Resident Evil has had an interesting history since Capcom brought it into the world close to 15 years ago, popularizing "survival horror" and single handedly bringing zombies back as a horror mainstay. Each game would easily outdo its predecessor with improved controls and visuals, weapon selection, gameplay, and most importantly, scaring the bejeesus out of gamers. The series peaked with RE4, and began its steady decline, before ultimately eating dirt with the last addition to the main story line, Resident Evil 6. But like so many of the zombies that plagued Raccoon City, Capcom thinks that while shambling, there's still some life left in the franchise, and the seventh addition could "return the series to its roots."
Since the sixth addition's dismal performance, we've heard that phrase a lot: "return to the roots." What roots exactly? Tank-like controls and awful lines? "Jill sandwich," anyone? No, not those roots, but rather, the roots that made the series what it was - THE name in horror games, which weren't numerous at the time, but still an achievement. Granted, it made its mistakes in certain aspects, but they were forgivable; it was the infancy of the "survival horror" genre, and it ultimately succeeded like hell in scaring the piss out of most of us. Don't even try to deny that there was a tinge of asparagus aroma in the air the first time in Resident Evil you walked down that Arklay Mansion hallway, or you went to recover the key from the other side of the interrogation room in Resident Evil 2.
RE Masachika Kawata producer spoke of returning the franchise "to the roots" just last February, hopeful that the Revelations port to consoles could pull it off. It didn't completely wash the RE6 taste out of our mouths, but it showed us it was possible.
More recently, Capcom's former SVP of Marketing, Michael Pattison, echoed Kawata's sentiments while speaking with MCV, reflecting, "With Resident Evil 6 specifically, we probably put too much content in there, there were comments from consumers that said it felt bloated. The Leon missions went down very well, and because we did Resident Evil Revelations on 3DS, there was a cry out for us to focus our attention on survival horror, rather than be too many things to all people. You'll find where we go next will likely be more targeted at our core fanbase."
Arguably, Leon's campaign in RE6 was the most similar part to what made the original RE stand out. Right off the bat, it had the wrecked, abandoned, campus, creepy and atmospheric, with cramped, darkly lit corridors that screamed Arklay Mansion. Escaping the campus, players would find a portion of a downtown in chaos, reminiscent of the Raccoon City of RE2 and RE3. But one small portion of the game couldn't make up for the rest.
Despite the hype, RE6 was marred by bad reviews upon release, labeled a far cry from the fear spawned by the first game, reduced to little more than an over the top action shooter, which had long forgotten any semblance of instilling fear the series was once masterful did so well once upon a time. The wild cart ride and monsters that looked like thinly veiled rip offs of those from Left 4 Dead certainly didn't help things either.
"A lot is said about the saturation of this zombie, post-apocalyptic survival horror. But it is still alive and well. The Last of Us shows a good direction of what the consumers want. Tomb Raider as well, we spoke to R&D and they looked at that and they enjoyed that experience. I think that proves there is still a strong market for that sort of content."
