The past decade or so have been a pretty turbulent time for Capcom and the Resident Evil franchise.
If I had to document the output of the series since 2005s magnum opus - Resident Evil 4 - it would probably look a little like a badly created graph thrown together on Microsoft Paint.
Luckily enough, I did exactly that.
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Copywright maffu coppa 2thousandandsixten
Phowaar, art, statistics, graphs, you can really tell I know my way around a PowerPoint slideshow. I'm definitely in the wrong career.
This calls for a referendum: what am I worse at, making graphs or writing news articles?
However, this could be a game-changer. E3 saw Capcom roll out Resident Evil 7 and thankfully it saw the franchise return to what made the series stand out in the first place - pant-wetting scares.
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While the brief clip didn't show us any real gameplay, what we did see was enough to confirm that the game is placing an emphasis on tension rather than firing as many bullets down a corridor as possible.
We do know the game will be played in first person though, which breaks away from the traditional over-the-shoulder perspective.
Developer Capcom at E3 last week revealed the new Resident Evil 7 playable teaser, Beginning Hour, through the PlayStation VR system. The teaser is not a slice of the final game. It is more a standalone experience, similar to the way the P.T. demo would have related to Silent Hills, just a demonstration of how the final game is going to feel.
You can now download the teaser for free on the PlayStation 4 without VR but just know that the VR experience makes it around 10 times more terrifying. Apparently. We haven't been fortunate enough to play it.
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Credit: Capcom
The Daily Dot actually went to E3 and this is what they wrote about the VR experience:
"In the demo you wake up on the floor in the living room of a decrepit, rusty, water-stained house. A television in the corner shows nothing but static. A subtitle prompt tells you to get out of the house - as if you required the prod. You probably don't, especially after you hear all the thumping noises over your head.
"Your flashlight shines in the direction you're facing, and in VR you're moving your head around rather than moving a control stick. The gloom swallows up the light quickly. The flashlight is useless for peripheral vision, which meant I had my head on a swivel the entire time I was searching the house for a way out.
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I made a effort to keep my back against the wall at all times, and before I walked through a doorway, opened a drawer, or looked in a container I made damned sure to look all the way around me-twice. The floorboards were constantly creaking, I was being hit with jump scares, I had no idea where and when something was going to leap out at me."
Needless to say, something did jump out at him and it was truly awful.
You can read the full feature here. It's safe to say we are jealous of his experience.
Words by Matthew Cooper
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Lead Image Credit: Capcom
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