Capcom also looked to Telltale Games for influence in developing an episodic format with tantalizing cliffhangers.
Capcom’s team has some exciting new strategies in mind for their upcoming Resident Evil Revelations 2, and the ways in which they hope that horror fans will ingest the game. Taking influences from Telltale Games and AMC’s Talking Dead, Claire Redfield and Moira Burton’s latest adventure might be the biggest social experiment that the horror genre has seen in years.
For Capcom, the key to this plan is all in the delivery. “There’s a cliffhanger at the end of each episode that should make you want to find out what happened,” said Producer Michiteru Okabe in an interview with Polygon. “It might be a big ask to devote 10 to 20 hours of their life to this when they have so many entertainment opportunities to choose from.”
The idea behind the episodic format is that it will get people to join in a discussion between episodes as they wait and speculate about what will happen next. “It will be like watching a TV drama so people can talk,” Okabe said. “I think our format is a bit different, but we definitely had an eye on Telltale and the games they put together.” Telltale Games has certainly seen success with the episodic format, as evidenced by their acclaimed Walking Deadseries and The Wolf Among Us.
Okabe points to TV aftershows like Talking Dead, which is hosted by Chris Hardwick and airs directly after each new episode of The Walking Dead. It will be interesting to see how a similar kind of format could work in the video game industry, although Okabe is quick to point out that nothing is set in stone just yet: “It’s a little early to make any specific announcements, but the goal is to interact with the audience.”
Resident Evil Revelations 2 is slated for an early 2015 release on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. It is currently unknown what the game’s episodic schedule will ultimately look like exactly.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that's your thing!