Resident Evil 7: Biohazard will see the return of a scaling difficulty level that dynamically adjusts according to player performance, Capcom has announced.
In a wide-ranging interview for the Official PlayStation Magazine UK’s January 2017 edition, the series’ executive producer Jun Takeuchi confirmed that the upcoming survival horror game would feature a system similar to that of Resident Evil 4, whereby the game is automatically made slightly easier if players are struggling to complete a particular section. He stated:
“Let’s say you’re playing a section and you die because you weren’t able to react in time. Well, if you die a few times in that particular scene the game will adapt a little bit and bring the difficulty down a touch to give you the opportunity to proceed.
“But we want to make a game where people don’t see dying as a negative thing because it’s a horror game. It just isn’t like a shooter where dying is a case of losing a life or losing your progress. In a game like this, the fact that something comes out and kills you outright is all part of the horror experience.
“We’re trying to smooth the process of getting back into the game after dying, rather than limit any of the possibility of dying, because making the game too easy would also detract from the horror experience. Survival horror has to have a certain volume of player deaths to occur in order for the horror to be effective; you’re scared of the idea that your character died, not of the mechanic of dying.”
Meanwhile, the publication hailed the game as being one of the ‘most graphically impressive’ titles on the PS4 Pro in its in-depth preview. It said that the game looks “borderline photorealistic throughout”, with Resident Evil VII representing an “unprecedented reversal of fortunes” for the franchise. It added:
“Resident Evil hasn’t been a good-looking series for years, but that ugly run well and truly ends now – especially if you’re wincing at the brightness of its HDR lights and playing it in 4K and courtesy of PS4 Pro.”
In a previous interview with the magazine, RE7 producer Masachika Kawata confirmed that “there is definitely more exploration than combat” in the title, adding: “I think it’s a good balance with enough combat to be enjoyable but without taking over the game.”
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is scheduled to release on PS4, Xbox One and PC on January 24, 2017.
