Resident Evil 7 promises to deliver very different kinds of scares and thrills than what the series has been known for so far- it’s going to be more psychological, rather than the visceral jump scares that have defined the Resident Evil games until now. And in a new feature in Famitsu, picked up and translated by Play-Asia, the developers hammered this point home by defining four new kinds of ‘fear factors’, which will enhance the scares for the player.
The fear factors include players trying to search each area to try and get an understanding of the kind of enemy that is stalking them, and how far it will go to chase them down; an array of weapons you may use on the enemy, not all of which will be effective (and which will have certain side effects, besides- you don’t want to use a loud weapon and attract attention to yourself); taking stock of each item in each room to try and find the exit.
And finally, never quite knowing what item may come in handy at what point, and having the fundamental impulse to want to hold on to everything. The game, then, sounds like it will be more about horror this time than gory combat- and I personally appreciate that shift in direction. Resident Evil 7 launches in January on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.