My ideas for the next Resident Evil game

Ok, first let me say that I thought RE6 was a fun game. However, I can't deny that this franchise is nose diving into action TPS land. The things we loved about the classic RE games are becoming forgotten, our beloved characters are strung along only to serve as a vestige of the glory days. Long time fans are becoming angry. RE7 will literally make or break this franchise. Will Capcom finally give the fans what they want? Where to start? Well I have a couple ideas that could steer them in the right direction

Let's go back to the beginning. RE1 was the original survivial horror game; the first of it's kind. Many people questioned what exactly makes a game survivial horror. To me, the survivial aspect was all about item management. Your character had a limited amount of inventory space so you couldn't hoard items. You needed to have situational awareness in order to know which items were required to complete a task. This gave the game a touch of realism. Fast forward to RE6: item management has been devolved to dropping excessive ammo cases in order to make room for your 3rd first aid spray. Too much inventory space. How can one person carry so many items. It's not humanly possible.

My proposal: make inventory space realistic. Inventory space is restricted to what you can realistically carry:pockets, combat vest, backpack will all come into play in the amount of items you can carry. Same goes with weapons. One of my biggest gripes with RE6 is that characters pull weapons out of thin air. In Max Payne 3(never played it but watch a few gameplay vids) assault weapons had shoulder straps. You can visibly see every weapon in your inventory on your character. I like to see something like this in RE. If you have a shotgun and wanted to use a pistol, you'll have to put down the shotgun.

Now, let's move on to melee attacks. RE6 was the first game in the franchise to use unprompted melee attacks(UMA). Why waste a bullet in a lone zombie when you can stomp it to the ground? It makes sense. However, some fans thought it was cheap and made the game less scary. I can understand that perspective as well. It doesn't fully work in RE6 because you're an overpowered walking armory. You have the best of both worlds: realistic melee attacks but unrealistic inventory space. It's the perfect match. My answer to this isn't to remove UMAs but to balance the system around them.

My proposal: eliminate random ammo drops. Yup, don't expect to be rewarded with ammo after killing an enemy anymore. Those days are over. Now, you are limited to whatever spare ammo your character brought with them as well as the ammo you can salvage. Each weapon will be given an salvageable percentage. This percentage will be based on the likelihood of finding ammo for a particular weapon. Common weapons like pistols will have a high salvageable percentage while assault rifles, shotguns and magnums will have a low salvageable percentage. Ammo will be recovered from desks, armories, police lockers, etc. I want to keep ammo to a realistic minimum. I want to bring back the flight or fight system that RE1 implemented.

Another way to balance UMA is to make enemies more aggressive. Groups of zombies will swarm attack which would make melee less desirable in that situation. Stronger BOWs would be too powerful to attack with melee. Dogs would be too fast. You get the picture.

Finally, let's talk about the one thing RE is most known for: horror. The biggest complaint RE fans have about the recent games is the prioritization of action over horror. Let's analyze this. What makes a game scary? What makes a movie scary? How the hell do you scare someone who is sitting comfortably in their home? How did RE1 do it? Methodical gameplay? If that's the case then how did a action focused game like Dead Space succeed in scaring people? The correct answer is immersion. The only way to scare the pants of the person who is sitting comfortably in their home is to suck them into the game's reality. How to create immersion? Atmospheric environments, riveting story, strong supporting cast, great sound effects, emotional events. There are so many different ways. This is where the focus needs to be.

Ok, I'm done talking. What do you think of these ideas? Good, bad? Let your voice be heard!

They can't regulate ammunition when it contradicts the style introduced, but they could certainly create the maps/evasive techniques for this to be possible.

Ah, if only it was just a matter of a simple reboot...

I second the OP. Especially about the limited storage capacity.

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

Ah, if only it was just a matter of a simple reboot...

I hope so. But it wasn't.

Resident Evil was never really scary at all. Even when I played the very first game, there were no jump scares at all. The REmake did better, but even then, it's not "scary". The only way the make the RE games "scary" again, is to put people who have never been through outbreaks or a lot of training.

