They Scare You With Psychological Horror
The Silent Hill series has always thrived on frightening the player with psychological horror, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see PT do the same thing. On the other hand, the Resident Evil games have always been more action-oriented, and the scary bits were usually just jump scares. With Resident Evil 7, it looks like Capcom is making a tonal shift as well, and they might be bringing the series in a more psychologically terrifying direction.
In the Resident Evil 7 demo, you find a note with the ominous message: “I will dash them against the stones.” Later on, after you’ve completed the VHS segment, you find the note mysteriously sitting in front of you, but this time, the message has been altered with blood. It says: “I will dash YOU against the stones.” Creepy stuff. As if that wasn’t unsettling enough, if you venture to the second floor of the house, there are three mannequins in the corner that will turn to face you if you pan the camera away from them. And, when you collect the backdoor key and proceed to the exit, a mysterious fourth mannequin will block you on the way to the backdoor.
Resident Evil’s brand of horror has never been this subtle, and it looks like the seventh entry might be taking a page out of Silent Hill’s book.
