The release of Resident Evil 7 represents the closing of a circle of influence.
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While some have stated that Resident Evil VII borrows liberally from games like Amnesia, Amnesia's own creative team believes that their game might have never existed in the first place were it not for Resident Evil.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Amnesia and Soma designer Thomas Grip recalled the first time that he ever saw Resident Evil.
“I remember there being this big article where it compared the dangers you face to different death scenes in horror movies,” said Grip. “I remember there being this big article where it compared the dangers you face to different death scenes in horror movies.”
Once he actually got to play Resident Evil, Grip remembers thinking that he had no idea anyone could make a game quite like this.
"I especially remember one moment when I was talking to a friend over the phone as I was playing, and one of these lizard monsters suddenly jumped out,” said Grip. “It took me by surprise, and I just screamed out loud. A game had never made me feel these emotions before, and it was awesome. I craved more!"
While nearly everyone who experienced Resident Evil at a young age will certainly relate to the feeling of sheer terror it inspired in unassuming gamers, most of us just did our best to overcome a few nights of haunting dreams inspired by the game and then move on with our lives. As for Grip, he turned back to those haunting dreams for guidance when it came time to design Amnesia.
"I think one of the most basic features is to have a very scene-centric design approach,” said Grip on his design philosophy. “Resident Evil is filled with great examples of this, like the first dog encounter or the shark attack…Resident Evil builds so much around letting each section of the game have its own mood and story, and that has been extremely influential."
As for whether or not the latest Resident Evilgame reminds him of his own creations, Grip states that he certainly sees some similarities between Resident Evil 7 and other genre titles, but he still feels that the latest Resident Evil game has “managed to have that distinct Resident Evil feel to it.”
