Resident Evil 2 Creator Suggests Capcom Add a "Gentle" Mode to Their Horror Games for Faint-Hearted People

It's possible Hideki Kamiya drinks decaf coffee and eats soy meat.

Hideki Kamiya, the game director of the original Resident Evil 2, believes that Capcom should give players the option to independently adjust the level of horror in future Resident Evil games.

Kamiya has previously stated that he dislikes horror and has a hard time with scary games and movies. He had previously suggested creating a special "non-scary" mode for Resident Evil, and also described the idea of a cozy spin-off where a retired Leon Kennedy walks his dog.

In a new interview, the developer emphasized that his suggestion regarding a non-horror mode was absolutely serious. Moreover, Kamiya revealed that he had personally shared his thoughts with members of the Resident Evil team at Capcom.

The problem became particularly apparent to him with this year's Resident Evil Requiem. Kamiya wanted to play the game himself, as it features Leon Kennedy returning to Raccoon City and once again encountering events related to the original Resident Evil 2, which Kamiya himself had worked on. However, the developer admitted that he couldn't finish the game due to being too scared.

In his opinion, the situation has worsened with the development of technology. Modern photorealistic graphics allow developers to create significantly more frightening scenes than before.

Kamiya suggests that the Resident Evil teams have simply grown accustomed to their own creations and therefore do not perceive them as being so scary.

However, Kamiya is not suggesting making Resident Evil less scary for all players. He believes that horror can be turned into another customizable element of the game — much like difficulty levels or certain content are already handled.

As an example, he cited Bayonetta. The game is initially designed for experienced fans of challenging action games, but Kamiya wanted less experienced players to be able to play it as well, which is why the Very Easy Automatic mode was introduced. A similar approach was used in Bayonetta 3, where the Naïve Angel mode allows reducing the amount of nudity of the main character during some attacks.