生化危机开放的世界并不是那么多

Highlights

• An open world Resident Evil game could push the boundaries of survival horror, expanding on familiar concepts in a new and exciting way.
• Resident Evil has always incorporated elements of open environments, so transitioning to an open world setting could enhance gameplay and storytelling.
• Capcom's track record with recent Resident Evil titles suggests that the shift to open world will not compromise the series' core identity and could lead to innovative gameplay experiences.

Reports suggest that the next Resident Evil will be going open world. Following in the footsteps of Dragon’s Dogma 2 , which uses the RE Engine to render a vast landscape filled with infinite possibilities, it seems the survival horror franchise wants to try something in the same vein. But how exactly could this shape out, and does it already spell the doom of a series which has long relied on tight, claustrophobic level design to terrify its audience?

You thought RE Engine stood for Resident Evil Engine? You dolt. You utter buffoon. It stands for REach for the moon Engine.

Some are afraid that this shift to an open world will rob Resident Evil of its identity, but I think this all depends on exactly how Capcom tries to execute this creative vision. Open world doesn’t inherently mean the game will be defined by bland exploration, pointless filler, and repetitive combat encounters; those are just the worst examples that spring to mind. I say we let Capcom cook for the time being.

Just look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth . Both games went open world despite rampant fan hesitation. Many worried that everything we love about these experiences would be diluted to chase modern trends. In the end Nintendo and Square Enix subverted design conventions to create something distinctly unique. They are so memorable because they fly in the face of what we expect from mainstream video games, and in turn help push the medium forward. With the right attitude, an open world Resident Evil could do the same for survival horror.

Resident Evil has always flirted with relatively open environments. Whether it was Raccoon City or the Spencer Mansion, it has often transported the player to environments that grow in size and complexity as the game progresses. Some puzzle solutions span entire games as you pick up objects on one side of the map before making the treacherous journey to the other, hoping that you’ll avoid getting munched by a zombie along the way.

Tension comes from the journey, and over the course of several hours we grow intimately familiar with the layout of these spaces and how to navigate them. Both gameplay and narrative feed into this open design. A true open world would only need to expand this philosophy, and grapple with the strength of restraint in terms of scope, scale, and what it asks of us in the moment.

An open world Raccoon City could even be like the movies, where our protagonist starts out as a happy citizen, only to be forced into an Umbrella experiment, and they awake to find themselves in a living bioterrorism nightmare.

Games like Resident Evil 4, 7, and Village took this further, allowing you to backtrack across entire castles and backwater estates, only blocking you off once the story reaches a certain point. You’d even return to earlier areas later on, outfitted with new guns and items that allow you to access new secrets and combat arenas.

There was a reason to return to old haunts, knowing they would be recontexualised with knowledge you could only procure by playing through the game and confronting its many horrors. Why could open world Resident Evil not accomplish the same thing with the right amount of care? With the right perspective, it could become a horror masterpiece.

Resident Evil is at a crossroads right now where its modern timeline will soon converge with the events of the long line of remakes and titles like Biohazard and Village. Maybe the open world game being rumoured right now will bridge the gap, acting as both an introduction for new and existing characters and a gameplay formula that builds on what we know, but also isn’t afraid to try something new and exciting. My dream would be a fully explorable Raccoon City similar to the one seen in earlier games, but wider and denser, with less handholding and the addition of linear set pieces and short campaigns.

Or maybe it could follow in the footsteps of the short-lived Netflix show and have us reside in an Umbrella-curated commune which slowly falls victim to a deadly virus, and we are forced to watch as the populace becomes infected and transforms into not only zombies, but an array of other monsters we’ll soon have to deal with in the aftermath. This or Raccoon City are filled with possibilities and open worlds which can transform and expand before our very eyes as we play through the game. Horror comes from the unexpected, and we all know Resident Evil is not afraid to balance more subtle scares with excessive B-movie schlock.

To put it bluntly, I don’t believe Resident Evil going open world is a death knell for the series, nor do I think it will turn a tightly scripted horror experience into a bloated nightmare that has no idea how to scare the player or make them care about anything that’s going on. Capcom has been on one hell of a tear with Resident Evil in recent years because it has learned from past mistakes while simultaneously capitalising on its greatest strengths, and I don’t believe it will make the same fatal missteps again. Besides, maybe it’s time for a spooky change.