The foreign media PCGamesN praised Resident Evil 7 for its pure horror experience, which maintained tension and fear throughout. The game paid homage to various films and folklore, but especially stood out as a breakthrough by focusing on the Baker family story, rescuing the series from the cartoonish farce shadow cast by Resident Evil 6.
Focusing on the Baker family allowed Capcom to explore new psychological horror dimensions. After experiencing the opening story, family dinners will forever be tainted; even if Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses haven’t made you pathologically averse to dilapidated southern farmhouses, this scene will. For series veterans, the most shocking change was the shift from fixed/over-the-shoulder perspectives to first-person. But what truly made Resident Evil 7 a series transformation milestone was Capcom’s complete abandonment of zombies.
Twelve years before Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 4 had already sounded the death knell for the rotting antagonist hallmark of horror games. Yet Resident Evil 6 brought zombies back, with characters like Jake Muller and Ganado still bearing zombie traits. It wasn’t until Resident Evil 7 that Capcom truly expanded the horror spectrum.
Resident Evil 8: Village went further. The slow-moving humanoid “Molded” became minor characters, while the closest to traditional zombies, the werewolves, were agile and mutated by mold. The game continued the “Mold Lord” concept, linking the horror spectacle with a mold virus. Facing the four mutated lords of Dimitrescu Castle was refreshing—without endless plans from Albert Wesker, players were in an unknown realm: threats from sci-fi or supernatural? A new crisis beyond T-virus or Plaga parasites made the unraveling process thrilling.
Another issue is the outstanding remakes. Although Resident Evil 3 remake was short and heavily altered, Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes set the benchmark for modernizing classic games. Capcom knows where to innovate and where to preserve; even with adjusted story pacing, mechanics, and scenes, the final effect retained the original essence while achieving contemporary masterpiece quality. In other words, recent remakes have perfectly revisited traditional Resident Evil experiences, with quality surpassing new canonical sequels lacking nostalgia and time-tested templates.
Therefore, when PCGamesN editors saw the Resident Evil 9 teaser featuring Raccoon City Police Department and apparent zombies, they felt concerned. Of course, this teaser, only announcing the game’s existence, might hide secrets. Perhaps Capcom plans to break boundaries again like Resident Evil 7 and 8. Hopefully, the zombies in the teaser are a misdirection, and this time the horror essence will be bolder. Because if Resident Evil 9 merely repeats the police station zombie-fighting routine instead of pioneering new territory like the Baker family, it will seem unimaginative and outdated.
For more related news, please follow the Resident Evil 9: Requiem section.
