Resident Evil 6 preview Impressions of a frightening new Chris section

We’ve been soaking up all of what we’ve seen of the early October release of Resident Evil 6, be it a new trailer or an extensive demo. At E3 we got our biggest chunk of gameplay, which featured big sections for the three campaign stars, Leon, Chris and Jake. But one of the few complaints brought up about the Chris sections was that it had so few scares, an issue many also had with Resident Evil 5. Well, the producers seemed out to prove the detractors wrong at San Diego Comic Con, where they showed a new chunk of Chris Redfield gameplay that looks to bring the scares.

The producers started the demo explaining it takes place midway through the game in case any dialogue didn’t make sense. Chris, his co-op buddy Piers and the rest of his squad are exploring a broken down hotel in China, where a massive bioterrorism outbreak has taken place. The men are tensely exploring the hallways, when out of nowhere one of the group is snatched up by an unseen monster. But when the squad tries to track the beast, they can see it since the light reflects off it not unlike The Predator.

When the camera focuses enough on it, we see the outline of a snake-like creature, opening its slimy maw to reveal its many teeth. Chris chases after the beast alone but finds nothing, which causes Piers to reprimand his superior for running off in such a suicidal manner. It shows that things are getting tenser between the team with Chris at the lead. Chris quickly quiets down the team to get them in line as they continue to explore the hotel, now aware of the monster chasing after them.

The invisible beast keeps tailing them throughout the stage, incredibly stealthy for its size. At one point it picks off someone from above, then later smashes through a wall, separating co-op buddies Piers and Chris, sending the second player to a whole different area. Soon the two regroup with what’s left of their team in a meat locker, but they’re hardly alone, as the unseen creature’s dripping saliva proves.

The stage ends with the BOW revealing itself, in dramatic fashion by eating another squad mate, setting off a boss fight. The trick to the difficult encounter seems to be spotting the shimmer in its light-bending skin and then shooting until it opens its mouth for a more powerful attack, though the devs cut the demo short before we could see for sure. Ultimately, this demo did at least prove that Chris’ stages aren’t all about punching and shooting dudes, as even with his muscles and confidence, sometimes Chris has to run scared too.