By all indications, Capcom got the memo Resident Evil 5 just wasnt that scary. But at the companys yearly Captivate event in Rome last week, series producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi uttered something that truly sent shivers down the spines of every hardened Biohazard fan in attendance: its not just about survival horror any more.
Shock and awe! Heresy of the highest order! But not long after sensing the mounting unrest swelling in the audience, the four-time veteran to the famously horrific survival series was quick to temper his claim with a reassuring reprieve its more than that. We want to deliver a big package here.
That big package is Resident Evil 6: a tremendously ambitious project with an equally prodigious development team to match. With more than 600 people involved with the game worldwide, Resident Evil 6 not only marks one of Capcoms biggest productions to date, but also provides a clear testament to the series dominant position amid the companys totem pole of iconic intellectual properties. With the sole exception of 2008, there has been at least one Resident Evil game every year since the series genesis in 1996. In just the past year alone, there have been three Resident Evil releases across numerous platforms.
Just going by the numbers, its clear that Capcoms put a lot of time and corporate dollars into their new company darling (sorry, Mega Man). But more than simply churning out the franchises next blockbuster hit, Capcom seems determined to accomplish a nearly impossible goal: pleasing everyone. And that includes the folks whose first and favorite Resident Evil games predate Leons action-packed excursion into dour Spanish villages.
Kobayashi notes: what were trying to do is put back all the thrills, chills, and spills that you would expect from the Resident Evil franchise, but were taking everything to the next level. Everything that you love about past Resident Evil games, were maxing that out and putting it into this game to create something huge and nothing youve ever experienced before.
Resident Evil 6 is what Kobayashi and crew deem the next vanguard in horror entertainment, a histrionic term for what the team believes will not only rectify but improve upon all the things the series has done up to this point, action and all. Yes, zombies are back. The real ones. Moving and shooting is finally in there, too. But beyond the surface level bullet points of mechanical and design improvements lies a greater statement to what the latest game in the series is brashly trying to accomplish–absolutely everything.
Multiple characters, multiple playstyles
Remember the A and B character scenarios from games like Resident Evil 2? Thats back. But more than just presenting different perspectives that ultimately intertwine into a single storyline, Resident Evil 6 is using its three separate mini-campaigns as the games primary means of fracturing series mercurial identity into three distinct playstyles.
Leon Kennedys tale begins in the sleepy fictional American town of Tall Oaks, which has recently come under attack by bioterrorists after a visit by the president of the United States. Framed for murdering the zombified chief executive, Leon embarks upon a cold trail for the truth with white house agent Helena Harper in a campaign that most closely resembles the classic creepy corridors and suspenseful high tension gameplay of classic Resident Evil fame.
Meanwhile, megabuff monster puncher Chris Redfield can be found on the streets of China investigating a bioterrorist attack in a scenario similar to the action packed trimmings of Resident Evil 5. Apparently leading up to this, there will be another chapter set six months in the past that will impact his life in the way he makes decisions and thinks about fighting bioterrorism, says game director Eiichiro Sasaki. What youre going to be seeing in this game is a Chris you arent familiar with. All clues point to something involving his new buddy coming along for the ride, Piers Nivans, a talented BSAA sniper.
Then theres Jake Muller, who was indeed confirmed by Sasaki to be Albert Weskers biological son. (Apparently, the atmosphere wasnt the only thing his old man saturated.) Working as a mercenary in a war torn eastern European countr, Jake runs into a familiar face–who Sasaki also confirmed to be Sherry Birkin–begging him to come with her, claiming that his special blood could save the world. Out of all of the campaigns described thus far, the particularities of Jakes chapter were definitely the most cryptic; something circling around the idea of escaping the country, and being relentlessly chased by pursuers.
Also, Sasaki seems to have a huge crush on Sherry Birkin. (Whoo! *sounding flustered* I like Sherry Birkin.)
Though each character will begin their journeys on separate ends of the earth, their travels will all ultimately intersect in the fictional Chinese city of Lanshiang. What will ultimately come to a head there is anyones guess.
Monster Mash
Its true, the Romero zombies are back–but plain ol shamblers just wont do for 2012. Apart from being able to move swiftly and hurdle over obstacles, some outliers of this fearsome new breed of undead may even be armed with the weapons and implements they were holding onto while still alive fending off other zombies; an interesting gameplay wrinkle that culminates in allowing you to pull off contextual melee kills with whatever object youre able to wrest from their cold dead hands.
But fans of las plagas, the majini, and every other permutation of the fast moving, insect addled humanoid need not fret, the new Javo enemy seems apt to take their place as the next big bug to squash. It isnt just their ability to use any weapon type thats cause for concern; when parts of their bodies are shot off, their quick regenerative system allows them to regrow them into grotesque new mutated forms. With all manner of body parts prone to a secondary mutation, its an enemy that Kobayashi believes will be an entirely different experience each time you fight them, depending on how you attack them.
