Resident Evil: Where do we go from here?

[Buckshaft]

Resident Evil. A real case of Love-it-or-hate-it gaming, and after Resident Evil 6, Most people seem to be erring more on the Hate-it side of the discussion. Personally, I didn't have a problem with RE6, and I found it very enjoyable. This can probably be chalked up to the fact that I'm a fanboy who'd be happy with anything, but I digress.

I remember not long after RE5 was released, Capcom were making a big fuss about how the series was going to go on break and come back years later with a reboot (Not sure on the reliability of this info, I think I read in Gamesmaster Years ago) But obviously, they love money, so it didn't happen, and it looks like this is happening again with RE7. But where can the series go next?

It would be easy for them to simply go the Metal Gear route and become a total fanservice machine, only considering fans deep into the story and ignoring the opportunity to bring in new fans (Which the whole shift to action was supposed to do, to my recollection.) But apart from that, there aren't really many opportunities. Of course, the obvious other option would be for the series to simply lay down and die already, but let's assume it's here to stay. It could go back and be like the old games, and be accused of being unoriginal and outdated. It could go in a whole new direction, and be accused of trying too hard to reinvent the wheel, or Diluting the Resident Evil experience again. I know most people will simply wave the issue off, but I'd like to know what you guys think should be done with the series, or what you'd like to see.

 

[Ravinoff]

My suggestion? More stuff like RE4. Great game, didn't take itself too seriously, and most of all, fucking well made away with Umbrella. A reboot to just erase that whole mess would deal with most of my complaints about the Resident Evil series.

 

[go-10]

here's my two cents
I think it's time for a reboot. Why? because the story got too big and nonsensical for it's own good. This is supposed to be a campy story with jump scares not some bio terrorism menace crap.

So for what I would like for the reboot... WALL OF TEXT INCOMING!

Return to Raccoon City, specifically one before the outbreak. Here's how I would start the whole thing. The story would begin in Raccoon City Police Academy where Jill Valentine is in her room getting ready for her graduation. In her room with her is her best friend Claire Redfield. The two of them are making casual conversation as Jill puts on the traditional Police Academy graduation garments, here the game teaches you how inventory management works, as you dress Jill the game teaches you the relation between the inventory system and on character body relation, meaning that everything you carry must fit onto the character model. A message comes over the intercom saying that the graduation ceremony is about to begin, we now get to control Jill and move about a given path as we now learn how to open doors, move, etc. The scene then witches as the ceremony is taking place helicopters fly overhead releasing a weird mist like gas and gunshots are heard in the distance, as the people begin to panic cops try to get the situation under control and tell the people how to evacuate towards the auditorium. Jill hurries through the crowd to find Claire and her family, the game now teaches us how to vault over objects, pull, push, and general calling commands (follow me, wait here, go ahead, etc.) after a small section and making it to the auditorium, most of the guards are holding the doors shut as screams and monster like moans are heard. A cop that's been bitten begins to transform inside the auditorium and the general zombie transformation expressions occur. When the guy turns he attacks, we are now taught how melee attacks work,eventually one of the guards walks over and shoots the zombie in the head, introduces himself as Barry and asks Jill for her help in keeping things under control. Right on cue the doors break down and as people run and scream you fight off zombies with a hand gun Barry gives you and he helps you out, after holding out for a bit you make your way to a window and escape through it. Jill and Barry now have 2 missions: 1. Save Claire and 2.helping survivors.
Eventually you rescue Claire who replaces Barry as the partner as he leaves to deal with other matters. Claire receives a phone call from her brother who tells her to get out of Raccoon City. Jill and Claire now try to make their way through a blockade that the police was setting up but as night falls and more zombies seem to appear they are forced into a hotel. They see that on the rooftop there's a connection to another building that they can use to get out of that area. The first real free roam area is now available, we get to explore the hotel at our leisure and here we learn the remaining gameplay elements. After making their way to the top Jill is left dumbfounded as she looks towards the camera, Claire moves up behind her with a similar expression and says "what's going on here?" to which Jill replies "shit just got real" the camera moves around them and we can now see most if not all of Raccoon City going to hell as the outbreak has completely overrun the city, cue the game title and let the game begin


if you read that whole thing... wow thanks. Also I'm not a game designer so yeah my premise is very shitty but it's a good representation of what I would like RE to become. An open "city" coop action game.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I can enjoy just about anything with good gameplay. I liked RE5 for the much appreciated offline co-op and I would probably like RE6 for similar reasons. Returning to RE4 territory seems more plausible than say going back to fixed camera angles, crap auto-aim, limited resources, item boxes and so on.

