You Should Play This: Resident Evil 7 and The American Nightmare

You Should Play This: Resident Evil 7 and The American Nightmare

You Should Play This is a running column by Brandon Hyde detailing the unnoticed intricacies in video games.

Resident Evil 7 was Capcom’s effort to revitalize their horror franchise. This new entry in the Resident Evil saga changed several recurring aspects of the series, with the camera now being from a first person perspective, a new protagonist, and an entirely different set of enemies. The most important change to the series for this particular game, though was the setting for Resident Evil 7. Previous games in the Resident Evil series had set their games in Africa, Eastern Europe, and even the fictitious Raccoon City. Resident Evil 7 changed this formula by taking the action and placing it in a rural Louisiana town of Dulvey, on a plantation. This change in setting reflects the American influence of the series, but most importantly the central horror hiding underneath the game, focused on American fears. Resident Evil 7 being set in rural America spotlights the fears of the American audience more than any previous entry.

Resident Evil 7 takes its players out of the open environments of the previous games in the series and places them in an isolated Louisiana plantation mansion. The isolation of the game allows for a tense environment, where the player feels claustrophobic in the mansion. This isolation is in contrast with the rural concept of this area of Louisiana; the state itself is widespread, but this particular place keeps the players contained with the horror. The player is unable to run, to escape from the enemies hidden inside the walls of the mansion. This claustrophobia gives the player a sense of unknown terror, where the horror is always surrounding them, never truly allowing for a safe haven against this dread.

The dread of Resident Evil 7 feels built into the game from the start, with the setting taking the player away from the open cities, that had become a mainstay of the series. This setting of rural America allows for the game to prey on the fear that comes with that area of the nation. America’s worst atrocities happened on the outskirts of society, the frontier, the plains of the country. The setting of rural country allows for the game to tap into an unspoken fear of America’s own history. The horror of the game starts before any of the monsters appear; the real horror is being removed from the safe haven of modern civilization. Resident Evil 7 is able to bring together the fear of facing our own history, where we have to contend with the horror from our past. The game takes this innate fear and heightens it into a greater idea, with the fantastical monsters showing the player what awaits them.

The monsters of Resident Evil 7 take many forms, not unlike the previous entries in the series. Grotesque humans morph into even more grotesque amalgamations of bugs, spiders, and even more horrors. At the start of the game, however, the player encounters a family that appears entirely normal, with their only noticeable traits being their failing hygiene. The specific choice of the game for this to happen makes for a different fear to manifest: fear of The Other. The game slowly reveals the nature of this family, little by little the player gains a better understanding of the family’s abilities and features. The family over the course of the game becomes less human and more monstrous with each of their forms. The transformation of the enemies allows the player to feel heroic in defeating these enemies, where every victory against the monsters means further progress into the game. The horror of these monster’s transformations show the player what makes them truly scared: losing their own humanity. Every monster in the game is representative of losing control of their own identity, where they no longer have a choice in the matter.

Resident Evil 7 is an example of taking the American audience and using this target to their advantage. By focusing the setting on a particular part of the America, it allows for the game to narrow in on what it wants to say about that place. No longer trying to capture a fictitious town of Raccoon City, the game becomes a statement about the American fears of a rural area. The history of the series and the history of America make for a combined effort, in what scares the audience. The game becomes a better horror story because of this focus, where the tension comes from a deeper, older threat, one that lives on long after the game has ended. The horror of Resident Evil 7 is representative of honing in on what makes America terrifying: its own history.