Nobudy wrote:

Resident Evil was never really scary at all. Even when I played the very first game, there were no jump scares at all.

How could you? It scares the shit out of me when I first played it. I was only 8 years old then.

Miss Claire Redfield wrote:

Nobudy wrote:

Resident Evil was never really scary at all. Even when I played the very first game, there were no jump scares at all.

How could you? It scares the shit out of me when I first played it. I was only 8 years old then.

It was scary because you were 8. Now that you're older, you've grown out of that fear. I'll be honest, I started playing RE games only when I was 13. So, it wasn't too long ago when I got into the series (almost 4 years). The game that did come pretty close into scaring me was REmake, and even after a few playthroughs, I got used to it.

Nobudy wrote:

Miss Claire Redfield wrote:

Nobudy wrote:

Resident Evil was never really scary at all. Even when I played the very first game, there were no jump scares at all.

How could you? It scares the shit out of me when I first played it. I was only 8 years old then.

It was scary because you were 8. Now that you're older, you've grown out of that fear. I'll be honest, I started playing RE games only when I was 13. So, it wasn't too long ago when I got into the series (almost 4 years). The game that did come pretty close into scaring me was REmake, and even after a few playthroughs, I got used to it.

You don't understand how I felt that moment. Well, I guess that's true. I was young that time, and you we're 13 you are more mature enough. Now that I'm on my 20's I don't get scare about it anymore. Unless I'm out of ammos, herbs and all I can do is running while I'm chasing by Nemesis, or Ustanak .___. For me, that still scary.

I don't think it would be a good idea to remove the unprompted melee. Sure, cut the amount of ammunition and make enemies like you said, attack in swarms or be too powerful for melee. That way you could only use the melee when you have a good chance to do so. Getting rid of it completely would feel like taking a step backwards, gameplay wise.

As for the horror, I don't really care if there is any. Resident Evil wasn't even the original survival horror game, it took a lot of influences from Alone in the Dark, which really was the start of the genre. People tend to forget that. Sadly, time hasn't treated that series all that well, as the old games are pretty outdated and the last release was pretty horrible. Compared to that RE is doing extremely well.

Known_Hero wrote:

RE7 will literally make or break this franchise.

Not to sound negative but isn't that exactly what people were saying about RE6?

Known_Hero wrote:

My proposal: make inventory space realistic. Inventory space is restricted to what you can realistically carry:pockets, combat vest, backpack will all come into play in the amount of items you can carry. Same goes with weapons. One of my biggest gripes with RE6 is that characters pull weapons out of thin air. In Max Payne 3(never played it but watch a few gameplay vids) assault weapons had shoulder straps. You can visibly see every weapon in your inventory on your character. I like to see something like this in RE. If you have a shotgun and wanted to use a pistol, you'll have to put down the shotgun.

To be fair, the inventory space in RE has never been very realistic. In any case, I do agree that it would be a nice visual touch to have your guns visible on your character even when you're not using them. They did this in RE5 and I always wondered why they dropped it in 6.

@KH:
I would add one more thing on ammunition and ways of using them, by far the game Mafia had the most realistic ammunition expense, like say if you had 30 bullets in your magazine and say u've used 25 out of them and then decided to change the clip those 5 bullets that u didnt use were lost as well, that made gamer to shoot every single bullet from the clip, cs u were not able of adding ammunition to what was left in the magazine and also that would keep gamer tensed and concentrated almost all the time.

As for how to make the game more scary/horror, you made some good points there, but I would concentrate most of my attention on sound effects, i mean pick the most scary movie/game, watch it in the darken room with screen light to be the only emission source, but turn the sound off, movie/game will instantly turn into an easy ride. Neither RE 1 or 2 had such brilliant sound effects + music as it was in RE 3, devs have taken them literally to the perfection, so that it was more scary to close your eyes then to keep em open, so the main secret to the fear is sound! I actually liked sound effects in RE6 especially in Leons missions either in Tall Oaks or Subway, so if they push it a little bit more the game will become way more scary.

