Resident Evil 7 is still widely regarded as one of the most viscerally “grimy” and visually repulsive entries in the long-running franchise. The Baker family’s decaying estate, filled with putrid food and swarming insects, strikes a cord of genuine revulsion in everyone who plays it.
However, this distinctive aesthetic was far more than just a flight of fancy from the Japanese development team. Series producer Jun Takeuchi recently shared that Capcom’s primary objective was to deliver a hyper-authentic experience, which required the developers to conduct some rather unconventional field research.
To reach this level of gritty realism, the team traveled to the United States to tour residential homes firsthand. The developers immersed themselves in the domestic life and daily routines of rural American provinces, attempting to grasp the local culture and translate its essence into the game. What many perceived as an exaggerated caricature of squalor and decay was actually a deliberate attempt to recreate real-world imagery the creators encountered during their scouting trip.
It is this underlying sense of authenticity that makes Resident Evil 7 so profoundly unsettling. Instead of sterile, high-tech laboratories, players are confronted with a disturbingly grounded reality: a dilapidated house in the wilderness, a junk-filled yard, and the wreckage of fractured family bonds. This style of horror hits harder because it feels plausible—like a location that “could actually exist” somewhere on the American map.
Source: iXBT.games