The demo for Resident Evil 7, released immediately following the game's reveal on Sony's E3 press conference stage, proved to be one of the biggest surprises of the show. People rushed to their PlayStations to try out the fresh new take on Resident Evil, and what they found were more questions than answers.
It's a demo that is unlike any previous Resident Evil entry. It's played in first person. There's no combat. It's all about exploring the environment, and finding new items that allow players to progress further to the end. All the items found in the demo had a clear purpose, except for one: a fake finger.
The item is found in a drawer early on in the demo, and from what players can tell, doesn't do anything. There have been numerous theories about how to use the item to progress further in the demo, but so far none of them panned out.
Capcom is well aware of this. In a recent email sent out to Resident Evil fans, the publisher says more than 2 million people have downloaded the demo. The publisher also includes a brief message about the demo's mysterious finger.
The implication seems to be that the demo will soon be updated, and that the dummy finger will be the key to progressing further in the game's haunted mansion. No word on when that update will be coming, but Capcom seems to be asking fans to be patient.
As evidenced by the more than 2 million people downloading the demo, Capcom seems to have captured some of mystery that made the P.T. demo so popular when it was first relesed. By having so many secrets and not making the answers obvious, players dive in to the experience and come out with all kinds of crazy theories about how to "beat" the demo and clues about the full game's plot. It makes the demo less of a demo and more like an actual game.
It's brilliant marketing on Capcom's part, though it remains to be seen exactly how similar the full Resident Evil 7 experience will be when compared to the demo. Capcom has already said the demo isn't part of the game, and that the actual Resident Evil 7 will feature combat, inventory management and other elements more immediately familiar to Resident Evil fans.
The latest Resident Evil spin-off, the third-person shooter Umbrella Corps, may also hint at what's to come in Resident Evil 7. One of the franchise's oldest villains seems to be alive in the game, teasing the possibility that he could return for Resident Evil 7. You can read more about that here.
