Capcom has offered a tantalizing glimpse at early development footage of Resident Evil 7: biohazard, seemingly confirming the game was to be even gorier than the final version of the acclaimed survival horror title.
The footage is decidedly rough around the edges and is obviously taken from early testing, but depicts some early concepts in regards to combat. For example, in one sequence, we see Ethan Winters fighting what appears to be a rough version of Jack Baker with a double-barrel shotgun, only to fire and blow the Baker patriarch’s head partially off, which hangs limply at the side of his neck.
This sort of visceral action did not happen in the version of the game, although what we got was still pretty grim, with players able to inflict all kinds of grisly battle damage on enemies, including Jack. The video also offers a look at some scrapped areas, such as a cornfield that stretches as far as the eye can see—something which we didn’t get to visit in the final game.
Check out Resident Evil 7 ‘In the Beginning’ video below.
Resident Evil 7 is out now for PS4, PC, and Xbox One. The game takes place four years after the events of its action-packed predecessor, and sees players exploring a spooky plantation mansion in Dulvey, Louisiana, as they attempt to locate Winters’ missing wife while solving the mystery of the seemingly immortal Baker family. The game is a conscious effort on Capcom’s part to bring the series back to its roots, with fast-paced action eschewed in favor of classic staples such as item boxes, puzzle solving, and resource management.
It seems to have worked too, as Resi 7 has received solid scores from critics—including PSU in our Resident Evil 7 review—and has shipped over three million copies worldwide. Capcom has released two DLC packs so far in the shape of Banned Footage Vol.1 and Vol 2., with the free mission Not a Hero, which features boulder-punching series veteran icon Chris Redfield, coming in spring.