Capcom says "Village is balanced based on feedback that RE7 was too scary"

[JoaLoft]

So yes, Capcom has apparently spread out the scares more and balanced it out with bigger buffers to emphasize on the scares when and if they pop their heads around the corner.

 

Quote

“When we develop a new Resident Evil game, our goal is not always to make it scarier than the previous title, but find a balance to deliver a scary but fun experience for players,” he said.

 

“Some of the feedback we received regarding [RE7 was] that it was too scary to play,” Kanda added. “In one regard, that’s exactly what we were striving for, so it’s a huge compliment for us.

 

“But at the same time, it’s always our goal to create something that anybody can feel comfortable jumping in and playing, so we eased up on the tension curve [in RE Village] relative to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, so that players aren’t in constant fear.”

 

Here's the thing, I don't want to constantly play in fear, because that gets tedious. That's simply a matter of game pacing, and not one of an inherent design flaw. There should be room to catch your breath for sure, which RE7 definitely had with its save rooms. But I don't want to "feel comfortable" playing a Resident Evil game either.

 

I played the demo of the castle and in all sincerity: I did not feel scared at any moment. I actually felt "too comfortable" in the setting they crafted for what a Resident Evil entry is supposed to be. Sure, the game looks, sounds and plays great, but that claustrophobic feeling of the Baker mansion in RE7 was missing for me. I get that you can't really recreate that feeling when you include outdoor sections such as a village in broad daylight, nor do I expect them to repeat the same tricks they used in the previous game. But that sense of dread, the overall tension, felt absent as I played the demo. A demo, which is supposed to be a representative set piece for potential players and consumers.

 

This article sort of confirms what I feared: that Resident Evil 8 might be less scary than Resident Evil 7. Striking a balance in gameplay is one thing. Appealing to the masses by diluting the previous experience is another. I'll definitely want to give the full game a go at some point, but I'm waiting until RE Village goes on sale later, because I'm skipping it at launch for this very reason.

 

What does everyone else think? Your experiences with the demo's? Do you applaud this change, or were you also a bit let down by what you've played?

 

Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/resident-evils-producer-says-village-was-balanced-based-on-feedback-that-re7-was-too-scary/

[You]

The first hour or so of Resident Evil 7 was utterly terrifying and has some of the coolest boss battles I have ever witnessed in an FPS game. Even without VR it was really scary.

 

Somehow I feel a bit sad that Resident Evil 8 will be toned down. Well it seems like that anyway.

 

Looking at initial Metacritic scores, seems like the game is just "really good".

So not as good as, or better than Resident Evil 7 it initially appears.

9 minutes ago, JoaLoft said:

Sure, the game looks, sounds and plays great, but that claustrophobic feeling of the Baker mansion in RE7 was missing for me.

 

There's just something cool and scary about mansions in both RE7 and RE1 isn't there?

Edited May 6, 2021 by enaysoft

[Phantochi]

Too scary?

 

i had no idea there was another Resident Evil 7

[Beyondthegrave07]

I thought RE7 had the perfect amount of tension. You always have to be wary of your environment, but it's not like you were being attacked 24/7 either. On the other hand, games like PT are too scary imo because the tension is always there and you never know when you'll get jumped on and never really knew when you were making good progress or were going too fast or too slow. You never get a moment to breathe. I don't think RE7 was that bad.

 

I was hoping RE8 would have similar vibes to RE7, but seeing this is a little disappointing. I just hope that the boss battles are as creative as RE7 and that the item management and ammo conservation is still very much there so you can't just be reckless like you could in RE5 and 6. As long as the horror is closer to RE7 than RE6 (practically nonexistent), I can still get behind it.

[Lonemankane]

RE7 to me at least was not scary, to be fair to me I feel people and I will just come out and say, snowflaky to horror as now jump scares seem to be the new way to be scary then something like say Silent hill or even fatal frame. Or let me go on higher than that Haunting Ground. I think they should go all in with a real horror as to me the re games were not very scary other than the idea of body horror and if people are too scared of playing the game then I will just say to put the game down and come back later or something as now adays horror games have just turned into just a forgotten relic now.

