“Imagine there’s no such thing as Sushi,” Resident Evil: Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi asked me to ponder. It’s a strange request, but it comes at the end of an animated chat with a clearly very thoughtful creator. I nod along – imagining a terrible world, as far as I’m concerned. But what does this analogy have to do with Resident Evil?
When Leon’s inclusion as a playable character in the ninth main-line Resident Evil game was announced, the general response was that of rejoicing. People have missed this character and his specific style of despatching the undead, after all. But buried in this announcement was also a subtle undercurrent of dread – and not of the kind that Resident Evil sets out to deliberately evoke. It is this dread that talk of sushi is intended to expel.
The trepidation of some fans is fair enough, I suppose. For series fans memories loom large of the last time that Capcom tried to craft a multi-protagonist numbered Resident Evil title where different protagonists resembled different ‘styles’ of gameplay: 2012’s Resident Evil 6, arguably the most controversial game in the franchise. With recent hands-ons and through chats like the one with me, however, Nakanishi and team are especially keen to underline one point: this is not Resident Evil 6.
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“If sushi hadn’t been invented yet, a fish lover would just want to eat sashimi, raw fish. A rice lover would just want rice,” Nakanishi continues.
“Then some guy goes ‘I’ve made this thing, it’s called sushi. It’s raw fish on rice.’ Imagine how you’d feel if you were someone who loved eating rice – like ‘what are you putting raw fish on my rice for?!’ Or if you’re a sashimi person, you’re like ‘just give me sashimi. Why are you ruining my fish with rice?!’
“We’re the ‘inventors of sushi’ here,” the director’s analogy concludes. “Even if you think you want one style, the ‘flavor’ of this game comes from the combination of the two styles.”
From what I’ve played of Resident Evil 9, I certainly can go along with this analogy. I’d actually go a step further, though. With four playable leads, the sixth entry had double the heavy lifting to do of Requiem. Further, much of its experience is defined by leveraging of the genres and tropes that had become popular during the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console generation. It’s difficult to look at Chris’ campaign, for instance, without seeing in it the slew of brown-tinted third-person shooters of that era.
Essentially, bits of Resident Evil 6 were pure ‘Resident Evil’ – while other parts of it were distinctly other. This is where it fell flat. Requiem, though, is designed to be a pure expression of the series – even if it features different flavours of biohazard action. When I express this thinking – that RE6 was different, disparate types of game bolted together, but that RE9 is more like two different versions of Resident Evil bolted together, he eagerly claps and gives a thumbs up.
“Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake – those games have essentially offered us a template for the two characters. Our shorthand is that Grace is Resident Evil 2 style, and Leon is Resident Evil 4 style,” Nakanishi notes.
The director also admits that the recent showcase stream focused a lot on Leon performing cool finishing moves and moving, in a sense, like he does in the over-the-top action of the RE CG movies.
“We realize that has given some players an impression that will be the entirety of the Leon experience in the game. That is not the case. Leon has exploration scenes, he has horrific scenes, he has backtracking.”
For all the action, Leon will still be upgrading weapons, playing inventory tetris, and managing his attache case. All this comes alongside the idea that his sections will still be fundamentally different to Grace’s thanks to his level of experience.
“The idea is that, by combining them together, they are more than the sum of their parts.”
“We’re the guy who invented sushi, here. We’re saying: trust us, take it. Dare to take a leap with us and eat this new product called sushi,” Nakanishi laughs.
And, well – he’s right, isn’t he? Unlikely combinations can often be delicious. From several hours with a clearly close-to-final build, it’s abundantly clear that Requiem is no RE6. In fact, I think it might just continue this series’ incredible run – as fitting a 30th anniversary gift as any.
