Today at Cologne, Germany’s Gamescom show, Capcom revealed a gameplay trailer for their upcoming title, Resident Evil 7. Simply titled the ‘Lantern’ trailer, the majority of the 3-minute video shows first-person gameplay, with the player character taking great effort not to be discovered by a mysterious woman roaming the building with a lantern.
It does appear stealth could be a core mechanic for this installment of the 20-year-old franchise, which is a theme relatively new for the series — though not so much for horror entertainment on the wider spectrum. Its addition here should act as a strong device in building the tension and fear, which critics felt was wrongfully absent in Resident Evil 5 and 6.
Combined with the immersion of VR support and the promised ‘return to roots’ game experience including puzzles, exploration, and limited inventory space, Resident Evil 7 is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the survival horror genre that the series birthed in the first place. Though with the shift to first person view, it’s probably inevitable that some purist old-school fans will vent their disappointment at the change.
Resident Evil 7 is currently scheduled for release on January 24th 2017, on Steam, Windows 10 Store, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
