Our Wishlist for the Upcoming 'Resident Evil 8'

One of the best aspects of RE7 is its focus on a 1st-person camera. The tense atmosphere of the entire campaign was magnified due to the fact that you witnessed plenty of heart-stopping moments from Ethan’s point of view. That viewpoint change was even more horrifying with the addition of virtual reality functionality, which was definitely a winning formula for anyone who played the game for themselves. 

Capcom shouldn’t abandon this newly implemented feature–they should return to it and find new ways to raise our heart rate. Gunning down monsters, solving puzzles and hauling ass from all sorts of bio-weaponized horrors works so much better from a 1st-person viewpoint. Leave the 3rd-person camera feel for future remakes, we say.

Now we have to point out one of RE7’s weaker features. While the Molded creatures were pretty fun to shoot in the face, there just weren’t enough variations of them to run into. With just four types of Molded to deal with, the regular combat scenarios grew a bit tiresome near the game’s final moments. 

In order to combat this issue for the future, Capcom should add in even more versions of the Molded in order to increase the game’s enemy variety. And there’s really no need to return to the tried and true formula for Resident Evil’s classic B.O.W.’s–what the new game sorely needs is all-new enemy types to take down. Slow, lumbering zombies just won’t cut it anymore.

At the end of RE7, Ethan found a way to rescue his wife Mia and even kept his promise to Zoe by sending her the help she needed. He’s just an all-around good guy. On the personality scale, however, Ethan is pretty dry and uninteresting in that department. He wasn’t unlikeable or annoying in any way, but he was pretty much a blank slate as far as fans were concerned.

Chris Redfield of all people popped up to aid Ethan and looked as if he’d gotten a major makeover. His DLC chapter, Not a Hero, felt like a welcome return to Resident Evil’s usual approach to a mainline adventure, so we obviously want more of that type of scenario. Capcom should consider placing Chris in the main protagonist role, but also give players the option to see his latest mission play out with some familiar faces by his side–Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield and Sheva Alomar. The BSAA organization and newly reformed Umbrella Corporation’s combined efforts would benefit from the work put in by those four agents for good.

The Baker Family ranch was an incredibly intimidating place that was home to all sorts of interesting locations. Like past RE games, players were treated to an awesome pace that was due in part to fun bouts of progression through each area of the ranch. Now that we know that the BSAA and Umbrella Corporation are out to take down biological weapons-based threats around the world, the next game should allow players to participate in their global missions.

A RE sequel that transports us to all types of horror-movie themed locales would be pretty cool if implemented correctly. One minute, we could be in the middle of exploring a new mysterious mansion. And the next minute, we could fly off to another area altogether that’s set up like a Saw-movie trap dungeon or an underground mine shaft. A campaign that switches off between playable characters and takes us to those new areas sounds good to us.

RE7’s DLC suite provided players with a slew of entertaining side endeavors. Both volumes of the Banned Footage campaign, the Not a Hero adventure starring Chris and the End of Zoe’s punch-drunk happy experience were all worth the extra dough. But there was still something missing from RE7’s post-game content and fans clearly know what that was – THE MERCENARIES! 

That addictive part of the RE equation is due for a series revival. Bringing it back in the latest release would garner even more goodwill from the game’s healthy fanbase. If it does manage to return, it needs to throw in fan-favorite characters with a few lines of voice acting included, unique map layouts, a dizzying array of weapons to equip and offline/online co-op enabled mechanics. A unique mix of new maps and throwback destinations for the return of The Mercenaries mode is just what the doctor ordered.