News
Capcom’s Almost Ready to Talk About ‘Resident Evil 7’
Capcom has become exceedingly good at defying my expectations. For better or worse, they’ve turned being a fan of a series, like Resident Evil, into and exciting and often unpredictable thing. Umbrella Corps is a fantastic example of this, because it’s absolutely the last thing I would’ve expected to see after the steps they’ve made to bring the franchise back to its roots in horror.
I don’t even mean that in a bad way. It’s just unusual.
In celebration of its 600th issue, the fine folks at Dengeki PlayStation sat down with a handful of Japanese game developers to chat about all things video games. I don’t know what they asked the other devs, but when it was Capcom’s turn, the questions they had queued up for Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata could not have been more perfect.
The gradual shift away from horror has been a point of contention for some time now, and Capcom is, for the most part, aware of it. More than that, Kawata’s response gives the impression that they’re working on remedying it.
“Since there’s been more spinoff titles, I can see how it can be perceived in such a way,” explains Kawata. “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.” It’s clearly more than a “perceived” change, as anyone who’s played the last three games in the main series can attest, and it’s not at all exclusive to the mixed bag of spin-offs we’ve seen over the years.
If Kawata says he’s bringing out the horror, I’m going to choose to believe him.
My favorite thing about Dengeki’s Q&A session with Capcom doesn’t have anything to do with the long-awaited reveal of Resident Evil 7 — Kawata wants us to “stay tuned”, as they’re not quite ready to talk about it — but whether or not there are currently any plans to remaster the short-lived Outbreak spin-off series.
“The hurdle is high, but we’d like to respond to as much demand as possible,” says Kawata. A few months ago I would’ve seen that as a non-answer, but they’re obviously listening to the community now. If they weren’t, we would not be getting a Resident Evil 2 remake. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Outbreak games return, even if it’s not in the form of a full-fledged sequel. What about you?
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
You must be logged in to post a comment.