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Capcom made Resident Evil: Village less scary to be more accessible than RE7

Needlecrash

Member
I found RE7 to be tense as fuck due to the nature of the game. It's like a slow burn that keeps on going. I didn't find it to be scary honestly. Now....Resident Evil Remake? FUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Even in the original Resident Evil, hearing the footsteps of the Hunters freaked me the fuck out. The Chimera's were runner up since you couldn't see them til they were up close and couldn't hear them either.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
RE7 was too scary for me to replay lol.

RE Village on the other hand was not as scary but for some reason it's more fun to play than RE7. It's like the right mix of RE7 and RE4.

In terms of horror elements, I'd say RE7 was 8/10 scary, RE8 was like 6/10 scary but one part was 9/10 scary.
 

element

Member
Having worked on horror games for seven years, RE7 was the first game in a long time that actually was unsettling. Horror? Scary? Whatever your term is, it is the first game that made me anxious and unsettled while playing and many of my former co-workers said the same thing.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Member
RE7 is only experienced like that by some, because it really plays up the "supernatural" angle, heck there's even "found footage" segments to emulate horror movies like those (paranormal activity etc.).
I mean the part with Mia crawling up the stairs is something straight out of a japanese horror movie, tons of in your face closeups and hallucinations too.
It didn't bother me though, since RE never deals with actual supernatural stuff, but it was tense at time because of the restrictive combat.

The fake supernatural angle and the restrictive combat is why I don't rate it very high, they said they wanted to go "back to their roots", but they went much too far IMO.

RE8 is just straight up RE4/5 but in first person and it's great. It wouldn't make much sense for Ethan to still be weak/scared.
Just like Leon going from a rookie cop in RE2, to highly skilled in RE4, Ethan made the same progression. RE8 feels like a RE game from arriving in the village to the end and I'm sure RE9 is gonna be a damn treat.
 

wolywood

Member
The part of RE7 where you're "in the videotape" and Jack's wife charges at you shrieking when she finds out where you're hiding...I don't get scared easily by video games but that part always made.me jump no matter how many times it happened.
 

Neff

Member
It's way scarier and more tense than 7 was. By a fucking mile.

Do you think it's the right direction

It's absolutely the right direction. Shinji Mikami said much the same thing about the original RE. Those moments of uncertainty are what truly make a horror game- you're simultaneously at ease and on edge. When the monster appears, it's shocking, but the uncertainty fades because you know what you're facing, and you know what you have to do, and you start making decisions about how you're going to do it. But up until that moment, anything could happen. And the human mind, being the pessimistic thing it is, conjures up all manner of horrible situations for you to potentially wander into.

A horror game which walks the tightrope of build up and release is doing its job. A horror game which strives to be scary at all times doesn't understand itself.

Lots of truth

Great post.
 
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nbkicker

Member
I didnt think re7 was that scary, but then decided other week to play through it again before starting village , played it on my ps5 with headphones on late at night, when mia jumped out if a doorway early in the game, i nearly jumped through the ceiling, think i must have woke the whole house
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Most resident evil games you’re alone exploring creepy places I feel like that’s back with RE FPS.
 

TMLT

Member
Its not as CONSISTENTLY scary as 7 but it absolutely has plenty of scary/tense segments along with a creepy dark atmosphere. That one particular part that everyone is raving about is scarier than anything in 7 or probably any other horror game imo. I think the fears of it being more action oriented and less horror were largely unfounded, because its entirely relative to 7 which was one of the scariest and most stripped down games in the series. If this had come out before 7 people would have said it was a return to classic Resi horror and the scariest game since REmake.
 

-MD-

Member
well what is scary is very subjective. the moment I had my weapons taken from me I stopped being scared. because the game basically tells you that there's nothing coming that can hurt you really, and everything that could come that can potentially hurt you can be outrun and in order to work as a gameplay element it can't really be that complex or hard to beat.

that thought alone of, "there's no real danger here" made it way less scary for me than even walking down a corridor in say RE1.

of course there's a potential for jump scares or something but those don't really scare me.

it was a small gamedesign flaw to take away your inventory in that section imo and would have been more effective if it was just handled like any other part of the game, with potential danger lurking on every corner. every creepy doll a potential enemy that you have to shoot if needed

Absolutely spot on, I felt the exact same way. I got excited because I thought we were going to go through a more RE1 style slower section only for it to reveal itself as a PT clone with every bit of tension disappearing the moment I saw my guns were gone.

Some of the design decisions in this game were really poor.
 

Soulja

Member
I found 8 to be more creepier than 7. Using a headset for the game audio often put me on edge because of all the twigs snapping and groaning sounds.
 