The most mysterious new creepy crawly is one theyve appropriately saved for last. As it turns out, the newly concocted C-Virus carries the unique property of turning the humans its infected into cocoon shaped husks called chrysalids. Whatever pops out is a total mystery, one that isnt totally human, and one theyve neglected to show during the presentation. Now theres suspense, for you.
Reinventing the third-person shooter, once more
Sasaki believes that the idea of horror goes beyond spooky monster closets and the games mere phrasing of events; somewhere amid the streams of language and concepts, his own personal definition of fright becomes more closely married to the feeling of tension and immediacy, both on the inside as well as on the fingertips. A new style of horror, as the team mystifyingly calls it, and one thats irrevocably tied to perfecting the series signature control scheme.
Here, its clear that the action-oriented cues set in motion by Resident Evil 4 have no signs of slowing down. Quite the contrary; in fact, its rapidly evolving into something even more obtusely action packed than ever before. While were returning to the roots of horror in Resident Evil, were not returning to the roots of the [tank based] control scheme. This time you will be able to move and shoot, among other shooting actions like jumping on your back and rolling around.
The challenge, Sasaki describes, is coming up with a stress free control scheme that achieves a balance between smoothness of motion while maintaining that crucial element of horror. One such example Sasaki brings up involves the new back dive mechanic. If youre on your back, you might think youd have an easier time picking enemies off, but we made it so some enemies will jump on top of you or lunge at your throat, and you have to get your gun out in time to shoot them off you.
Other new innovations, such as leaning left and right during an upright gun stance or crawling on your back during the backwards prone position, tease at some other potential applications down the road, invariably pointing towards a control scheme thats set to empower the player in more ways than ever before. Can a game that allows you to do this much still be scary? The Silent Hill series recent downslide into a more combat oriented pace proved to be one of the major factors of its undoing. Resident Evil, it seems, is trying to replace that horrific feeling of helplessness (read: feeble tank controls) with the fight or flight thrill of the moment. Pulse pounding action, in the development teams eyes, comes in more flavors than one.
So is it scary?
In a manner of speaking, sure. If your scientific measure of scaritude entails moody, moonlit scenery, chilling bouts of silence, and eerie, pervasive imagery punctuated by the occasional jumpy moment, then the game certainly had all of that in spades.
The onstage gameplay demo for Captivate 2012 takes place shortly after Leon ices the president in the debut trailer. After taking a moment to collect their wits, Leon and Helena plot an escape from their current location–an old, countryside university. Cue the flashing light bulb above your head. The parallels to the first games mansion are certainly there; the creepy banquet halls, antique baroque furniture, and shadowy, light-deprived corridors evoked a classic sense of minimalist Resident Evil with measured pacing through and through. In fact, it wasnt until the harrowing final moments of escaping through the zombie infested parking lot that Leon and Helena were finally given the opportunity to unleash their payload upon the shambling masses.
For nearly the entire duration of the presentation, the game seemed quite pleased with simply stringing players along on a tense and nearly action-less subplot involving Leon and Helena coming upon a sick university staff member searching for his daughter. Theres obviously a red flag here, and the game knows you know it. During the long stretches of roaming through the universitys musky halls, the guy frequently slips in and out of view, often obscured by the shadows but always within earshot because of that telltale cough. In one particularly nasty hacking spell, he even became unresponsive for just a slight moment…but apparently the worst had come to pass. For now.
After a labored search, the collective ears of the search party perk up to a nearby noise which turns out to be the daughter (who pops out with the shrill shriek of a classic horror music cue, no less). Shes just as ill, if not in slightly worse condition, as dear old dad, but the three still manage to make haste towards the nearest emergency elevator. Theres coughing, more coughing, and eventually a peaceful slip into silence. The father then blubbers, but even that eventually fades into the darkness too.
Its quiet, but not for long. A mushy and muffled yet all too familiar sound fills the narrow space of that elevator, and before long, Leon is forced to draw a bead on daughter eating father.
The future of fear
Whats left are a few straggling bits of information; co-op is back, with proper drop-in drop-out support (no need for backtracking to checkpoints this time). Mercenary mode will be unlocked from the beginning, though Kobayashi urges players to play through the trio of protags first for the complete experience.
Oh, and apparently the game is also coming a full month earlier than expected.
Thanks to the immense response from the debut trailer earlier this year, Kobayashi was able to negotiate with the rest of the dev team to deliver Resident Evil 6 on a slightly accelerated timeline–a slightly worrisome move for a game attempting to do this much. But for all it aspires to accomplish, having one less month of development may very well be the least of its concerns. Still, its hard not to be impressed by the current results.
Resident Evil 6 will be out on October 2nd, 2012 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. For more information, you can check out our interview with Kobayashi and Sasaki embedded for your convenience here, as well as in future Side Mission posts down the road.