FEAR and Spec Ops: The Line scribe will write plot Resident Evil 7

[stroopwafel]

This is pretty exciting news. For the first time the plot in a RE game isn't written by a Japanese dev:

http://www.eurogamer.nl/articles/2016-06-17-resident-evil-7-heeft-westerse-schrijver

Capcom is hitting all the right notes in bringing some dignity back to the series. As an impression of what the atmosphere of RE7 will be like the demo was awesome and now that the story(which will be more intimate in nature) is taken serious as well this game is just looking better and better.

This is looking like the Resident Evil game I wanted after RE4. Never thought after more than a decade of shit sequels and spin-offs that they would make such a serious attempt at a true return to form. A bit late, but better late than never.

 

[tippy2k2]

I am intrigued by this development.

While I didn't hate Resident Evil 5 & 6 like most of the internet, I am more than willing to admit that they were some big slips in quality.

I don't know if a new writer can untangle the super web that Capcom created themselves but the scariness of fear combined with the mind fuckery of Spec Ops could be a nice shot to the series that it really could use...

 

[Ambient_Malice]

To clarify, he worked on Extraction Point/Perseus Mandate, which were scarier than FEAR but one gigantic ass-pull story-wise.

And he was only a supporting writer on Spec Ops: Am I Edgy Enough Yet?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Alright, now we're getting somewhere. Good games, good writing.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Just watched the trailer for RE7... if it wasn't for the actual title being splashed on it, I would have thought it was a new title, or at best, Silent Hill. Not a trace of RE in it as far as I can see.

To be honest though, I'm not a huge fan of RE. Pre-RE4, most of it's horror was based not on what was going on, but by the forced perspective you were in. While the game camera is an important part of the game, it shouldn't inform 90-100% of the gameplay and story. RE4 was great (Love me the Wii Edition), RE5 was not bad, and RE6... never played it, but I saw other people do so. Christ, looks terrible.

Honestly, I think this is one of those franchises that may need to be dragged out back and shot. I think it's run it's full course and jumped the shark, and I'm not exactly sure how they can move forward without making a product that's unrecognizable, like the trailer shows.

I'm more interested in a possible Evil Within sequel than more RE.

God, I hope not. Evil Within is a game that makes me wish there was a 'Delete From Steam' option. I don't care that I can't get my money back, I just want it gone forever from my sight.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Just watched the trailer for RE7... if it wasn't for the actual title being splashed on it, I would have thought it was a new title, or at best, Silent Hill. Not a trace of RE in it as far as I can see.

The trailer is likely deliberate misdirection. The game will almost certainly have no ghosts. This is a Resident Evil 6 sequel. The lore is fully intact, which makes Resident Evil one of the few videogame series with a long running continuity with almost zero contradictions or glaring retcons.

They *had* to know this image would make us think of Leon S. Kennedy.

God, I hope not. Evil Within is a game that makes me wish there was a 'Delete From Steam' option. I don't care that I can't get my money back, I just want it gone forever from my sight.

The Evil Within is a survival horror spiritual successor to Resident Evil from the co-creator of Resident Evil that steals everything from crank turning QTEs to "run towards the camera" chase sequences to bus ride sequences to melee takedowns to evil roombas to using levers to operate everything from Resident Evil 6. Not to mention the part where you run through a collapsing building to leap from an exploding building to take control of a mounted gun for a turret shooting sequence.

I think it's a good game. Not quite as good as RE6, but more polished and cohesive.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Huh, didn't know about this, sounds pretty good to me.
Guess I'd better get through RE6 FINALLY.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Huh, didn't know about this, sounds pretty good to me.
Guess I'd better get through RE6 FINALLY.

I love RE6, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. RE7 is likely to be something of a clean break, story-wise, but there is a possibility they're going to make The Family from RE6 the antagonists in RE7 in some fashion.

 

[Evonisia]

"Spec Ops: The Line" is good and all that, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about one of its writers doing an RE game. This game doesn't look like the other REs, so it's gonna what, comment on the experimental Horror games of late?

 

[TilMorrow]

Well I think that might be it for me with this series. With the direction Resident Evil 7 seems to be going plus it's being written by a guy who was involved in writing the bad chapters of the military shooter ghost story as well as Spec Ops: Do you feel like a bad person yet?, I don't think I'll enjoy it as much. Although I really didn't enjoy Resident Evil 6's story and feel as much as the previous ones, I still felt that it still fit the formula more than 7's first person shooter alongside ghosts in it with it's people randomly exploding into monsters and the ammo shortage throughout most of 6. Resident Evil 2 Remake and then it's out for me.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I keep hearing people gush about this new approach and how it's bringing the series back to its roots, but what makes this ANY different from the piles and piles of first-person indie horror games we've had over the years?

