Resident Evil 7’s Disturbing Environment Aimed for an Authentic American Atmosphere

Resident Evil is my all-time favorite game series, but I have to admit that one entry, Resident Evil 7, is so unsettling that I have no desire to revisit it. Ironically, I can trace this discomfort back to the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Jun Takeuchi, a veteran at Capcom and producer of the Resident Evil series, recently revealed some intriguing insights about the franchise’s future plans. In a discussion for a Japanese publication, he highlighted a key objective behind the development of Resident Evil 7: to “expand the series” through “culturalization.” To achieve this, the team actually visited American homes to study the “living conditions and lifestyles” depicted in the game.

I’ve often pondered what specifically makes Resident Evil 7 so much more disturbing than other horror titles. Is it the tragic journey of Ethan Winters? Or perhaps the terrifying presence of Jack Baker, the monstrous patriarch who can smash through walls and crush you in an instant? While those elements are certainly unsettling, this new information from Takeuchi has led me to a different conclusion.

It might just be that the game feels too familiar, almost too real. The warm, amber tones, the rundown house, the neglected RV in the yard, and the family dysfunction all evoke a scene straight out of rural America. It’s the kind of place that would catch my eye while driving through the backroads of Prescott, Arizona. I may not have encountered a police station like the one in Raccoon City, but I’ve definitely seen homes that resemble the Baker family’s.

Yeah, I’m definitely not going back to that game.

Director Koshi Nakanishi has noted that Resident Evil 7 was “possibly too scary” for some players, which is why Resident Evil 9 will feature a third-person mode to “make it slightly easier to deal with.”