Video game director Hideki Kamiya has a resume that anyone would be envious of. He’s directed Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry, Okami, and Resident Evil 2. It’s notable that the last one is the only straight-up horror game he’s done. There’s a good reason for that, though; he doesn’t like horror games. Kamiya is open about not being able to handle horror. He can’t take scary movies, and he can’t take scary games. Because of that, he can’t even enjoy the latest installment in the Resident Evil franchise. Resident Evil Requiem is too much for the poor guy. He’s arguing that the series is too scary. Maybe he’s not entirely wrong.
Does Kamiya Think Resident Evil Too Scary?
Of course, horror is subjective. What some people find scary is not going to be the same as what another person finds scary. Also, Resident Evil has been really straight up with letting you know what you’re in for. This isn’t some bait-and-switch thing where you go in expecting a happy romp only to get blindsided by horrors beyond your imagination. No, Resident Evil straight up tells you what you’re in for. But Kamiya is right that the games have gotten scarier. As he put it, “But nowadays, with how photorealistic and high-fidelity video games have gotten, the amount of crazy, horrifying things that people are able to put on the screen is absolutely insane, and I think anybody who’s on the Resident Evil teams at Capcom, at this point, they must all be completely numb to how scary the thing they’re making is.”
Kamiya is right with part of what he’s saying there, but he’s missing other elements of the horror. It’s almost cute how he advocates for options for no blood or “You could just make it so that the zombies’ faces aren’t so scary. Why not have a mode that just puts, like, brown paper bags on all of their heads, or instead of having these dark, dingy rooms everywhere, they could have really pleasant mood lighting.” That’s kind of adorable how averse he is to the sights of gore and horror. But what Resident Evil has been doing lately in the realm of horror goes beyond that.
Early Days of Horror
The first three mainline numbered entries in the gaming franchise all followed a similar formula. All three were originally released for the fifth console generation (PlayStation, Sega Saturn, etc.) and featured roughly the same style of graphics and gameplay. The fixed camera angles and jagged polygonal graphics could create horror and scares to a certain degree. What really helped make the games scary, though, was the inventory management and threat of losing progress. The survival horror elements meant that resources were scarce. You had to play smart to conserve ammo and healing resources. You could also only save a select number of times. So you had to be very careful about losing progress if you died.
When Resident Evil 4 came out, a lot of things changed. That 2005 title changed the series into a horror-action game. The survival elements were still there to a degree, but not nearly as much. The game difficulty was toned down. You could find more ammo and health if you performed poorly, and less if you were doing well. Adaptive difficulty, as it’s called. Also, if you died, there were checkpoints you could start over at. So the threat of losing progress was lessened. Resident Evil 5 and 6 continued this trend away from horror and into action.
Enter the New Horror
Then, when the franchise needed a serious retooling, Resident Evil VII: Biohazard entered the picture. It seems like the developers took some influence from other horror games that were dominating the gaming landscape. Things like Outlast and Amnesia: The Dark Descent had shown how first-person perspectives avoiding combat could create massive amounts of tension. And so, for the first time in a full game experience, Resident Evil went first-person. RE: Biohazard even included a segment of the game that was straight up a puzzle section with no combat. There were plenty of scares, though.
This trend continued into Resident Evil Village. While this game went with more action and less horror, it was still pretty scary. It once again had a sequence that was combat-less and entirely relied on puzzle-solving. It’s arguably the scariest part of any game in the franchise. It’s creepy, foreboding, and the longer something goes on without a bad thing happening, the more you realize something bad IS going to happen. And then, of course, it does happen, and a giant fetus monster shows up to try and eat you alive. The type of horror has shifted from resource management and losing progress to the sights, sounds, and gameplay mechanics. That perspective shift in particular is brutal.
Finding Balance
Enter Resident Evil Requiem. The game divides itself up between first-person segments with Grace Ashcroft and third-person with Leon Kennedy. Leon has the action segments that are less terrifying, while Grace has the parts that are more focused on puzzles, managing resources, and escaping things you can’t fight. And from a personal perspective, we get it. Those Grace sections are terrifying and hard to get through. They are anxiety-inducing menaces to your mental health. But we wouldn’t want them any other way. They’re a challenge, and sometimes you have to push yourself into zones of discomfort to test your limits. Games can be a safe place to do that. Especially when you don’t have the option to make them less scary.
Hideki Kamiya is not wrong in wanting the Resident Evil games to be less scary. The elements of horror in the franchise have hit new heights in new ways. Would it be nice to experience them without the intensity? Sure, that would be nice. But this isn’t the same situation as it might be with a game being too difficult. Difficulty options are important when people might not have strong reflexes or don’t have as much free time to really learn a game through repetition. Fear is something you can face down and push through. It’s not easy. It really isn’t easy. But it’s doable. And once you do it and you learn the ins and outs, it becomes less terrifying.
So, we get it, Kamiya. We’re scared too. But we’re diving into this franchise and facing our fears. Come along with us and jump in while it’s still fresh and exciting. We’ll all be better from the experience when we get to the other side of terror. Or should we say, IF we get to the other side! Bwah, ha, ha, ha. No, but seriously, it’ll be okay.
