Though it certainly wasn’t the first game in the genre, Resident Evil was the first game to bill itself as a survival horror, laying the ground work to future games like Parasite Eve, Silent hill and more recently, Dead Space. It’s unfortunate for fans of survival horror games then that Resident Evil’s taken a more action-oriented stance of late, and has become more of a shooter than a scary experience. According to Capcom, that’s what people want – so it’s unlikely to change any time soon.
Here’s some good news for fans then; Resident Evil Creator Shinji Mikami is hard at work on a genuine survival horror.
There’s little real detail available at the moment; According to Siliconera, all that’s known is that the game will be developed by Mikami’s new Tango Gameworks, a Zenimax-owned studio. Fellow Zenimaxers Bethesda Softworks will be aiding development. Currently codenamed “Zwei,” the game is currently in the early stages of development and is set for a 2013 release.
I’m both excited and worried. I sincerely hope that Mikami’s really going to return to his roots and give us a scary adventure – but the last Resident Evil game he was involved with, Resident Evil 4, wasn’t much of a horror. Though easily one of the best games to come out of Capcom pretty much ever, it was the serie’s turning point towards action – and I’m not sure Mikami remembers what real survival horror is.
Last Updated: April 25, 2012
