We haven’t heard much about Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami’s upcoming survival horror game, The Evil Within, since the last time we saw the terrifying chainsaw guy. In a recent issue of Famitsu magazine, Mikami talks about the upcoming game and changes he’s adopted since his Resident Evil days.
Famitsu starts the talk by asking Mikami how Tango Gameworks decided to make The Evil Within into a survival horror game.
“There were a lot of requests wanting us to make a survival horror game,” explains Mikami. “There were also a lot of passionate voices about it heard from the development staff of [parent company] ZeniMax. There were even people that said, ‘If Mikami-san doesn’t make it, then I’ll make a survival horror! It was my feeling of wanting to answer those voices that pushed me into doing it.”
Next, Famitsu asks if Mikami has been able to put his past experiences to good use in the development of The Evil Within.
“The way I think of game development has changed since the PlayStation 3,” shares Mikami. “The amount of information out there has increased overwhelmingly, and things like game engines and middleware are getting more and more difficult to provide for our company, due to how much time it takes.”
“Back then, I’d always liked the older way of doing things, by producing games within our own company, and I’ve since realized that such a style has become very difficult,” continues Mikami. “That’s why we chose to go in the direction of joining the ZeniMax group, and making our games using the technologies of ZeniMax. It’s a huge merit for us.”
Now that they don’t have to worry about developing their own game engines and middleware, Famitsu asks if that means Mikami’s company, Tango Gameworks, now has more time to focus on making interesting games.
“I believe you can say that,” answers Mikami. “We have plenty of people on our staff who enjoy making games. Of course, it’s also a company, so we need to have people that care about making money; however, when it comes to games, everyone is very passionate. I believe that we’d all like to make games and carry our experiences over into our next title.”
Since Tango Gameworks became part of ZeniMax back in 2010, their very first title has already captured the attention of fans from around the world. Famitsu asks if Mikami feels any pressure in this situation.
“I don’t feel much pressure, but making a game with a new team definitely isn’t easy,” replies Mikami. “In terms of management, I had some trouble, but now I can finally concentrate. When it comes to big decisions, I’m the one in charge of that, but other than that, the team is pretty much allowed to do what they want.”
“That’s where all kinds of ideas come from, and I believe that’s what can make games more fun,” he continues.
“On the other hand, some of those ideas have also helped change parts of my own ideas. So in a sense, out of all the games I’ve worked on up until now, The Evil Within might be the one that has had the most twists and turns. However, the part on ‘going back to the roots of horror,’ won’t be changing.”
The Evil Within is set for release in 2014 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.