ChrisRedfieldRE156 wrote:

I would add one more thing on ammunition and ways of using them, by far the game Mafia had the most realistic ammunition expense, like say if you had 30 bullets in your magazine and say u've used 25 out of them and then decided to change the clip those 5 bullets that u didnt use were lost as well, that made gamer to shoot every single bullet from the clip, cs u were not able of adding ammunition to what was left in the magazine and also that would keep gamer tensed and concentrated almost all the time.

The upcoming standalone version of DayZ has an even more interesting solution. You obviously won't find that many actual clips lying around so you will have to insert the ammo you find into the clips you do have by hand. That way, when the zombies come, you will have to be prepared or you'll get destroyed.

Note that I'm only mentioning this, as it would not fit the gameplay of RE as much as it fits an apocalypse survival simulator.

Mass Distraction wrote:

ChrisRedfieldRE156 wrote:

I would add one more thing on ammunition and ways of using them, by far the game Mafia had the most realistic ammunition expense, like say if you had 30 bullets in your magazine and say u've used 25 out of them and then decided to change the clip those 5 bullets that u didnt use were lost as well, that made gamer to shoot every single bullet from the clip, cs u were not able of adding ammunition to what was left in the magazine and also that would keep gamer tensed and concentrated almost all the time.

The upcoming standalone version of DayZ has an even more interesting solution. You obviously won't find that many actual clips lying around so you will have to insert the ammo you find into the clips you do have by hand. That way, when the zombies come, you will have to be prepared or you'll get destroyed.

Note that I'm only mentioning this, as it would not fit the gameplay of RE as much as it fits an apocalypse survival simulator.

Well thats a thought too, but u cant aswell find bullet boxes just lying around if there are not shit load of Gun Stores in the hood and if you push that far then why not making even more realistic and make gamers to look only for the ones that are suitable for their guns, cs right now in any game you just find ammunition that perfectly fits your gun, but that wont happen in reality either right, cs say if you have 9mm pistol like Glock 17 or Beretta m 92(Or Chris' 909 and Leons wingshooter) finding 45 cal bullets will be useless, but i just guess that it will be just too much! Im fine with bullet boxes (or Clips) lying around here and there and they miraculously are perfectly suitable for the weapon in you hands, but adding just that bit of a detail from mafia will be just great, there will be no more Wild West kind of Shooting and gamers will actually aim well before each shot, they will think twice before slide shots (im not saying that slide shots are bad, cs im crazy about RE6 controls and if they change it that will be a disappointment 4 me). So they have to push the games difficulty, but not to make super tough, cs in that case all the action part will be lost and as Mikami said a great Hor Sur game is a perfect balance between horror and action . . .

ChrisRedfieldRE156 wrote:

why not making even more realistic and make gamers to look only for the ones that are suitable for their guns, cs right now in any game you just find ammunition that perfectly fits your gun, but that wont happen in reality either right, cs say if you have 9mm pistol like Glock 17 or Beretta m 92(Or Chris' 909 and Leons wingshooter) finding 45 cal bullets will be useless, but i just guess that it will be just too much!

You are right, that would be too much and that's the reason no game developer is going to use this much realism. It would make finding ammo for your gun way too tedious when there's already a lack of ammo to be found in the first place.

Then again, for example RE6 had two different types of shotgun ammo and they only fit the correct shotgun. That, of course, was countered by the amount of ammo you actually got during the game.

Miss Claire Redfield wrote:

Nobudy wrote:

Miss Claire Redfield wrote:

Nobudy wrote:

Resident Evil was never really scary at all. Even when I played the very first game, there were no jump scares at all.

How could you? It scares the shit out of me when I first played it. I was only 8 years old then.

