Before Resident Evil had players face off against Afflicted, Ooze, J'avo, Majini or Ganado, the enemies they most often encountered were zombies. Now, as the upcoming Resident Evil 7 returns to the series' roots, the game's developers have confirmed that the repertoire of enemies encountered throughout the game will be doing the same, with zombies leading the pack.
Appearing at the CEDEC conference in Yokohama, Japan in late August, Capcom showed off some of the photo-scanning technology it's using to build the game's VR-ready world and went on to tease the potential return of zombies with some dismembered faces.
In a later article by IGN Japan (translated by NeoGAF user Dusk Golem), the developers teased that the game would have zombie-like monsters and other humanoid enemies that players can expect to encounter throughout the course of the game.
With that said, the term "zombie-like" is a little vague, as it can mean a few things. For example, while the specific use of the term likely rules out the reappearance of the zombies that fans have come to know leading up to Resident Evil 4, it does, however, rule out enemies like the J'avo from Resident Evil 6, who could interact with one another and even wield all sorts of weaponry (even Rocket Launchers) in order to eliminate their enemies.
In that case, these "zombie-like" enemies could resemble the Ganado from Resident Evil 4, or the Majini from Resident Evil 5. They are certainly more zombie-like than anything else introduced since their debut, and the only thing that would need to be addressed in their case is their capacity to occasionally use weaponry (something that became more prominent as the games progressed).
Regardless of what they turn out to be, however, these enemies will likely be a welcome replacement for monstrosities such as the Oozes from Resident Evil: Revelations and the Afflicted from Resident Evil: Revelations 2.
Meanwhile, an interesting takeaway from all this is the mention of humanoid enemies. Does this mean that enemies like the Tyrant will also be making an appearance in the game?
Of course, all of this is speculation for the time being. All that we know so far is that there will combat (albeit in a reduced form), herbs (like there was ever any doubt) and possibly some form of currency.
Resident Evil 7 remains fairly enigmatic for the time being, so we'll have to wait for more word from Capcom in the coming months.
