and intimate scale of horror by there being fewer enemies, but each one poses a significant threat. That’s the kind of horror approach we’re going for."

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"The teaser is kind of a tonal preview instead of a content preview," says Nakanishi. It’s also not showing off all the gameplay pillars we’re going to have. It’s focussing on up front to the key pillars, which are fear, horror, and exploration of an environment. The other key pillars of Resident Evil – puzzle solving, resource management, and combat – they're coming down the line. They’re all in there, but we’re focussing on horror has come home as a kind of theme for the teaser demo. So if you thought the games were going away from horror in previous years, this is just a statement of intent, purpose, to say it’s back.

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"Well when we showed Kitchen, Resi 7 was already well under development.* So it wasn’t that one lead to the other directly," says Nakanishi. "Kitchen was developed in parallel as a kind of proof of concept of our RE engine and VR specifically. The incredible reaction that we saw to the Kitchen VR demo – people screaming at the booth, and everything else – it really was a good mile-marker for us that we were going down the right path, and we were really confident that we were taking the game in the right direction when we saw how immersive first-person horror can be especially in VR."

(*Kawata told me: "Development has been going for over two, two-and-a-half years. It started in early 2014.")

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"First-person camera was part of the original concept of this game," Nakanishi elaborates. "It wasn’t something that was decided on part-way through. What’s the most appropriate way to bring the type of horror experience we’re trying to bring to players. The answer to us straightaway was that first-person perspective – it was the solution to what we were trying to do. It was part-and-parcel of the original idea that kicked off this project."

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"PB[One thing that I think is really effective in first-person – a lot more so than when you go to a third-person, over-the should-perspective – is when something is behind you in first-person you don’t want to turn around because your viewpoint is so fixed to what is front of you, and you can’t see behind or around the character like you can in third-person; it’s that much more panic-inducing to turn all the way around and see what’s behind you[/B]. I love that feeling of claustrophobia you get in a first-person perspective and you can’t pull it off with a more removed camera.

"I also think it’s great that we’ve been able to take the classic image of the door opening which was in a kind of first-person perspective in the original game. Those loading screens were separate from the camera system of the first game, but now you get a real-time version of that overtime you walk through a door in the game. I like that sort of legacy feeling in the new game, where you’re getting that Resident Evil what’s behind this door experience.

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"One key thing to note the game can be played entirely in VR but it’s absolutely up to the user," says Kawata. "There’s no separate version, no separate edition. The save data is the same on any given PlayStation, whether you choose to play on the TV or PlayStation VR. If it's getting too much for you in VR, you can take a break from it, and continue from your save file on the TV next time. We don’t want to force users down one path or the other."

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"If it’s too scary, close your eyes inside the VR headset."

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"If it’s too scary, close your eyes inside the VR headset."

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Ashby said:

Combat confirmed means I'm in.

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Acquiescence said:

Fuck playing a horror game with VR. I don't want to die of a heart attack thankyouverymuch.

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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"One thing I can say is it’s not going to be some kind of zombie horror where you have to mow down zombies. We’re trying take it into a more personal and intimate scale of horror by there being fewer enemies, but each one poses a significant threat. That’s the kind of horror approach we’re going for."

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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bytesized said:

Exactly, those were the games that got away from the canon (even though i loved 4). It seems like they are getting away from the goofy b-movie type of acting though and making things more serious this time but I'm completely ok with that.

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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"If it’s too scary, close your eyes inside the VR headset."

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Razgriz-Specter said:

And when this does half of 4,5, or 6 everyone's tears won't be so enjoyable.

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Razgriz-Specter said:

And when this does half of 4,5, or 6 everyone's tears won't be so enjoyable.

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"One key thing to note the game can be played entirely in VR but it’s absolutely up to the user," says Kawata. "There’s no separate version, no separate edition. The save data is the same on any given PlayStation, whether you choose to play on the TV or PlayStation VR. If it's getting too much for you in VR, you can take a break from it, and continue from your save file on the TV next time. We don’t want to force users down one path or the other."

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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RecRoulette said:

Yep

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StrongBelwas said:

Seeing all the fans of 4, 5 and 6 cry over the changes is highly amusing.

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