Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata has said that he has changed his opinion about the action-oriented direction his team has taken the series into after looking at "user feedback from the last couple of games", in an interview with VideoGamer.
"When you look back on Resident Evil in the last year, we've had a variety of approaches to the [IP]. I still think it's important for us to challenge ourselves to include new elements in the games to keep them fresh and keep them relevant."
When asked whether the response to Resident Evil 6 and Operation Raccoon City had made him reconsider the action-oriented direction Capcom had taken the series, Kawata said:
"Looking at user feedback from the last couple of games, I've started to slightly revise my opinion on that matter. I still think that, for example, bringing Resident Evil: Revelations to consoles falls within what I was saying where, it's a game that contains classic Resident Evil elements but it also has features that modern gamers expect in a game. Hopefully it can appeal to both camps."
"Take Operation Raccoon City, which was essentially developed as a pure shooter set in the Resident Evil universe. I think there could be potential in taking the base of that game and if we were - hypothetically - to develop a sequel to that, then start bringing back horror into that base that we started with. That could be a way to start bringing the elements that we think we need together in one game."
Kawata's opinion last March, as he told Gamasutra, was that Resident Evil needed "to head in that [action-oriented] direction."
Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City and Resident Evil 6 both released in 2012 with significantly more action-oriented gameplay to mixed reviews. MMGN scored the former 4.0 and the latter 7.0.
Do you prefer the older 'survival-horror' direction of the Resident Evil series, or the new action-oriented approach?
By Nathan Misa