Almost anyone who is fond of horror games has experienced at least a single moment of panic over the future of the Resident Evil franchise. These are moments usually accompanied by intense feelings of nostalgia and backward-looking resolve, hoping that, whatever the recent past has borne out for the series, the future is always a shimmery and glimmering City on a Hill.
It seemed as though, sufficiently humbled by the critical and popular reception to RE6, whose action-oriented gameplay and mictrotransactions alienated a not inconsiderable number of fans, Capcom would rebound with a more horror-focused Resident Evil game.
Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata stated last year that the team at Capcom was “not currently at a state to talk about [Resident Evil 7],” but that fans should “please stay tuned.”
And yet, the recent announcement of a third CGI film based on Resident Evil — Resident Evil: Vendetta, to be exact — has caused some speculation on the state of RE7. The newest film seems tentatively like a stop-gap measure to ensure some time to polish what may be a make-or-break entry in the series.
Kawata’s interview regarding RE7 was way back in October of 2015, and though E3, the biggest platform for annual games announcements, is right around the corner in June, some wonder if Resident Evil: Vendetta’s appearance may conceal the fact that Resident Evil 7 is nowhere near in shape enough to be shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, so we might be RE-less in 2016.
The movie notwithstanding, Capcom’s current mania for giving a spit-shine to its elder games — Resident Evil 2 is the next one up for a remake — has plenty of people wondering if 2017 will even be the year of RE7
Delays may not be completely disadvantageous for whoever is working on the game, though, since it appears some soul searching about this most precious of horror franchises is going on behind the scenes. For all the teeth gnashing Resident Evil 6 produced in the public-at-large, perhaps it was the necessary step in getting back to square one.
The public outcry over the game’s tonal and gameplay shifts — as well as the gag-reflex-inducing microtransactions — seem to have resonated with Capcom. Masachika Kawata responded to a question back in 2015 about RE6’s relative distance from horror by stating, “I can see how [losing the horror touch] can be perceived in such a way. And of course I believe that we should produce titles that bring out the horror. I’m thinking about it and also preparing for it.”
Vague adumbrations aside, it seems like a safe bet that RE7 will feature more of what players expect out of a game bearing the oft-mentioned name than the last few years would have you believe.
At this point, though, what does a Resident Evil game even look like? What is the public-facing brand of the franchise? Like Mr. Kawata admits, there have been a near-incalculable number of spin-offs, sequels to spin-offs, and experiments bearing the RE label.
Is a new title something closer to the first game, which ushered in a whole generation’s worth of imitators in the realm of survival horror, or is it a spiritual successor to Resident Evil 4, which is probably the unparalleled champion of the series?
Admittedly, people love RE4 for good reason. It sparked a whole generation’s worth of knock-offs and also-rans, just as its predecessors did, but that game is now 11 years gone, not to mention the fact that RE5 and RE6 were anabolic, roided-out continuations of what RE4 began, so be careful what you wish for. So the question remains: where do we go from here?
The opposite is also weird to proffer as a possibility. It would seem backwards and counterintuitive for a game too much like the first three games to be released. There is a rock-and-a-hard-place aspect to the discussion of what the next game in the series “should” look like that almost never gets discussed. People were disappointed with the last game. So what? A game that takes giant leaps back, or attempts to appeal too blatantly to fanservice would be similarly railroaded among hardcore fans.
It seems odd, to say the least, that a series with such a expansive mythology — though not necessarily a clearly-defined one — would struggle to shape its own identity. Perhaps it is the comprehensive nature of the beast that is Resident Evil which makes it nearly impossible to iterate upon. Still, one only need to look to intellectual properties that have made that particular transition in order to derive some amount of hope.
Tomb Raider, for example, reset the parameters of the franchise by simplifying the formula and making a Nathan-Drake-like spectacle of the whole thing. Maybe Resident Evil can do the same thing. Until then, we can dream, can’t we?
