Capcom has been missing the mark when it comes to the Resident Evil series. A majority of fans hold Resident Evil 4 as the pinnacle that all other installments need to match; personally, I think the newer installments should be more like the REmake. Both are amazing games in their own right, but the biggest thing that I missed in Resident Evil 4 were the zombies. Zombies are the linchpin of the series and when you remove them, you take something away from the horror. Yes, Los Ganados were scary, don’t get me wrong, but there is nothing more horrifying than watching a dead body, possibly someone you know, rise back up and try to take a bite out of you. Resident Evil 6 was a mishmash of all types of gameplay to appease the masses. Leon’s campaign was there to make people like me happy, Ada’s was for stealth enthusiasts, Chris’s was for the action buff and Jake’s was for brawler fans. This hurt the game in many ways because fans didn’t really know what to do with it. Hopefully, Capcom has heard our cries and plans to announce Resident Evil 7 at E3 this year, and as a return-to-form for the series.
A cryptic tweet from a video game analyst in Toyko, Dr. Serkan Toto, mentioned that Capcom is bringing their biggest gun to E3 and it will be a clean slate for the series. This makes me excited. I’m glad that Capcom is finally listening to its fans and bringing my favorite series back into line. Capcom’s first olive branch to fans was the Revelations series; sure, those stories are convoluted as all hell, but they’re scarier and more intense than the other titles. Their second olive branch was the announcement of the complete from the ground up remake of Resident Evil 2 this past year. Their third olive branch will be whatever information I can get on Resident Evil 7. It makes me happy that Capcom has realized the error of their ways with the insane storylines in Resident Evil 5 and 6 and their plan to erase all that and start anew. I’m thinking great things are in store for survival horror fans at E3.
Dr. Toto also states that Jordan Amaro is actively involved in the production of Resident Evil 7. Amaro’s resume boasts some pretty solid games that he’s worked on, P.T. probably being the most important for a new Resident Evil title seeing as he was a designer. Which leads me to assume that Amaro is part of the team developing the horror in the game; possibly designing all the new monsters we must face and the locals we will be visiting. If Amaro can bring the magic to Resident Evil 7 that he brought to P.T., horror fans everywhere needs to grab some Depends. P.T. has been the only game in recent years that has given me the willies. I played it during the day, with other people roaming the house and I still had to pause the title and wander around so I wouldn’t vapor-lock. It makes me happy that Capcom is attempting to return to Resident Evil‘s horror roots with Amaro as part of the team.
I do have to wonder though, with Resident Evil’s story being so convoluted and tricky to navigate now, how Capcom’s storytellers are going to fix the befuddled mess. Hopefully they won’t pull the “Who shot JR?” Dallas stunt on us and have Leon wake up at the Raccoon Police Department with Ada looking over him. It would be nice to start at that point once again, but I can’t see Capcom taking such an easy and cheap way out. Maybe they bring back Wesker who restarts Umbrella and gets rid of all those other pesky viruses, leaving us with the most important one: the T-Virus. Honestly, I just want more of the Leon campaign from Resident Evil 6, just scarier and with better hair for poor Leon. To me, zombies are the linchpin of this series and I cannot wait to see how Capcom fixes the story and brings back the horror.
Regardless of what Capcom does, I’m sure that I will be on board for this title. I’ve been there through the best of times and the worst of times and being a die hard fan I will always come back to this abusive relationship with Resident Evil. Currently I’m waiting for the re-releases of 4 and 5 so that I can replay 4,5 and 6 in order on my Xbox One. I’m excited to go back to Africa and to replay the countless campaigns in 6. The upcoming Umbrella Corps will tide me over for awhile with its pretty next-gen graphics and maps set in classic areas, but my heart will still be yearning for Resident Evil 7.