sisslethecat
Boy, we’re just getting new RE7 stuff dropping out of the sky, huh?
Even after the wealth of new images we got yesterday, that dropped zombies, player characters, and some really jaw-dropping commitment to detail, we’ve got even more to show you. While yesterday’s news was focused mainly on the creatures and characters of Resident Evil VII, today’s focuses on the locals. Resident Evil’s environments have honestly always been one of my favorite aspects of the series, as so much life and history could be drawn from the world around you. Whole stories could be told just in the background of a scene, it was a level of detail that creates an atmosphere unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, this began to become more and more difficult, and thus less and less prominent as Resident Evil shifted from the pre-rendered backgrounds of yesteryear to fully 3D environments. Not to say that detail and atmosphere weren’t present in the newer games, but it’d be hard to beat the sheer level of it present in the original games. RE7, and it’s dedication to photo-realistic visuals and the use of Photogrammetry, looks to be bringing back this level of detail and atmosphere in a big way.
Thanks to Reddit user AestheticGamer, we can take a peak at some of these tasty new locals. These are off-screen photos, so they’re a bit blurry – but they’re still very pretty nevertheless.
Our first image gives us a little taste of the forest that surrounds the plantation. We’ve gotten a few looks at this already, although only very briefly during the Desolation trailer, and at night, during the Sewer Gators video segment of Beginning Hour. Daytime is nothing new to Resident Evil, almost every game in the series has had at least some daytime segments since Resident Evil 3, but it’s interesting to see such lush scenery and warm sunlight. Of course, it’s still pretty creepy looking, considering that the bright sunlight is also casting deep, dark shadows everywhere the glow cannot touch. I’d assume it’s safe to say such idyllic visuals will be more like brief respite rather than the norm.
Another look at the Bayou forest. Despite how pretty it is, it’s also so totally cut off from civilization. I’m a city boy myself, and the idea of being lost in the woods, even during the daytime, with maniacs who know said woods coming after me is pretty terrifying. We’ll just have to wait and see how these locations play out in the final game.
RE7 is looking to have a few caves, or at the very least some underground segments. The Desolation trailer’s song, a rearranged version of Go Tell Aunt Rhody with significantly more menacing and creepy lyrics, mentions a “deep dark hole” that the singer was left in as a “prisoner with no parole”. It’s possible these caves will figure into that, if the song does indeed have direct connections with the game’s story.
Ah, finally – some nighttime. We really get to see some of that bayou atmosphere here, with the moss just dripping from the tree branches. As nice as the sunlight played off of the grass and weeds in the previous images, it’s really a delight to see how they look in the artificial light of the lamp or whatever it is here. Has me looking forward to seeing what these exterior locations look with a flashlight. This image gives me some serious Fatal Frame vibes, which is a very good thing. If I were to point to a series that does classic Resident Evil atmosphere well in 3D, it would have to be Fatal Frame over any of RE‘s other competitors.
In my opinion, this one is very interesting. There were a few shots of the location we play though in Beginning Hour, but this one stands out. It’s clearly the same area, what with the mannequin and general state of the room – but this is not an area we have access to in the demo. A boarded up window, similar to the way the windows look on the exterior of the building as well, and a ladder at the far end of the room. Where is this exactly? My bet is that it’s somewhere beyond that locked door on the first floor, the one with the busted handle. Only time will tell, I guess.
Another super interesting shot, although this one is of a place we can go in the demo. This is the door on the third floor, just past the telephone room. Notice anything? Yeah, the boards are gone. In the demo, this, and another door on the first floor (below the stairs) are boarded up. There was some speculation that these boards were simply placeholders for the demo, to keep us from accessing areas that will be available in the full game, and I think this image might just prove that to be the case.
We already know there’s stuff behind this door, as the door has been discovered to occasionally glitch and not spawn, revealing a room beyond. While Capcom was very clear that Beginning Hour is not gameplay from the final game, there’s nothing to say that we won’t at the very least be revisiting the location in the final game. There’s also always the chance that Beginning Hour may be getting an update that expands its content, or maybe even a second demo that removes these barriers…
Here’s our first real look at an all-new interior location. It actually looks almost nice (well, nicer than the dilapidated wreck we see in Beginning Hour), with shiny floors and a lamp that isn’t upturned on the floor. Windows are still boarded up, tho. This looks like it’s most likely the area we see in the Desolation trailer, where someone is looking in through a window with a flashlight at us, which is presumed to be the police officer spotted during the E3 presentation.
Nature looks to be taking back some of the plantation. Here’s some of that atmosphere and detail I was talking about. It honestly almost looks like one of those old school prerendered backgrounds. It’s hard to tell if that’s sunlight shining in from a hole in the roof, or maybe just a lightbulb dangling from up high. Either way, there’s still fairly low visibility in the darkness, we can just barely make out one of those crummy white plastic deck chairs every grandparent in America gets. Looks like there might be a few other things around it, but it’s hard to tell.
Here’s some of that hot flashlight action I was pining for a few paragraphs ago. I really love the way RE7‘s lighting engine works, the deep and dramatic shadows it creates are really wonderful to behold. In all honesty RE‘s never had particularly good dynamic lighting. RE Zero and REmake had some, but by and large most of the lighting though ought the series was baked in, or it was those awful dark circles on the floor like in RE4. Seeing RE7 really commit to such atmospheric lighting is a joy. It’s also really interesting to see the combination of such disrepair and modern technology just sort of draped over top of it, like we see hear with the seemingly abandoned area here, but a nice new looking wire running along the floor.
This one looks like it’s the exact same location, but the camera has backed up a bit. It looks like we’re underground, maybe not too far from where the Lantern trailer took place. It certainly looks like we’re meant to follow that cord, whatever it’s for.
That more or less wraps it up. There’s a dozen or so more images you can check out in the source, but none of them were worth speculating much on, since they’re mostly extreme close-ups of stairs, floors, things we’ve already seen, or just shots of the original Beginning Hour location. Overall, very exciting to get a look at more of what RE7 has to offer. Since we won’t be able to see ourselves in first person, this will leave the environment itself as the star of RE7, and it looks like Capcom is really committing itself to creating one hell of a creepy and memorable local for us to play in. Hopefully this sudden drip-feed of information that started with the ESRB leak the other day will continue, at least until whatever the reveal is at TGS that Capcom has planned.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more information, but regardless, Resident Evil VII: Biohazard releases on PS4, Xbox One and PC next year on January 24th.
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