Resident Evil has become a superpowered zombie-slaying soap opera in the last decade, but that wouldn't really work for Resident Evil 7 biohazard. The game's producer and director weren't willing to offer many clues to the main character's identity on the official Capcom blog, but they did confirm it's the kind of person who gets freaked out by mannequins and who doesn't go charging into battle with an attache case full of herbs and high-powered firearms.
"You can’t be looking through the perspective of a macho, hero character because that’s not you at home", director Koushi Nakanishi said. "Or maybe you are macho, I don’t know [laughs]. It’s sort of a powerless, ordinary person you’re playing as. We’re not really talking in too much detail about who they are right now, but they’re an ordinary person stuck in an extraordinary situation. I think that really brings the horror right to the fore".
But Capcom isn't leaving that world of heroic bio-weapon slayers behind. Resident Evil 7 biohazard is indeed a direct sequel to Resident Evil 6 and the previous games, Nakanishi said, rather than a slate-clearing reboot. "After I say that and you try the demo, you may say 'Really?', because it looks nothing like any of that, but trust me. We need to have a bit of mystery in survival horror, so we’re trying to make you wonder when you play it how could this possibly be connected? That’s part of the appeal".
Nakanishi went further with the idea of connecting Resident Evil 7 biohazard (that really is the title, unless you live in Japan where it's BIOHAZARD 7 resident evil) with the original Resident Evil story later in the interview. "I want to give a reassuring message. I’ve seen from initial reactions of what we’ve put out that people are getting the impression that we’ve taken Resident Evil and turned it into some sort of supernatural, occult, ghost story. I think you can look at the trailer or the demo and get that impression, but don’t worry, we haven’t just thrown out Resident Evil as it exists and turned it into a ghost story. It will all make sense in the end".
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