The first-person perspective instantly makes me not want to bother with this. One of the most recognizable visuals of nearly every Resi game is a figure with gun drawn walking through ominous scenery, whether it's with a static camera angle or an over-the-shoulder one. Your character had a heft and felt like they were part of the environment (apart from RE6). This grounded you in the experience. Now you're just a floating camera. Great.

I played the demo, and it was just a crummier P.T. And that game atleast had an interesting hook, and wasn't even indicative of the final product, since it was going to be third-person. This is just Capcom not knowing what the fuck to do with this franchise and choosing to jump onto the first-person indie horror hype train way too late.

Is the character driven, campy horror game really just fucking dead now? Is it all just gonna be anonymous man in mystery house from now on? Is this that incredible resurgence of the horror genre in games Jim Sterling talked about?

Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll get another Until Dawn.

 

[stroopwafel]

Is it all just gonna be anonymous man in mystery house from now on?

But..but..I love playing as anonymous man in mystery house. Espescially since apparently RE7 takes place entirely around a farm which can really bring the isolation and dread back as angry and deranged hicks are chasing you around. This has always been the series draw for me not the shitty story which(in the original games) blemished an otherwise really claustrophobic atmosphere. I don't mind the change to a first person viewpoint and I hope this leads to a more refined system like they had in the Condemned games. The location in which the story takes place also means they can largely ignore the trash heap that is the Resident Evil lore.

Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll get another Until Dawn.

And have Resident Evil play like a boring interactive movie...eehmm no.

I'm more interested in a possible Evil Within sequel than more RE.

Oh yeah I really loved Evil Within. Just completed a second playthrough the other day. Had really hoped that Bethesda would announce a sequel at E3 but no suck luck. As far as I know Mikami's studio Tango Gameworks is still a subsidiary of Beth so I can't imagine they don't have anything in production.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

So it's going to have cheap jump-scares and ham-handed morals beaten into you at every turn? Well at least it'll be better than the last Resident Evil.

Though, on a more serious note, it does look... interesting judging by the demo. Unfortunately it's been completely blown out of the water by the Outlast 2 Demo (thank you, Markiplier) that does literally everything it does but 50x better. Plus someone's already brought up PT doing better what RE7 is trying, so... ah well. At least it will probably be better than RE6 - hard to go lower than the bottom of the barrel, really.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Well, I think Spec Ops is a masterpiece (hands down one of the most profound and affecting game experiences I've ever had) but, as has been said, it's not Walt Williams, the real catalyst for what the game became.

And F.E.A.R.'s DLC's were dross which more or less confirmed the IP had nothing more to say or do after Alma's origins were revealed [footnote]I adored the core game and its story, btw. F.E.A.R. 2 had better, more polished gameplay, but it was pointlessly risible as a story which turned an oddly sympathetic victim into a bland horror movie villain. To be fair to a game I dislike, there were a few interesting thematic elements to Alma's antics in 2, and some exceptional environment design and locales.[/footnote]. Soo... I'm not sure how this is a positive. I mean, why even bother to up the quality on RE's anyway? Being iffy interactive b-movies has been a defining feature up to now, so arguably having a passable script is a decidedly un-RE thing to do.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll get another Until Dawn.

And have Resident Evil play like a boring interactive movie...eehmm no.

No, I mean loose from Resident Evil, since it's quite clear now that that franchise is maggot infested mush, and that Capcom is a blind man with shit covered hands.

They could've taken a few cues from Until Dawn. But no, let's just go for indie horror. Because why infuse some character or camp in horror games anymore? That would require effort, I suppose.

 

[Fox12]

Okay Capcom. You had my curiosity. Now you have my attention.

I still prefer third person horror games to first person walking simulators, but I'm willing to be open minded. First person horror beats the drought of horror we experienced last generation. I'll be keeping a close eye on this.

 

[stroopwafel]

They could've taken a few cues from Until Dawn. But no, let's just go for indie horror. Because why infuse some character or camp in horror games anymore? That would require effort, I suppose.

Ehmm..the camp in Resident Evil was never intentional. It was a serious attempt at a story scrambled together from half-assed ideas from American B-movies. American culture through the eyes of '90s Japanese videogame developers who never left their island. The intro to Resident Evil still cracks me up though. Just skip to 3:10. The entire body language of those 'actors' scream ''yup we've really hit rock bottom here.'' You'd probably see happier faces on people who tried to make it big in Hollywood then ended on the set of Ass Invaders #37


But anyways, while I look back with fondness on this cringe-worthy crap trying to replicate it would just be fake and really unfunny(ie. like RE5 and 6).