‘Some people couldn’t handle it’: Resident Evil Requiem has a third-person mode because RE7 was ‘too scary’
Requiem’s director says the option to switch between views is designed to ease the tension
The director of Resident Evil Requiem says the option to switch to a third-person viewpoint was added because players found the first-person view in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard too scary.
When Resident Evil 7 was released back in 2017, the game ditched the third-person view from Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 and instead switched to a first-person viewpoint for the first time in the main series.
Resident Evil 7 was directed by Koshi Nakanishi, and while he didn’t work on the eighth game Resident Evil Village (which also released with a first-person viewpoint as default), he has returned to direct the upcoming ninth instalment Resident Evil Requiem.
Despite previously being the man in charge of Resident Evil’s switch to first-person, however, this time Nakanishi has added the option to play in either first- or third-person viewpoints.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Nakanishi explained that Requiem now gives players the choice because some felt the first-person viewpoint in Resident Evil 7 was too scary and intense.
“Looking back at Resident Evil 7’s first person perspective, I implemented that as a way to make it more immersive and more scary than ever before, which I think most media and players agreed it was an incredibly scary game, but it was possibly too scary,” he said.
“I think some people couldn’t handle it, and either couldn’t finish or didn’t even start it. And that’s something that I look back on thinking that, you know, I want to make sure that people can enjoy this game.
“So if you started the game off in first person perspective, and you’re finding it’s too much, then third person is almost a way to step slightly back from that level of horror and make it slightly easier to deal with by having the character on screen as a kind of avatar of yourself.”
Resident Evil Requiem will be released on February 27, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
The game focuses on Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst investigating a series of mysterious deaths in Raccoon City, 30 years after it was bombed in the events of Resident Evil 3.
According to director Nakanishi, unlike previous Resident Evil protagonists Grace has little combat experience, which means players will watch her learn and see her skills grow as the game progresses.
