Resident Evil 7 looks absolutely excellent- it looks like a fresh new start for the series, which badly needed it after a few years of increasingly misguided focus on action. A lot of this probably has to do with what the developers are taking as their inspiration this time around. Speaking to YugaTech, producer Masochika Kawata revealed that the team was consciously trying to channel the same feeling that characterized the original Resident Evil game, the game that kicked off the franchise and the success of the survival horror genre to begin with.
“Resident Evil 1, not the remake… because it was the first time that they were making something, so we’re capturing that same feeling. For example, when you remake something, the main goal is to refine it, to build on what’s there. For RE1, it’s about making something new,” he said.
I think it shows- Resident Evil 7 appears to be a bold new frontier and paradigm for the series, as opposed to just a refinement or an iteration like so many previous games have been. I can only hope it ends up being as well received as Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4, its spiritual forebears, were.