Evolution of Games Design – Resident Evil 7

The resident evil franchise creators have always tried to base their games around the horror aspect being the key theme.  Resident evil 7 did a good job utilizing the newest technology within consoles and PC. Due to this graphically it turned out to be amazing. The game is made up by many different small spaces rather than large open spaces, because of this the developers could make each area very  detailed and atmospheric. In the mansion each room tells the player a different story through the items and props within them. Due to the amount of resident evil games that had been made and with the failures of the most recent ones the developers took a rather large break from the franchise and they re invented the game with resident evil 7. This was the first game to utilize a first person atmospheric style and in my opinion it helped return the franchise to what it was on the ps1. Resident evil 1 was also a very good game and the developers gave it a fixed point camera style which would move with each room the players move into. I don’t think this style would work today but back then they may have been limited so this is why they took this approach.

The graphics for resident evil 7 console for this game look amazing but they are slightly restricted due to it being on console but the game can be played in full HD on powerful PC’s. Developers always give PC players the option to change all the graphics settings as it depends on the persons PC. Whereas you do not have these settings on console because they are capped. Resident Evil 7 was also made to be used with Playstation VR. The graphics did decrease significantly and the game only works with looking around however due to it being a horror game this was an amazing touch. You can feel immersed into the atmosphere and the environment that the developers intended you to be sucked into.

Resident Evil 5 & 6 was a very low point for the franchise as the devlopers went for more of an action approach to try and stay up to date with other shooters. However because of this the franchise started the lose its horror edge. By being able to add more to games due to newer technology this is why the game may have taken a 3rd person appraoch for these titles which may have pushed it towards it losing its scary feel. Resident evil 7 went for a compelty new approach which shocked its primary audience as it did not look like the typical game; but it paid off in the end.