Resident Evil 7 Won't Feature a Notorious Character

Capcom detailed the protagonist for Resident Evil 7, confirming that it's not a hero character that many fans have become accustomed to. Instead the new lead role will be taken by an average person to make the experience genuine.

In a Capcom Unity blog post, producer Masachika Kawata and director KÅshi Nakanish explained why they decided to take a different approach in Resident Evil 7.

"Just to confirm – it isn’t an existing character whose eyes you’re seeing through. I think one of the places we got in the series up until now is you’re kind of playing these superhero characters. They’re fully equipped, powerful people who go into these survival horror situations but they’re ready for them. They can take it on. To bring the horror experience right to the player, we thought now that you’re in first person you’ll feel like you’re there. You can’t be looking through the perspective of a macho, hero character because that’s not you at home. Or maybe you are macho, I don’t know [laughs]. It’s sort of a powerless, ordinary person you’re playing as. We’re not really talking in too much detail about who they are right now, but they’re an ordinary person stuck in an extraordinary situation. I think that really brings the horror right to the fore. You wonder if this person you’re playing as – or you – will be able to cope with this situation. That’s a real feeling of helplessness that helps the horror stand out. If you try the demo that’s out on [PlayStation 4] for [PlayStation Plus subscribers], you’ll see."

When asked if Resident Evil 7 was a reboot Kawata quickly dashed that theory away.

"It’s not a reboot and we’re not throwing away the series’ canonical storyline. It’s the new numbered title in the series and it’s a sequel to the existing mainline series titles. After I say that and you try the demo, you may say “Really?”, because it looks nothing like any of that, but trust me. We need to have a bit of mystery in survival horror, so we’re trying to make you wonder when you play it how could this possibly be connected? That’s part of the appeal."

It was already confirmed that the playable demo isn't part of the main game but simply a taste of the new tone. 

Resident Evil 7 is set to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on January 24th 2017.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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