Dada ? This was toned down???

People would be having heart attacks!

peqbs7r.jpg
 

Hydelol

Banned
I don't understand what everyone finds scary about the doll house. The baby wasn't scary at all. You could even kite it around a table. Well, in my case it did kite me around the table? And they gave you enough gameplay methods to stay away from it, so nothing happened. Just because some creature screams like a baby, doesn't make it scary.
 

Stuart360

Member
RE8 does have IMO the scariest enemy in the whole series though (you all know which one i mean), but yeah overall its not very scary.
I dont know why they needed to do this though as isnt Resi 7 like the second biggest selling Resi Evil?, or something like that.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I found RE7 to be tense as fuck due to the nature of the game. It's like a slow burn that keeps on going. I didn't find it to be scary honestly. Now....Resident Evil Remake? FUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Even in the original Resident Evil, hearing the footsteps of the Hunters freaked me the fuck out. The Chimera's were runner up since you couldn't see them til they were up close and couldn't hear them either.
Jack Nicholson Reaction GIF


Preach it brother! The tic-tic-tic of the Hunters still puts me on edge. Especially in the OG 96 release, no auto-aim. Hunters will F you up with a quickness! So lethal.
 
I don't understand what everyone finds scary about the doll house. The baby wasn't scary at all. You could even kite it around a table. Well, in my case it did kite me around the table? And they gave you enough gameplay methods to stay away from it, so nothing happened. Just because some creature screams like a baby, doesn't make it scary.
I guess because the doll house was much more mysterious, unexpected and psychological than the rest of the game and you didn’t have your briefcase of weapons blasting everything in your path. It most likely created a more tense atmosphere for most because fear of the unknown I suppose.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I don't understand what everyone finds scary about the doll house. The baby wasn't scary at all. You could even kite it around a table. Well, in my case it did kite me around the table? And they gave you enough gameplay methods to stay away from it, so nothing happened. Just because some creature screams like a baby, doesn't make it scary.
Yea, I didn't find it that scary, but at the same time, I was still scared. Mostly because you have no items and can only run/hide. In one part, I ended up hiding under the bed, but I went under in a way so that my feet were facing the baby, not my head, and in my headphones I can just hear it getting closer....and closer....and closer, but I didn't want to move cause I didn't know if it'd put me at risk. That was super fun playing in a low lit basement.
 
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Hydelol

Banned
I guess because the doll house was much more mysterious, unexpected and psychological than the rest of the game and you didn’t have your briefcase of weapons blasting everything in your path. It most likely created a more tense atmosphere for most because fear of the unknown I suppose.
The moment my guns were taken away, I realized NOTHING could happen to me. Well, it could eat me, but if I could run away from Lycans, why wouldn't I be able to run away from a giant crawling baby?
 

Cravis

Member
Yeah after playing the Dollhouse part does Capcom really expect me to believe they made the game less scary than 7?


Hju6F3A.jpg
 
The moment my guns were taken away, I realized NOTHING could happen to me. Well, it could eat me, but if I could run away from Lycans, why wouldn't I be able to run away from a giant crawling baby?
I see. I guess I was thinking that I would probably be playing hide and seek with potential enemies which I assumed would be more difficult and tense than simply blasting them in the face. That crawling you-know-what did surprise me though. I’m playing in loud surround sound so that definitely contributed to my experience as well.
 
Someone should tell to Capcom that they shouldn't flatter themselves (with RE7 being "scary") and disgusting does not equate with "scary".
They got some VR feedback from The Kitchen demo before RE7 was even announced, and I remember the buzz being that it was almost too scary to play (in VR).
 

Hydelol

Banned
I see. I guess I was thinking that I would probably be playing hide and seek with potential enemies which I assumed would be more difficult and tense than simply blasting them in the face. That crawling you-know-what did surprise me though. I’m playing in loud surround sound so that definitely contributed to my experience as well.
Yeah don't get me wrong, it was creepy and the athmosphere was great. But not scary like half the internet claims.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Yeah after playing the Dollhouse part does Capcom really expect me to believe they made the game less scary than 7?


Hju6F3A.jpg
Right. I think by less scary it actually means more downtime. RE7, when you're not familiar with it, kind of puts you on edge the entire game. Village has a lot of down time when you're exploring. I like that though cause as soon as you enter a new area the fear kicks back up.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Member
and you didn’t have your briefcase of weapons blasting everything in your path.
This is exactly why that section was immediately non-tense for me. This is a game where you blast things, not having blasty-things means nothing can hurt you, or at the very least you'll be able to easily outrun whatever might show up. It also means when something does show up it will at the climax of the puzzle. Gamedesign 101 is not on their side for that section, though it would've been great in a different kind of game like amnesia. 🤷‍♂️
 

TheKratos

Member
RE never was and never will be scary. Any game where you can blast shotgun to the face of the monster simply can't be scary. It can be tense in the sense of overcoming powerful beasts but scary, nah.