[CatHasTrophies]

REVIIIage is the first Resident Evil my husband plays with me.

Somehow this is great, but to be fair, it's just the best way to explain that there is -nothing- that scares you.

 

It's an awesome game, really, and I'd recommend it to everyone because it isnt boring at all.

Its just no horror game in my opinion. Not even a horrorsurvival. Its just an Action-Shooter with a good story. Not the best, but its okay.

Doesnt really feel like Resident Evil for me - even if I really enjoyed RE7 and tons of people hated it.

 

I am a bit sad about it because I was looking forward to scream again, like I did in VR with RE7.

Edited May 7, 2021 by I-CatHasTrophy-I

[instastoump]

From what I hear, the survey was in Japan.. They asked the minor buying community tho

[Tsundokuist]

They made the game world bigger and more open so it’s always going to feel less claustrophobic and therefore less “scary”.
 

Personally I’m in favour of the changes they’ve made, I like “Horror” in the sense of Victorian horror (Dracula, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde) and the other stories they turned into 1930s-1960s campy movies/TV shows so I will definitely pick up RE Village as it seems more in that spirit.
 

I’m not really a fan of films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Deliverance so I’m just never going to play RE7 as that’s basically all it seems to be.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[CatHasTrophies]

Me neither. I dont really like splatter-stuff (and there are many splatter-scenes in REVIII). Poor Hands.

I think an open world is not the reason why it isn't scary. Dying Light in the dark, was scary too. Blair Witch, Kholat, ... they were all scary.

 

At one point, you start in the dark forest - move through a house - and suddenly daylight appears.

If they'd done this the opposite way, it would've been scary af

 

You play in the light 99% of the time. When I played the first demo of RE8, it was scary, because it took place in the dark basement that changed if you turned around too much. 

 

If I think about RE7 - the most frightening part was the moment I saw grandma in her wheelchair down in the processing area. That was so creepy - there was no possibility for her to get there. Also the part when the wheelchare was empty at some point. Or the time you reached a saveroom - and she was just sitting outside the room afterwards, even if she wasnt there just a few seconds before. That's stuff I love in these games  The simple stuff. The atmosphere. I dont need violence or jumpscares.

[CatHasTrophies]

On 6.5.2021 at 5:42 AM, Lonemankane said:

RE7 to me at least was not scary, to be fair to me I feel people and I will just come out and say, snowflaky to horror as now jump scares seem to be the new way to be scary then something like say Silent hill or even fatal frame. Or let me go on higher than that Haunting Ground. I think they should go all in with a real horror as to me the re games were not very scary other than the idea of body horror and if people are too scared of playing the game then I will just say to put the game down and come back later or something as now adays horror games have just turned into just a forgotten relic now.

 

I thought RE7 did it better than some RE's before. Especially the whole thing with grandma was pure horror for me. This old lady gave mu goosebumps - even if the rest of the game wasn't that scary. I also liked the birthday game because it was pure madness. RE has never been THAT horror series, but I thought in 7, the balance of action and horror was quite good. I think everyone who played RE before knows that he doesnt buy a real horror game. But I'd like to see it as a little part of the game again if we get a RE9.

[Radford999]

Resident Evil as a whole is not scary at all for me. For me the scariest games are the low budget ones with a psychological element. Slenderman is way scarier than RE7/8. Even Emily wants to play is scarier. For me killing zombies isn’t scary. 

[Silver-I-Chariot]

On 6.5.2021 at 4:10 AM, Neptuos said:

Too scary?

 

i had no idea there was another Resident Evil 7

[fbdbh]

All I can say... try to get in the mindset that this is a comedy, you'll have a grand time that way

[MarcusPunisher]

Wow, crazy it's like horror games are suppose to be......scary ?

[SeedersPhD]

It's a purposefully misleading headline. The feedback was that the game literally always had the player at fear without break, which made the mistake of lessening the impact of scares and dragging the whole game with it. Outlast 2 made the same mistakes.

 

Gaming journalism is a joke when all you have to do is get people riled up for clicks ?

