Capcom "blown away" by reception of Resident Evil 7 demo

Gamereactor recently spoke to both Resident Evil 7 director Koushi Nakanishi and producer Masachika Kawata about the upcoming game in an interview at E3 and the comments about the demo were something they were pleased to talk about.

The feedback in the short period that the demo had been made available at the time was "really spectacular", Kawata said, and they have "blown away our expectations". The team, he said, were "really happy" about what they had heard and are now "looking forward to being able to satisfy everyone" with the finished product.

Nakanishi was keen to add, however, that he had "seen people looking at the teaser demo and thinking that that represents the entirety of the gameplay experience, of the full game, and it's not, it's an upfront feeling of how the horror taste of the game is going to be but the final game is going to have more of the key elements of classic Resident Evil in there as well, so this is just a teaser and a taste of the tone of the game".

When asked about how the game's story fits into the wider universe of the game Nakanishi responded that it will be set "after the events of Resident Evil 6" but did not reveal any more details about the game's plot, only saying that "you are put into an extreme survival situation and the feeling of just "how am I ever going to get out of this?" or "how am I going to survive or escape?" is one of the main themes of the game as well".

Found footage will also play a key role in the game as well, according to Nakanishi. "One of the key things in horror is not knowing what's going to happen next", he said, not knowing whether the character will live or die. In this way, then, "if it's not the main character anymore and you're playing as someone else you really don't know whether this other character is going to live or die and it really greatly increases the feeling or horror".

The videotapes will also serve a narrative purpose as well, with the finding of tapes and objects allowing the plot to unfold in a way that moves away from a direct narrative and places more emphasis on the player. Found footage is a huge "part of unlocking the mystery behind the game". The player has to "put together the puzzle pieces so to speak, see what kind of events have been going on in and around this location".