Resident Evil 7: Beginning Hour
Resident Evil VR, huh? Welcome to the family, son!
It was no secret that Resident Evil 7 was going to be in full force at this year’s E3. What was a secret, however, was that some of us had already experienced it about a year prior in a Capcom VR tech demo.
In the demo, players found themselves tied to a chair with a camera staring back at them. They were then guided through an intense scene in which they are tortured and even witness a murder. The only information they were given afterwards was a title: “Kitchen”.
Despite being described by many as a deeply unsettling experience it was very well received. The demo gained a lot of interest for the level of immersion it had achieved with VR, and a ton of praise for the complete terror it instilled in the player. It should come as no surprise that horror and VR pair very nicely together; And Capcom is looking to bring the first triple A title to the medium with Resident Evil 7 early next year.
Let’s Get This Out of the Way
This is totally P.T. right?
Pretty much.
P.T. was a huge hit when it quietly appeared on PSN back in 2014. Unfortunately for horror fans, Konami decided that video games were a waste of time and money and moved on to make some bomb ass slot machines instead. Silent Hills was cancelled, and the appetite fans had for a true horror game grew even larger. Meanwhile, Resident Evil 6 had left a bad taste in the mouths of fans when it came out in 2012. The people weren’t shy when it came to telling Capcom about it, either. Capcom stayed quiet about RE for a while, knowing players would likely reject another action shooter from the series.
After P.T. made it’s big splash, Capcom started working on an HD version of the beloved 2002 REmake to gauge interest from fans. The response was an unexpected roar that resulted in the game becoming the fastest selling digital title in the company’s history across North America and Europe. Capcom quickly started work on an HD remaster of Resident Evil 0 to follow it up. Shortly after that, we got the announcement.
A Resident. Evil. 2. Remake.
WE DO IT, BABY!
Where can I get this shirt, Capcom?!
But Capcom saw another opportunity during this time.
P.T. was a mysterious, terrifying, photo realistic teaser with an epic ending that went viral. It had left an audience out there who was just begging to be frightened. An all new audience for an all new experience. VR horror. Sure, Silent Hill fans were excited. And sure, a lot of the fans of SH cross over with RE, but a lot of the interest surrounding P.T. was from an all new audience of gamers. Kojima had managed to capture everyone’s attention with his teaser, and now the attention needed a new place to be directed. Like it or not, Capcom made a very smart move here by making a beautiful looking horror demo that is surrounded in mystery. Admittedly it can be pretty on the nose at times with the similarities to P.T. The teaser has gained attention though. And if there’s anything Capcom needs right now it’s some positive attention.
Back to Basics
I don’t want to sound like one of those fans complaining about the new direction Resident Evil is going. (There’s certainly a lot of them) In reality it’s quite the opposite. Do I have concerns? Sure. But I won’t let that cover my eyes to everything else this demo and trailer have presented to us. In a way, this is a return to form for RE. Obviously I’m not talking about the new First Person experience. I’m referring to the atmosphere!
From the moment you start the demo, you’re thrown into a very tense situation with one goal: “Get out of the house” (An objective I would be totally fine with accomplishing, by the way. Capcom pls) The house in Beginning Hour is an amazing throw back to old RE. Hear me out.
The Spencer Mansion was a huge area with seemingly endless twists and turns. It invited you to explore new corners and then back track through old areas to find new clues and secrets waiting for you in the dark. However, the mansion feels much smaller the more time you play the game. Eventually you can blaze through the game for an entirely different experience. Doing so always felt earned and satisfying.
In a similar fashion, the Baker house offers a lot of things to observe and discover despite feeling very small. The house naturally invites you to explore it as soon as you look around the room. Though it is small, the house opens up more and more as you solve puzzles. As mentioned above, the game looks beautiful even without VR. The photo realistic graphics toss you head first into this dilapidated house of terrors and probably tetanus. There are strange pictures and heaps of trash decorating the halls, mannequins waiting for you to turn your back, and even a fucking ghost girl spying on you from time to time.
The possibility of a paranormal element is something RE hasn’t seen since the early build of RE4. If it turns out to be true it would be yet another new element added to the franchise. However different Beginning Hour may seem from Resident Evil, a handful of the Resi bread and butter is here. There are puzzles to be solved, notes to be read, and hidden areas to be discovered. And of course, it’ll scare you senseless. It does so in a slow, prodding way, though. Sound familiar yet?
The thing that caught my attention first though? The sound. Every noise you hear while exploring the house grabs your attention and raises one question: Are you really alone in here? From the unexplained creaks coming from upstairs, to the pile of tin cans you just carelessly knocked over; The sounds in this game all serve to make you paranoid. Finally, those feelings of dread, uncertainty, and uneasiness are back in our Resident Evil games.
This 10 minute demo made me feel more than all of Resident Evil 6 did. The demo serves it’s purpose in that sense. It lets you know that Resident Evil isn’t fucking around anymore.
They’re going back to the horror side of things in a new way and they aren’t going to apologize for it. The final game will probably be very different from what we got in the teaser. I’m assuming the demo is purposely vague to encourage players to discuss and search for solutions for it’s puzzles online. There are a few things we know for sure from the demo and from interviews conducted at E3, though.
We know that there will be weapons in the game from the axe you obtain in the demo as well as the aim assist found in the options menu. We also know that the game is set after Resident Evil 6 and will have us playing a completely new character. The developers stated that the main cast of characters had basically become super heroes since RE4. Playing a new character will take that feeling of power away from us and leave us scared again. I’m just happy to see Capcom listening to the fans and giving us a real horror game.
If you’re totally opposed to the idea of first person horror games, I feel you. Really, I do. But keep in mind the Resident Evil series is 20 years old this year. To keep things fresh they have to take chances and first person horror seems like the best bet right now. Coupled with a full VR experience, first person horror games can take things to a completely new level. It also isn’t the first time Resident Evil has evolved its style to fit the current generation. Resident Evil 4 may have paved the way for Resident Evil 5 and 6, but it was a real game changer for the industry. And hey, if you don’t want to try Resident Evil 7, you don’t have to.
There’s still the Resident Evil 2 remake, which should HOPEFULLY return to the old style of survival horror that Capcom invented. (I REALLY hope so, anyway) In the meantime, I just hope Capcom ends our suffering and tells us what that damn dummy finger and axe are for.