[VegaMan-X4]

The level of vulgarity was definitely too scary for me to handle. So I skipped RE7 in its entirety. And since I can see little to no changes made on that in RE8... Yeah, can do without as well.

[Radford999]

9 minutes ago, VegaMan-X4 said:

The level of vulgarity was definitely too scary for me to handle. So I skipped RE7 in its entirety. And since I can see little to no changes made on that in RE8... Yeah, can do without as well.

Wow ???

[JoaLoft]

2 hours ago, SeedersPhD said:

It's a purposefully misleading headline. The feedback was that the game literally always had the player at fear without break, which made the mistake of lessening the impact of scares and dragging the whole game with it. Outlast 2 made the same mistakes.

 

Gaming journalism is a joke when all you have to do is get people riled up for clicks

 

I disagree, the title is not misleading if you read the article.

 

Resident Evil 7 was already plenty balanced. There were scary moments, but there was room to breathe in between intense segments. They're implying that Resident Evil: Village has been even more watered down, which is exactly what I didn't want.

 

I get that Resident Evil is not pure horror, I'll play an Outlast game or an Amnesia game in that case, or an Alien Isolation sequel if they ever get around to it (please God). But at least there was some tension in Resi 7. Reading that things have gotten even more "balanced" (i.e. reducing the scary moments and increasing the calm ones), has completely discouraged me from wanting to play it anytime soon.

 

I'll stick to Nier Replicant right now.

[anotherfangirl]

32 minutes ago, JoaLoft said:

 

I disagree, the title is not misleading if you read the article.

 

Resident Evil 7 was already plenty balanced. There were scary moments, but there was room to breathe in between intense segments. They're implying that Resident Evil: Village has been even more watered down, which is exactly what I didn't want.

 

I get that Resident Evil is not pure horror, I'll play an Outlast game or an Amnesia game in that case, or an Alien Isolation sequel if they ever get around to it (please God). But at least there was some tension in Resi 7. Reading that things have gotten even more "balanced" (i.e. reducing the scary moments and increasing the calm ones), has completely discouraged me from wanting to play it anytime soon.

 

I'll stick to Nier Replicant right now.

To be honest that's exactly why I want to try Resident Evil: Village, it doesn't seem as scary as Resident Evil 7 and I love the atmosphere... but when I played the demo I got really scared, so I'm not sure anymore ? ? 

[Solid-Fisch]

Hi guys, I'll dig this topic out of its grave after nearly 3 years. I was wondering what others think about this game. I remember back when I saw the trailers for Village my first thought was: oh no man, this looks like it has nothing to do with Resident Evil at all. Told myself I'll stay away from it, maybe play it when it's in ps plus or cheaper int the store. Bought the gold edition for 20 bucks and just finished the story and yeah... it's a bit tricky to be honest.

 

On the one hand I really had fun with the game. The graphics were great, some elements like the castle or the puppet house had fantastic elements. While I was never a big fan of RE4 which clearly was a blueprint to this game in several points, I had no problem with collection treasures or the merchant. On the other hand, the story was bit too overdriven for me. I always had the feeling of playing a enjoyable shooter/horror game, but it didn't feel like a resident evil game. To be fair, I had the same feelings with Resident Evil VII but that game grew on me. I'm sure Village will too. But when it comes to the hope for ever experience a feeling from the old evil games again, that's buried now forever. Capcom has no intention to recreate that again in new entries (exclude the remakes here). Was the game scary? Not really, except for the baby scene in the basement at the puppet house. Man that shit was creepy af, loved it! But also this felt way more like Silent Hill, but that is no critique. Other things like the factory for example I kinda liked but it also felt out of place in the content. I wished the castle and Lady Dimitrescu had waaaay more room in the game, and honestly thought Dimitrescu would be the main antagonist in the game. In the end I'm happy that, and I hope no one here gets spoiled now by this, Ethan Winters is gone and hopefully doesn't return. Never liked him or his story much. Seems like it's hard for capcom to please me. Wonder how Resident Evil IX will look like and what stories and characters they will come up with there. 

Edited April 14 by Solid-Fisch