E3 2016: “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” Hands-On

When Resident Evil 7 was first unveiled in Sony’s E3 2016 Press Conference, there weren’t too many people paying attention because the unveiling took place during the PlayStation VR part of the presentation.  Then, the Resident Evil 7 logo was…

Nothing screams Resident Evil more than a door.

When Resident Evil 7 was first unveiled in Sony’s E3 2016 Press Conference, there weren’t too many people paying attention because the unveiling took place during the PlayStation VR part of the presentation.  Then, the Resident Evil 7 logo was shown, and the crowd reacted in both confusion and excitement.

But even more exciting was the fact that a teaser demo was put on PSN that day exclusively for PlayStation Plus subscribers, and it’s definitely an interesting one.

The big thing with Resident Evil 7 is that the game is now in first-person, and in some ways it also reminds us of the now removed PT demo.

The demo begins with a low-resolution cutscene of a guy waking up from unconsciousness and then trying to undo the zipties keeping your hands tied.  Suddenly, a figure appears before him, and the tape ends.

The gameplay portion begins right after that.  It’s typical horror fare here.  You’re in a sinister household, you’re seeing disturbing notes left on tables, and you don’t know what’s going on at all.  All you know is that you’ve got to get out of there.

So that’s what I tried to do.  I ventured into the kitchen, through the hallway, and tried to go out through the backdoor.  It was locked, because of course it was.  It’s Resident Evil.  Go look for a key.

What’s more creepy than a standard definition TV blowing static?

I went upstairs and saw nothing but a bunch of mannequins that I clumsily knocked down.  I went downstairs, opened a drawer from a nearby credenza, and found a mannequin finger.  I went back upstairs to look for a mannequin with arms, and that didn’t go so well.

So I retraced my steps and went back downstairs and into the room that I woke up in.  Nothing around, but for what it’s worth, I was hearing things.

I ended up going back to the hallway where the backdoor was and saw a chained up cupboard that I couldn’t do anything to.  And then I remembered there was a door near the room I woke up in, so I headed there and found a pair of bolt cutters.  With those, I opened the cupboard and found a video cassette, which I knew I could play back in the first room.

As it turns out, the video tape sequence was actually playable.  You follow a couple guys apparently filming a story when they enter the abandoned house.  Eventually, one of them goes missing in the room you woke up in, and then you find out that there’s a lever in the fireplace that unlocks a dead end on the near wall.  There, you find your missing friend dead.

Nothing appealing about this at all.

After the tape ended, I decided to try out the secret passage thing, and lo and behold, I end up finding a key at the end of the passage.  But before that, I notice a suspicious person is also in the house.  With that, I very carefully dashed to the back hallway and opened the door to daylight… right before getting knocked out by that suspicious figure.

All of this took a little under 20 minutes, and is it turns out, this isn’t the only way to play the demo.  People have been finding endings different than the one I played, and it doesn’t surprise me at all considering I never even used that finger I found in the credenza.  And despite this game just being announced, it already looks quite nice.

Resident Evil 7 is due out on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, Xbox One, and the PC early next year.  The demo is currently only available on PSN with a PlayStation Plus account.

Did you end up with a different ending than I did?  Talk about it in the comments.

For this and more from E3, stay tuned to SmashPad.