Hideki Kamiya, director of the original Resident Evil 2, has a surprising admission: even as a former horror-game director, he finds today’s Resident Evil games too frightening. In an interview with VGC, Kamiya explained that he has never been comfortable with horror.
“I don’t like horror, and I don’t like scary things. I’m not able to make it through scary movies, and that was even the case back in the day,” he said.
That discomfort helps explain the character of the earlier Resident Evil games Kamiya worked on before moving to Platinum Games and, later, Clovers. Those titles certainly featured monsters, but much of their fear came from oppressive atmosphere and suggestion rather than relentlessly detailed threats.
Technology has changed that balance. Modern hardware allows developers to render creatures with an unsettling level of realism, and Kamiya believes the people making Resident Evil for Capcom may have become desensitised to the horror on their own screens.
“The amount of crazy, horrifying things that people are able to put on the screen is absolutely insane,” he said. “And I think anybody who’s on the Resident Evil teams at Capcom, at this point, they must all be completely numb to how scary the thing they’re making is.”
His argument is easy to understand when looking at the monsters in Resident Evil 9, which are described as particularly sickening to behold. The same concern extends beyond horror: the visual improvements in Grand Theft Auto VI could make its violence feel on the uncomfortable side of graphic.
Kamiya’s proposed answer is an optional setting that reduces the horror without removing the game itself. He compared the idea to the arachnophobia mode available in Grounded, saying he genuinely wished Resident Evil Requiem offered a “non-horror mode” for players like him.
It is an unusual request from someone who helped shape one of the series’ defining entries, but it also highlights how far visual realism has pushed game horror. RETROCADE readers can find more arcade and gaming news, explore arcade machines, or use the arcade machine buying guide when planning a dedicated gaming setup.
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