It was scary because you were 8. Now that you're older, you've grown out of that fear. I'll be honest, I started playing RE games only when I was 13. So, it wasn't too long ago when I got into the series (almost 4 years). The game that did come pretty close into scaring me was REmake, and even after a few playthroughs, I got used to it.

You don't understand how I felt that moment. Well, I guess that's true. I was young that time, and you we're 13 you are more mature enough. Now that I'm on my 20's I don't get scare about it anymore. Unless I'm out of ammos, herbs and all I can do is running while I'm chasing by Nemesis, or Ustanak .___. For me, that still scary.

Come to think of it, if this were real life, I'd be scared in all the games. Having to deal with enemies that just won't die or nigh invincible individuals is a pretty scary thought. Especially when all you have is guns, wits, some agility, and gun skills.

Shinji Mikami claims there isn't a real survival horror game in the world right now. Maybe he doesn't care about Revelations because he isn't in the driving seat anymore. I'm sure it isn't anything about jealousy, though. He just has had enough of these action oriented titles.

White Rock wrote:

Shinji Mikami claims there isn't a real survival horror game in the world right now. Maybe he doesn't care about Revelations because he isn't in the driving seat anymore. I'm sure it isn't anything about jealousy, though. He just has had enough of these action oriented titles.

Just because Shinji Mikami says so doesn't make it true. There are tons of true survival horror games out there. Yes, I'm talking about recent releases. I doubt his game will bring anything exactly mind blowing to the table.

Mass Distraction wrote:

White Rock wrote:

Shinji Mikami claims there isn't a real survival horror game in the world right now. Maybe he doesn't care about Revelations because he isn't in the driving seat anymore. I'm sure it isn't anything about jealousy, though. He just has had enough of these action oriented titles.

Just because Shinji Mikami says so doesn't make it true. There are tons of true survival horror games out there. Yes, I'm talking about recent releases. I doubt his game will bring anything exactly mind blowing to the table.

Yea agree absolutely there are many good SH games, but are not famous as RE or SH (well they are famous as hell, but they are not produced as those two, fans just follow them) and if you mean Zwei I also agree with that very much, cs more i look at images more it reminds me of RE4 and Silent hill and that says that Mikami never went far from RE games and, dont want to be harsh, but lost his talent for innovation . . . but still those are empty words, until the game comes out . . .

Hahaha....MY IDEA for the next resident evil game, now.

Bring back the horror, alright. Trick the players in the beginning by having you and a full squad of soldiers (IFF being a Chris-like character), and then kill off most of the soldiers in a Large-scale boss, almost like a tyrant, but worse. You would escape into an area, trying to find a way out, being stalked by the Tyrant, with whatever you had, avoiding zombies in the vicinity, and finding some desperately needed resources.

Controls people can understand, but also makes sense (RE-wise). Have some third person controls, but have everything in the previous HUDs removed. Reinvent the Cardio- based health system. Different status' can limit or extend your manuverability. Also, based on the characters actual looks (ie. weight and clothing), you could be fast and agile, but slightly weak, and unable to hold more than 6 inventory slots (Like Re 6 Leon, but with the inventory change.)
Chris would be stronger, and hold more things, but would be slower and less agile (inventory at 8 this time.) Ada is the midpoint, with fine-tuned strength, speed, and inventory. Keys don't use inventory... I'm making it easier for people. Weapons can be holstered, but switching to an non-holstered weapon will bring you to select it in the inventory. (Or, pause).

Ammunition restraints. You would find ammo inside a Gun Shop, Cop car, etc. Dead bodies with a specific weapon has that specific ammo. Bodies with shell cartridges everywhere probably are missing some ammo. Maybe you'll find a special weapon in a locked cabinet or something similar.

To make this the absolute end to the resident evil saga, each chapter has multiple choices to alter the ending, either a lot or a little bit. When someone dies, that is the end for that character. You could of saved them, but look at them now. Theyre dead because you didnt attempt to save them. Also, all loose ends must be tied. All the characters, companies, everything;must be answered.

Find a typewriter to save; each one only has 3 saves.