I played RE8 like it was freaking Quake (with much worse gunplay), blasting grotesque monsters away with my shotgun.
 
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Mato

Member
I'm glad that they did. I just finished the game and it was great. It is less scary than RE7 (except for that f*cking baby) and I enjoyed it more, partly because of that reason. All that depressing torture porn ugliness of 7, I hope they never go back to that. Also, daytime RE should become the default.
 

TMLT

Member
I don't understand what everyone finds scary about the doll house. The baby wasn't scary at all. You could even kite it around a table. Well, in my case it did kite me around the table? And they gave you enough gameplay methods to stay away from it, so nothing happened. Just because some creature screams like a baby, doesn't make it scary.

I mean...

its a giant deformed baby monster that emerges unexpectedly face first from the shadows, blocks up the tight hallway, and then starts pursuing you down it, forcing you to turn the opposite direction and haul ass. Then you're hiding under beds and shit in claustrophobic pitch black environments as it stalks around calling you dada.


Maybe i'm just a pussy, but thats a whole lot of nope for me.
 

-MD-

Member
I mean...

its a giant deformed baby monster that emerges unexpectedly face first from the shadows, blocks up the tight hallway, and then starts pursuing you down it, forcing you to turn the opposite direction and haul ass. Then you're hiding under beds and shit in claustrophobic pitch black environments as it stalks around calling you dada.


Maybe i'm just a pussy, but thats a whole lot of nope for me.
I actually found the dialogue from the enemy incredibly annoying, I think it was the same 6 seconds of audio on a loop.
 

sublimit

Banned
They got some VR feedback from The Kitchen demo before RE7 was even announced, and I remember the buzz being that it was almost too scary to play (in VR).
Eh even the most cheap indie horror can be scary in VR especially if it relies on cheap jump scares every 10 minutes like RE7 did.
VR and jump scares are not what makes a good horror game.
 
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Varteras

Gold Member
Well there is one section of Village that is creepy as fuck. More so in that one segment than nearly all of RE7. So even if they made it less scary overall, they did a damn good job of making my hair stand up for a bit.
 

matty3092

Member
Just finished RE8 last night and have tosay I'm not sure how people come to the conclusion that it's not as good as RE7 it's overall quality is better. RE7 starts off strong but goes downhill after the main house with its lowest point being the boat section. RE8 I felt remained strong throughout hell it was more and more enjoyable as the game went on I thought.
 

SSfox

Member
If they seems to care about feedback hopefully they will also listen to those who complained that RE3 was too short and too cut out content.
 

Shakka43

Member
They made a better game here.
7 was good but the awful mold people designs made the combat feel rather dull and uninteresting.
 

Needlecrash

Member
Jack Nicholson Reaction GIF


Preach it brother! The tic-tic-tic of the Hunters still puts me on edge. Especially in the OG 96 release, no auto-aim. Hunters will F you up with a quickness! So lethal.
I remember my brother playing it in 96 when it first came out. He's in the area where the changing room is. Missing an airborne Hunter shot costed him Chris's head. Literally. I had trouble sleeping for a week after seeing that.
 

Arsic

Member
RE8 is a literal showcase for why RE7 is a mediocre game in many ways. Don't get me wrong at the time it came out I 100%ed and enjoyed RE7 a lot.

Upon completing 8 I was like "why would I ever play RE7 again ? "

I go back to RE1R,RE0R,RE2R,RE3R, and RE4 regularly. RE7 falls into the once you're done you're done camp.
 

Excess

Member
Yeah don't get me wrong, it was creepy and the athmosphere was great. But not scary like half the internet claims.
Most of us who play these types of games can anticipate how things are gonna go. Like you said, they take your weapons from you, and you begin to notice lockers are placed around the basement you can hide in. So you know you're gonna have to hide from something.

But JFC man, when the lights go out, your imagination takes over, and holy mother of god I did not expect to see THAT. I ran like a little girl into the locker and started laughing so hard at what a giant pussy I was. "pie_tears_joy:
 

ManaByte

Member
But JFC man, when the lights go out, your imagination takes over, and holy mother of god I did not expect to see THAT. I ran like a little girl into the locker and started laughing so hard at what a giant pussy I was. "pie_tears_joy:
There was one part that made me yell out loud.
 
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