Capcom Addresses Resident Evil Fans’ Concerns Over Project Resistance

Despite what many diehard Resident Evil admirers had hoped prior to its official reveal, Project Resistance isn’t a long-awaited revival of the survival horror’s spinoff Outbreak games. The latter, a classic from the PlayStation 2 era and the first Resident Evil title to introduce online multiplayer, is a cult favourite. Despite frequent requests for Capcom to finally relent and green light a sequel, however, the developer has opted to go in an entirely different direction.

First teased earlier this month with a maddeningly-short trailer, Project Resistance has since received a full gameplay reveal at this week’s Tokyo Game Show. An asymmetrical survival horror that pits four hapless civilians against a single evil Mastermind (all player-controlled), the new zombie-infested adventure marks a drastic departure for the series, one that hasn’t gone over all too well with some fans.

In light of the overwhelming negativity received on social media, Capcom producer Matt Walker has taken the opportunity to address said concerns and explain the thought process behind its latest venture.

Been seeing a lot of people who are not pleased with the idea that we’re making Project Resistance. It’s totally valid that people want more of that quality core experience offered in RE2 and RE7. My take- we as a company need to continue to branch out and try to offer up new

— Matt Walker (@retroOtoko) September 12, 2019

Important part? That it’s a great survival horror experience, if non-traditional. I think we confuse things when we make things related to IP that don’t actually stay true to the core spirit of the IP, but this project happily doesn’t fall into that trap. I can’t wait till the

— Matt Walker (@retroOtoko) September 12, 2019

Closed beta to have more people actually play it and see how it is a refreshing new take, but very surely survival horror at its core. People who have played it have been positive, and I hope during CBT even more people will have fun playing it.

— Matt Walker (@retroOtoko) September 12, 2019

To cut a long story short, Walker says that Project Resistance is the result of Capcom’s desire to branch out and explore new gameplay opportunities. Referring to this year’s Resident Evil 2 remake and 2017’s first-person soft reboot, Walker says, “if we continue to offer up the same thing over and over again, people will gradually lose interest with what we’re making,” though admits that “it’s totally valid that people want more of that quality core experience offered in RE2 and RE7.”

It’s an honest statement and one that certainly makes sense. Genre fatigue is very real, and the last thing Capcom will want is to oversaturate the market with a slew of near-identical experiences. Based purely on early gameplay shown at TGS, Project Resistance appears to require more time in the oven, but I’ll certainly be giving it a shot when release day rolls around.