Resident Evil 6 has been released to widespread mauling from both its ardent fanbase and discerning game critics alike for what many see as a "dumbed down" entry in the series.
Gamespot reviewer Kevin VanOrd gave players good reason to avoid the zombie apocalypse this time around, citing the preponderance of annoying quick-time events and the game's overuse of set pieces which, he argues, detract from the action. Ultimately awarding the game a 4.5 out of 10, his views of Resident Evil 6 were echoed throughout the gaming blogosphere, where the game racked up a total Metacritic score of 67 out of 100 from professional critics and a 0.4 out of 10 from over 2800 fans—the lowest score to ever grace a Resident Evil title.
More articulate than the majority of user reviews on the site, a hardcore fan of the series going by ResidentEvil992 remarked that fans of the series should simply "leave this page and go play Amnesia: The Dark Descent" if they wanted to play an outstanding title in the survival horror genre.
The developers of Resident Evil 6 haven't been blind to these remarks and have since spoken out about their decisions with the game's design and mechanics.
In an interview with 1UP, RE6 game director Hiroyuki Kobayashi explained why his team moved towards action instead of returning to its survival-horror roots.
“With Resident Evil, we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible. We’re trying to reach as many people as possible," he said.
“That makes it hard to maintain a horror feel to it when you’re trying to be inclusive. It is a challenge. I’m not afraid to admit that. We’re trying to see what kind of action we can include in the game and still maintain the horror sensibilities. Trying to blend those together is not an easy thing to do."
RE6 producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi added that it was possible to make a horror game with mass appeal, but with a caveat. “ You can make a horror game with mass appeal. But you’re looking at a sort of Venn diagram of people who really like horror and people who really like video games or Resident Evil.”
“Where that comes together… I think you can create a really great form of horror entertainment, but if this were the quintessential horror entertainment, it might not have mass appeal," he said. "It’ll have very niche appeal, unfortunately.”
“We’re making games and we need to have mass-market appeal in order to survive," the director admitted. "How far do we go into horror before we lose the support of the average player? How far are we going to lessen the horror elements at the risk of losing core fans, including Resident Evil fans?”
Given the popularity of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the recent surge in interest for a game based in the Slender mythos, I'll go out on a limb to say that Capcom's lack of faith in the genre is unmerited. For that matter, I needn't even point out the success of The Walking Dead.