PWNERX wrote:

Trick the players in the beginning by having you and a full squad of soldiers (IFF being a Chris-like character), and then kill off most of the soldiers in a Large-scale boss, almost like a tyrant, but worse.

This is one idea I wouldn't stand behind. Just please, no. It's pointless and already happened multiple times in RE6 during Chris' campaign. It has been used so many times in gaming that it has become a boring cliché. Rather just start alone without throwing expendable characters you don't even have time to care about all over the screen.

PWNERX wrote:

Also, all loose ends must be tied. All the characters, companies, everything;must be answered.

To explain all that without making the story cluttered as hell would require either multiple games or one ridiculously long game. People already complained about RE6 being too long, think how much they would cry out if the game took as long as an RPG to finish. Casual gamers would say "fuck this" and Capcom would lose money.

Loose ends? Just how many loose ends do we mean? 1, 2, 200?

The RE series has way too many "loose ends" needing loosened. It's as if every new game is totally different and they move onto something else without resolving everything we think needs to be resolved. But I think they love it that way. It makes the whole thing seem complex. But yeah, it is annoying. I still want to know if Nicholai will return in a RE game that actually isn't still set in 1998.

Mass Distraction wrote:

PWNERX wrote:

Trick the players in the beginning by having you and a full squad of soldiers (IFF being a Chris-like character), and then kill off most of the soldiers in a Large-scale boss, almost like a tyrant, but worse.

This is one idea I wouldn't stand behind. Just please, no. It's pointless and already happened multiple times in RE6 during Chris' campaign. It has been used so many times in gaming that it has become a boring cliché. Rather just start alone without throwing expendable characters you don't even have time to care about all over the screen.

PWNERX wrote:

Also, all loose ends must be tied. All the characters, companies, everything;must be answered.

To explain all that without making the story cluttered as hell would require either multiple games or one ridiculously long game. People already complained about RE6 being too long, think how much they would cry out if the game took as long as an RPG to finish. Casual gamers would say "fuck this" and Capcom would lose money.

Who Said they had to have names? They are practically just like the Guys with HUNK in RE2, except they are with the BSAA, and they won't be helping at all during the campaign. So, Team goes into a Neo Umbrella base camp (A large lab area, along with the residential areas with it), gets killed by T-006, leaving you inside the area, alone. So, anyone still alive that is either confirmed dead within documents, or stuck inside that same area, or murdered before your very eyes. As for the other areas: Trying to locate a character, trapped in a Bio-Outbreak containment area, or tying up loose ends.

So, instead of having a bunch of Large campaigns, it will be kinda episodic: play a section, cliffhanger cutscene, move on to someone elses prospective, repeat. Characters include Chris, who is sent in to investigate a newly discovered Neo-Umbrella lab, Claire, who is, again, searching for Chris after he is believed to have died along with the BSAA team, and finally HUNK and Nicholai, where HUNK wants revenge on the current CEO of Neo-Umbrella, and Nicholai who is hired to assassinate the same person, setting up a Co-Op scenario, where players can work together or against each other to the point where they each have almost separate goals. Leon and Jill have Cameos within Claire's scenario, Carlos in HUNK and Nicholai's, And various other RE cameo's.

PWNERX wrote:

Who Said they had to have names? They are practically just like the Guys with HUNK in RE2, except they are with the BSAA, and they won't be helping at all during the campaign. So, Team goes into a Neo Umbrella base camp (A large lab area, along with the residential areas with it), gets killed by T-006, leaving you inside the area, alone. So, anyone still alive that is either confirmed dead within documents, or stuck inside that same area, or murdered before your very eyes. As for the other areas: Trying to locate a character, trapped in a Bio-Outbreak containment area, or tying up loose ends.

Again, names or not this has been used a trillion times and is just a lame old cliche. It would be more interesting to have the game start like RE3, everyone already dead and you in the middle of everything. As for the loose ends, there's enough to make a novel out of the loose ends left by the games. There's no way all this could be handled in one game without making the story any more confusing as it already is.

