As far as E3 2016 reveals go, Resident Evil 7 was easily one of the biggest.
Fans had been expecting something new from Capcom's longtime survival horror franchise at this year's show, but few were expecting both a VR-ready Resident Evil game and a playable demo. Not only that, but the demo was actually good, seemingly proving that Capcom could still do horror.
Naturally, the demo inspired quite a few questions about the final game — mostly about the gameplay itself. The teaser Capcom released largely boiled down to walking and exploring — will Resident Evil 7 go full-on Silent Hills, or does Capcom have something up its sleeve?
According to director Kōshi Nakanishi (via Capcom Unity), the demo was more of a way for fans to get a feel for the series' new direction, but that doesn't mean that the traditional mechanics of Resident Evil are going away for good. A new focus on exploration doesn't mean that combat is getting the boot, and a new style of horror doesn't equal a lack of zombies.
This begs the question: how will combat work in Resident Evil 7? It may be hard to confirm anything, but Capcom has dropped a few hints about how the series' new fighting mechanics will work.
Of course, players will need some sort of weapon if they're going to take down biological nightmares. As it turns out, one of said weapons makes an appearance during the demo ... though you'll have to find it first.
By finding a lockpick and unlocking a drawer in one section of the demo, players can find a hidden axe. There's nothing to use it on, but the combat mechanics are surprisingly detailed — for instance, the axe will get stuck in the wall for a split second if players strike it. The weapon itself may not be in the final version, but the system is too detailed for Capcom to throw it away on a hidden item that doesn't have any real use.
While one could assume that guns will appear in some form throughout the final game, it wouldn't be all that big of a surprise to see close-quarters combat take center stage. Capcom has said that Resident Evil 7 will focus on fewer encounters with more dangerous enemies — and giving players something like a knife or blunt instrument is a good way to make combat seem more intimate and immediate. Hacking away at a zombie's head is a lot scarier than taking it out from a distance.
The comparisons between Silent Hills and Resident Evil 7 are easy to make, but that's also selling Capcom's latest short. There's clearly a lot more going on than simply walking around and exploring — and with the hints that the studio has been dropping, combat will likely play a big role in the game when it launches next year.
Will zombies make it into Resident Evil 7? At this point, it's impossible to tell — but Capcom's constant references to the older games in the series and a hidden weapon that's perfect for braining foes definitely seems to imply that they'll be making some sort of an appearance.
For now, all fans can do is wait for the full game: Resident Evil 7 is due out on Jan. 24, 2017.
