Everything You Need To Know About ‘Resident Evil 7’

A Single Large Environment

Much like in the very first Resident Evil — which is sill widely considered to be one of the best survival horror games ever made — RE7 is set in and around a single large house. Specifically, players will explore a dilapidated estate in Dulvey, Louisiana owned by a deranged family of murderous cannibals known as the Bakers. Similarly to the Mansion in Resident Evil, you’ll become intimately familiar with the layout of the Baker residence, which contains all sorts of hidden passageways and rooms to discover. Your survival will depend a lot on your ability to navigate the house successfully, but even that is no guarantee of safety. Even when you think you’re safe, you may not be, as enemies are able to slip into rooms behind you, meaning you’ll have to be constantly vigilant even when returning to an area you’ve already thoroughly explored.

http://www.pcgamer.com/resident-evil-7-trailer-blatantly-lies-about-a-creepy-old-mansion-being-nice/ Source: PC Gamer

Playing As A “Regular Guy”

Unlike previous entries in the series, RE7 does away with the practice of putting players in control of highly-trained operatives who excel at all types of combat. Instead of a Leon S. Kennedy or Chris Redfield type, RE7 puts players in the shoes of a man named Ethan Winters, who arrives at the Baker estate in search of his missing wife. While we still don’t know that much about Ethan, we do know that he is just a “regular guy” who is in way over his head. More recent Resident Evil games have lacked good scares partly because players feel empowered playing as characters who know what they’re doing. By contrast, Capcom wants players to feel like they are in way over their heads in Resident Evil 7 and giving them control of a character who has no combat experience and is absolutely terrified by the situation that he finds himself in is a good place to start.

http://assets.vg247.com/current//2015/08/resident_evil_4.jpg Source: vg247.com

The Bakers

Twisted families are nothing new for the Resident Evil universe, but fans haven’t quite seen anything like the Baker clan before. Whereas previous Resident Evil games have owed a debt to George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, RE7 borrows heavily from The Texax Chainsaw Massacre tradition with the Bakers, who bear more than a passing resemblance to Leatherface and the Sawyer family. The Bakers are the game’s primary antagonists, a group of depraved hillbillies who will horrify you and surprisingly, even make you laugh on occasion. While the main mystery of Resident Evil 7 revolves around Ethan’s missing wife, discovering the Bakers’ family secrets and how they may or may not connect to the franchise’s existing lore.

http://residentevil.wikia.com/wiki/Baker_family Source: Resident Evil Wiki

Combat

Combat in RE7 is much different than in previous Resident Evil games, especially the more action-oriented entries like Resident Evil 5 and 6. There is much less focus on combat overall this time out, with environmental exploration and puzzle-solving taking precedence over gunfights. However, that’s not to say that guns don’t still play a role, as you can still find pistols, shotguns, and a few other weapons to help blow away the creepy enemies you encounter, but with ammo scarce, avoiding combat will sometimes be your only option. That’s right, there will actually be moments where dodging and even running away from enemies is the best way to deal with a situation, which all contributes to the game’s aim of making you feel more vulnerable than in past RE games. Still, you’ll have to shoot enemies at some point and when you do, it goes without saying that aiming for the head is always the best option, especially since it’s the only way to take out enemies without wasting a ton of bullets.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/12/8/13878412/resident-evil-7-pre-review-capcom-re7-biohazard-playstation-4-ps4-xbox-one-pc-windows-vr-psvr Source: Polygon

First-Person Perspective

Perhaps the most dramatic change that sets Resident Evil 7 apart from its predecessors is the switch from third-person to first-person perspective. This design decision wasn’t made simply to make Resident Evil yet another first-person shooter, bur rather to impose limitations on the player once again. The early RE games gave players a limited perspective thanks to the use of static third-person cameras and tank controls, but these archaic design decisions simply wouldn’t fly in the year 2017. Putting the game into first-person is a way of bridging the gap between the Resident Evil games of old and new, as more limited perspective of first-person adds tension to the experience without sacrificing the more precise control schemes introduced in later games like Resident Evil 4. Plus, everything is just that much scarier when you can’t see what’s behind you without slowly having to turn around.

http://www.windowscentral.com/everything-you-need-know-about-resident-evil-7-biohazard Source: Windows Central

Limited Supplies

Collecting items from enemies and the environment has always been an important part of Resident Evil’s gameplay, but things like ammo and health items are in much shorter supply here than in previous games. The game forces you to scour every corner of the Baker house for resources and every item you do find is important in some way. In particular, you’ll have to conserve ammo whenever possible, which means that avoiding combat altogether is the most viable option. That being said, there are moments in the game when you’ll come across a lot more items than usual, but this is usually because you’re about to run into a boss battle, which demand the use of a lot more ammo and healing items than regular enemies.

http://metro.co.uk/2016/08/26/resident-evil-7-plot-spoilers-and-combat-revealed-by-leak-6092795/ Source: Metro UK

Limited Inventory Space

Going hand-in-hand with the game’s limited supplies, Ethan’s inventory space is also quite limited. Unlike in say Resident Evil 4, where you could eventually expand your inventory to the point where toting around handguns, shotguns, rocket launchers, and a variety of grenades and healing items got to be no big deal, Resident Evil 7 puts some pretty big restrictions on what you can carry around with you at any given time, meaning you’ll have to prioritize what is and isn’t on your person. The best course of action is to have a balance between ammo, herbs, and other items like stimulants so you’ll be ready to hold your own in any situation, but unfortunately, you never quite know what will be hiding around the next corner.

https://www.vg247.com/2016/12/19/the-resident-evil-7-biohazard-beginning-hour-demo-arrived-on-pc-today/ Source: VG247

The Unknown

One of the less obvious benefits of Resident Evil 7’s separation from franchise lore is that it effectively becomes a game about discovery, especially as you get deeper into it. Time will tell if Capcom’s decision to keep the game mostly shrouded in secrecy up until release will pay off or not, but as it stands right now, it’s exciting to be playing a new Resident Evil game that we still don’t know all that much about. Heck, it’s still unclear whether regular zombies appear in the game or whether any familiar characters from past games will make an appearance. Even if RE7 doesn’t end up having much connection to past games, it’s refreshing to see a long-running franchise take such a dramatic shift away from pre-established settings and characters in order to take a chance on something new.

http://in.ign.com/resident-evil-7/102684/feature/upcoming-games-of-2017-horror Source: IGN

VR Integration

Resident Evil 7 can be played all the way through in virtual reality on the PS4 thanks to PlayStation VR. This functionality can be turned on or off at any time, which means that you don’t need to start a separate playthrough in order to make use of it. Unfortunately, while VR enhances the game in certain ways, especially when it comes to atmosphere, it is ultimately a less ideal way to experience RE7. This is mostly because it can become disorienting very quickly, especially during the more action-heavy sequences. Still, as one of the first AAA games to get full VR support, Resident Evil 7 is a pretty impressive showcase for the tech, even if it’s ultimately better experienced in short bursts than lengthy sessions.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-vr-review/1100-6444197/ Source: Gamespot