PWNERX wrote:

Characters include Chris, who is sent in to investigate a newly discovered Neo-Umbrella lab, Claire, who is, again, searching for Chris after he is believed to have died along with the BSAA team, and finally HUNK and Nicholai, where HUNK wants revenge on the current CEO of Neo-Umbrella, and Nicholai who is hired to assassinate the same person, setting up a Co-Op scenario, where players can work together or against each other to the point where they each have almost separate goals. Leon and Jill have Cameos within Claire's scenario, Carlos in HUNK and Nicholai's, And various other RE cameo's.

I seriously hope there will be no Chris/Jill/Leon in the next game. I'm okay with people being fans of them but holy crap on a stick, enough of these people, show me someone who hasn't been featured in the last five consecutive games. Also, why HUNK? What does he have against the CEO of Neo-Umbrella, who I assume would be just another faceless disposable villain like Simmons and whole HUNK's campaign just a repeat of Leon's from RE6. Besides, having HUNK out for revenge on anyone would be so out of character for him it hurts.

Mass Distraction wrote:

PWNERX wrote:

Who Said they had to have names? They are practically just like the Guys with HUNK in RE2, except they are with the BSAA, and they won't be helping at all during the campaign. So, Team goes into a Neo Umbrella base camp (A large lab area, along with the residential areas with it), gets killed by T-006, leaving you inside the area, alone. So, anyone still alive that is either confirmed dead within documents, or stuck inside that same area, or murdered before your very eyes. As for the other areas: Trying to locate a character, trapped in a Bio-Outbreak containment area, or tying up loose ends.

Again, names or not this has been used a trillion times and is just a lame old cliche. It would be more interesting to have the game start like RE3, everyone already dead and you in the middle of everything. As for the loose ends, there's enough to make a novel out of the loose ends left by the games. There's no way all this could be handled in one game without making the story any more confusing as it already is.

PWNERX wrote:

Characters include Chris, who is sent in to investigate a newly discovered Neo-Umbrella lab, Claire, who is, again, searching for Chris after he is believed to have died along with the BSAA team, and finally HUNK and Nicholai, where HUNK wants revenge on the current CEO of Neo-Umbrella, and Nicholai who is hired to assassinate the same person, setting up a Co-Op scenario, where players can work together or against each other to the point where they each have almost separate goals. Leon and Jill have Cameos within Claire's scenario, Carlos in HUNK and Nicholai's, And various other RE cameo's.

I seriously hope there will be no Chris/Jill/Leon in the next game. I'm okay with people being fans of them but holy crap on a stick, enough of these people, show me someone who hasn't been featured in the last five consecutive games. Also, why HUNK? What does he have against the CEO of Neo-Umbrella, who I assume would be just another faceless disposable villain like Simmons and whole HUNK's campaign just a repeat of Leon's from RE6. Besides, having HUNK out for revenge on anyone would be so out of character for him it hurts.

The CEO ordered for soldiers to Kill HUNK on a recent mission. Also, the CEO may be an old nemesis from the past...
(i.e.: 4D executor has a villain, who will attempt to destroy mankind...and its alive after 15+ years...)
The end game battle could be similar to the end of RE3, with the prototype cannon to destroy nemesis.
After all the chapters, there will be a few dead heroes. Chris might die, leon can be saved, others have determinable fates...but is all up to you, and your choices.

Eh... HUNK is not a person who bears a grudge. That's his character. He sees missions as ways to make money, nothing more. I doubt he would even be mad for someone double crossing him as, just like he himself said to a dying soldier of his own team, "This is war. Survival is your responsibility." In short, if he is double crossed and didn't see it coming, the only one he is most likely to blame for it is himself.

Also, old nemesis from the past... Still sounds like a throwaway character to me. Especially when he literally has none.

Btw. When did Dr. Cameron want to destroy mankind? All I remember her wanting is revenge on Umbrella for whatever reason and a way to escape from the city before it's blown up.