 

[blackdwarf]

I am pretty split on this. Just recently I started playing Resident Evil and I really love the series. I have played all canon games with the exception beating of Code Veronica and playing Revelations. I 'liked' RE6, but that story was incredibly weak. With the Umbrella corporation you had at least a solid reason why the stuff happened in the RE games, because Umbrella. After RE5 Umbrella is dead. No Wesker and other headpieces of that organisation. But the events of RE6 still happened because a random dude decided that zombies are the way to go, and that Umbrella were amateurs, so he tried to do the same thing and failed. I just can't see how they are going to continue the story of RE, without retconning some huge stuff, like the dead of Wesker. so the chance is pretty big that they are going the easy way of rebooting the series.

My problem with the reboot, beside being pretty lazy, is that I like the story of RE. Sure, it is pretty ridiculous and corny as hell, but I really liked it and the characters as well. I like how Chris is this macho man who is all about the team. I like how Leon is this guy with his uncaring 'been there, done that' attitude, but still wants to help people because that is for him the right thing to do and all the other characters as well. Rebooting those, would pretty much kill my interest in the game, because I feel that the characters and events I love, are meaningless then. If Resident Evil 7 is a reboot, which is a weird name for a reboot, then that isn't Resident Evil anymore.

Gameplay wise I am pretty easy to please, so long it isn't the unfocused mess, that was RE6.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Give me my game about Rebecca. That is all I want. Seriously, the girl has simply vanished from the Resident Evil games as far as I can tell. We have no problem dragging literally everyone else back into the series, but for some reason she remains absent.
There's your return to Resident Evil 4 style too. Just like 4 showed what Leon was up to after everything calmed down, Rebecca's game can do the same thing with her. Completely unrelated to Umbrella or anything else of that nature, she simply gets swept up in something bigger than she is and sicne she's the only one who has had any experience dealing with this sort of thing, she steps up.

 

[jamesworkshop]

I think they should use all new characters

jake and sherry to me can be kept, jake is new and sherry isn't but stopped being an incidental character

everyone else at this point is too combat heavy to be challenged by zombies


Rebooting causes two problems, it feel like the old investment was a waste of time but also feels like we know whats coming next, having to do it all over again.

let the characters retire with dignity

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

In my opinion, the Resident Evil franchise needs some The Thing (2010) treatment. Except for the part where The Thing (2010) sucked.

Basically, The Thing (2010) is a prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). It tells the story of the Norwegian outpost that gets wiped out before the monster gets to the American Outpost 31. The catch though is that The Thing (2010) follows more or less the exact same plot as The Thing (1982) beat for beat. It's a prequel, but it's also sort of a remake.

Where am I going with this?

Go back to Resident Evil's origins. Go back to July 1998. Make a new game that takes place around the same time as the original Resident Evil, but in a different location and with different characters - and don't have those characters interact with any of the S.T.A.R.S. people. That way you can go back to the series' roots like a reboot, but without disrespecting the people who like the originals.

From there, the sky's the limit. Want to make a survival/horror detective story of sorts relating to the murders and disappearances happening around Raccoon City prior to the events of the first game? Go for it! Want to make an over-the-top action game like RE4/RE5? Why not play as an RPD SWAT officer or a U.B.C.S. mercenary during the early stages of the breakout within the city? Hell, make both games and make everyone happy!

Also... am I the only one who read this topic title and immediately thought of "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses?

 

[Asclepion]

I guess I'm in a minority. I feel Resident Evil is much better as an action game than a survival horror game.

It stopped being a story about S.T.A.R.S. trapped in a lab with zombies, and became a story about super spies traveling all over the world to stop bioweapon-equipped, hilariously over-the-top villains. In all honesty, I though the BSAA was the best thing to happen to the series.

 

[Ironshroom]

Honestly, just go back to RE4. Or do what Dead Space 1 did, which was basically RE4, but in space. Seriously, RE4 is one of the best games ever made, just do one like that capcom!

 

[anthony87]

I'll always hold onto a sliver of hope for REmake 2.

Just imagine how good that could be....

