Although games like The 7th Guest pre-date it, Resident Evil is widely credited with defining the survival horror genre. In the 20 years since its launch (it's amazing how time flies), Capcom slowly but surely steered the franchise away from its roots toward a more action-oriented genre.
For fans of the original concept, the transition has been difficult to stomach.
If the latest trailer and first-hand accounts of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard are any indication, it seems as though Capcom is taking the franchise in a completely different direction in which scaring the wits out of gamers is once again the core objective.
Michael McWhertor from Polygon recently tried out the demo, dubbed Beginning Hour, on a PlayStation VR headset. According to Sam Byford of The Verge, the demo has more in common with two games that can't even be played today: Kitchen, a PlayStation VR demo from Capcom and P.T., a playable teaser from Hideo Kojima that was once a free download on the PlayStation Network.
McWhertor likened the demo to found-footage horror classic The Blair Witch Project. Beginning Hour is a first-person demo that starts in an abandoned farmhouse in which you're simply told to escape. A few small puzzles lead to a VHS tape which, when popped into the VCR, transports the player to an earlier time when a film crew was taping a show in the same farmhouse.
This provides a bit of background on the story which, at this point, seems to have little to do with the classic Resident Evil storyline. McWehrtor goes into greater detail regarding his experience although I'll spare you the details / not ruin it for you.
Resident Evil 7 is slated to arrive on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC on January 24, 2017.