Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a first person horror game published by Capcom in 2017. Since it's release the game has garnered wide praise for returning the series to it's survival horror roots. Indeed the game is succsessful in creating a horrifying ambience, stemming from the terrific enviroment design. As the game takes place in an abandoned home in the United States, I was interested in the design philosophy and creative influences that helped shape the project.
In an interview from Forbes website on the 7th of March 2017, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Director Koshi Nakanishi, offers an insightful look into what inspired the latest game in the series.
When asked about his storytelling philosophy in relation to video game, I was surprised to find he cited indie-games such as the Stanley Parable (2011) and Papers, Please (2012). It's nice to know that even triple A game developers can draw inspiration from works created by smaller independant game developers!
He goes on to state how the narrative tools of the first person exploration game Gone Home (2013) included snippets of information within the gameplat that let the player imagine a larger world. He says this lines up with fear coming from a person's own imagination, and believed this helps the player to create deeper immersion and impactful storytelling.
I agree with Nakanishi sentiments. As someone who has always loved this method of video game storytelling, it's interesting to see how Nakanishi's team have applied it to Resident Evil 7, as previous entries in the series have a more in-your-face story elements.
I think the final quote from Nakanishi at the end of the article sums up the sort of experience I am aiming to achieve with my major project:
"I think utilizing game design and game mechanics to
shape the player’s emotion is something that will continue to evolve.
Having a good counterpart to traditional cutscenes will help move the
gaming experience forward in a positive direction." - Koshi Nakanishi, 2017
FORBES (2017) An Interview With 'Resident Evil 7 biohazard' Director Kōshi Nakanishi. [Online] Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/03/07/an-interview-with-resident-evil-7-biohazard-director-koshi-nakanishi/#21cbf1ee68be [Accessed: 10 April
2018]
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