 

[Fox12]

Honestly, there's nothing to do for it but a reboot. There aren't any avenue left to explore. There was plenty of wiggle room after RE4 shook things up, but now the stories become too convoluted. The developers need to learn to restrain themselves. You can have a great action game and still feel under powered. Just look at Dark Souls.

At least the first games felt grounded in reality. Zombies? Unbelievable, sure, but at least we had the whole bio weapons thing going on. Super Whesker, however, was too much, even by stupid RE writing standards. Just give us back the tension and everything will be good. Of course it's Crapcom, so that won't happen. After all, they chased off all their talent. TTheir current developers don't understand acing, and they don't understand how to restrain themselves. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to eagerly await Mighty No. 9 and Evil Within.

 

[Hatebeard]

Back to its horror roots, hopefully. No umbrella, just a new and improved RE that fits the times and rivals survival horrors like Dead Space or The Last of Us, even. Since it's unlikely that will happen soon, Evil Within looks like it can get the job done, that game looks legit scary.

 

[kilenem]

Develop a resident Evil game for a weaker hardware like the 3DS or Vita making them go back to series roots whee they didn't have that much to work with on the PS1. The if its good port it

 

[Michael Tabbut]

Since Shinji Mikami is now on his own, I would say the next move is to buy "The Evil Within" and not worry about Resident Evil anymore. That may just be my opinion though. I didnt really care for 5, didnt even bother to play 6, but I am excited for TEW.

Given Capcom's financial troubles of late, it wouldn't be feasible for them to buy "The Evil Within." At this point, I would rather see Capcom die or sell some of their IP's that they never touch anymore outside of token fighting game cameos(i.e. Mega Man or Viewtiful Joe). Also despite being a fan of RE, I would rather see the franchise end. Reboot it with a clean slate.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Well, if I might humbly suggest one of my favorite RE games as a seed of inspiration for future RE games,

Resident Evil: Outbreak. Kind of Left 4 Dead before Left 4 Dead. Multiplayer with up to 4 people, lots of characters that can use assorted skills, co-op, and one of the greatest early levels where you could just grab every gun in a level, and just shoot a near endless stream of zombies before just ending the level with no real pressure.

The controls were more classic, the characters were civilians for the most part, and if you let a partner die, or killed them as trolls were apt to do, they turned into a zombie.

And the start voice was pretty awesome.

It actually got a sequel, but that was the end of the line.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'll always hold onto a sliver of hope for REmake 2.

Just imagine how good that could be....

*imagines* Hmmmm... Yeah, it certainly would be. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

As long as Capcom still holds the rights, I'm afraid Resident Evil shall remain shitty forevermore. It's like Square with Final Fantasy; They've just completely lost touch with the fanbase.

If there's anyone with even a smidgen of talent walking around at Capcom, the best direction the franchise could go is to take a giant step back. Go back to the roots of the original games, but with modern controls ofcourse. Bring back that feeling of just being a normal guy with a few guns trapped in an overwhelming situation. I mainly say this, because I feel that's what The Last of Us achieved.

I know this'll be hard, the game being Japanese and all, but stop with the coolness and with being over the top. We've kind of seen enough of that now with this series and it's collapsing in on itself. Make it Dark Souls set in Racoon City or some other zombie/monster infested town. That feeling of being in an oppresive, hazardous environment with enemies all around you, and only limited ammo and resources to fight back with.

 

[Steve Waltz]

Go back to Resident Evil's origins. Go back to July 1998. Make a new game that takes place around the same time as the original Resident Evil, but in a different location and with different characters - and don't have those characters interact with any of the S.T.A.R.S. people. That way you can go back to the series' roots like a reboot, but without disrespecting the people who like the originals.

They already did that with Resident Evil 0 (which is my personal favorite). All of the loose ends from the first game were tied in perfectly in with Resident Evil 0 as if the game was there all along. I'll cry if they try to do it again.

I find it interesting that the OP said that he was a Resident Evil fan and used that as the explanation as to why he liked RE6. I find that interesting because the gameplay in RE6 is so backwards from RE4 and RE5. I call myself an ex-Resident Evil fan. I love the older Resident Evil fans to death and still play them, but RE5 and RE6 were irritating. I liked Resident Evil 4, but for different reasons than the original Resident Evil games. Honestly, the last thing I want to see is another Resident Evil game developed by Capcom. I would really prefer if another company developed the next Resident Evil game. And almost depressingly, that's not entirely impossible.