• Posted February 1st, 2013 at 07:13 EDT by Mike Harradence
• 7 Comments

The producer behind Resident Evil: Revelations has hinted that a reboot may be on the cards for Capcom’s long-running horror franchise.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Masachika Kawata touched on the possibility of taking the zombie-blasting series into an open-world setting.

"If we did [go with an open-world], we would want to preserve what Resident Evil is and what makes it appealing to fans, while also making it accessible to new players. It would almost entail having a slight reboot to get the series into a place where it would work with open-world gameplay. That's just a personal opinion," he said.

"A lot of decisions would have to be taken before something like that is done to the series, but it is something that..." he paused. "There is a possibility."

Kawata’s comments come in light of the poor critical reception to Resident Evil 6, which continued the series’ descent into the action-horror genre.

He went on to say that the upcoming console release of Resident Evil: Revelations will determine where the series heads next, depending on how it is received. However, Kawata seemed keen on returning to the series’ survival horror roots going forward.

"Once we see Revelations released on consoles, we'll be looking very carefully at how the title is received and what feedback we get. I think we'll get a lot of input from the fanbase and the media on what it means for Resident Evil, and what it could mean for the future of the series. We'll definitely be looking at that as a signpost for where we need to be going next.

"Moving forward I can see us focusing even more on the horror aspect and fear in the series, and see us making something scarier than we have already."

Originally released on 3DS, Resident Evil: Revelations offers more of a traditional survival horror experience, combining tense atmosphere with a greater emphasis on puzzle-solving and exploration.

The game will be released on PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360 and Wii U on May 21, 2013.