Prepare to face your fears and enter the survival horror in the newest entry from Capcom’s Resident Evil series.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (or for Japan, Biohazard 7: Resident Evil) is the next numbered entry in the long running Resident Evil series and this time Capcom has promised to return to the horror and tension of the original titles. So far, not a lot of information has been made available since the game was revealed at E3 2016 and RE7 producer Masachika Kawata has assured us that we won’t be getting much more information about this terrifying project. However, here is what we do know:

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is set in 2017, after Resident Evil 6 and placing it the latest in the Resident Evil chronological timeline, and takes place in rural America, in yet another derelict mansion. Resident Evil 7 is set in the same universe as the rest of the series, albeit independent from the other entries, but Kawata has stated that he wants players to “put aside the storyline and elements they know from the previous Resident Evil games and approach this anew.” The protagonist of Resident Evil 7 is an unknown, new character not related to any character in the previous games (as far as we’ve been told). There have been no details announced about enemies or supporting characters but we can only guess that what we will be facing/fleeing from, whilst screaming at the top of our lungs, will be terrifying and pose a real threat to the protagonist and perhaps our own sanity. Whilst Resident Evil 7 has been in development for quite some time now, Capcom has listened to feedback from fans about Resident Evil 6 and the series as a whole and has taken inspiration from the first game and classic horror films to create a classic horror experience that brings the Resident Evil series back to the dark side and back to the tension and pants-wetting horror we love so much.

Resident Evil 7 has a teaser demo in the form of the Playstation Plus-exclusive demo called “Resident Evil 7: Beginning Hour”. The demo has you playing a cameraman named Clancy trying to escape from a desolate, seemingly-empty house on a rural plantation after an unfortunate mishap during the filming of a TV show. I won’t go much more into details but it has been confirmed that Beginning Hour occurs before Resident Evil 7, but the characters and location will not be a part of the full game and the demo is instead designed to show the highly-intense tone of the game and demonstrate some of the gameplay mechanics, such as the changed perspective. I recommend you don’t play this demo if you’re scared of feeling like you’re being watched… That said, if anyone finds out what that goddamn dummy finger does, please tell us because now we’re just getting trolled by Capcom.

^{Blink and you’ll miss it.}

Gameplay has been turned completely on its head between Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil 7. No longer are you armed to the teeth with weapons and ready to pump bullets into everything you see, but instead you will be relatively under-equipped and thrown into a situation where you’ll have to learn when to fight or flee. Combat has much less emphasis in this game with fewer but more personal enemy encounters. According to Kawata, you will never be in a position where you can confidently take down enemies with ease or have enough resources to obliterate whatever is attacking; but at least herbs are returning, meaning that you can restore your health if you do decide to tackle your opponents head on.

Oh, and did I mention that the entire game is played in a first-person view? You will be seeing EVERYTHING through your character’s eyes, making for more intense and immersive gameplay as well as keeping your therapist employed. Be prepared for jumpscares, fake outs and a lot of frantic looking around to see where that noise is coming from. Even worse, the full game will be compatible with Playstation’s VR system, for those players who have ever wanted to be in a horror movie but don’t know any psychopaths or have access to a creepy mansion themselves.

^{Sleep tight…}

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard will be released on the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC on January 24^th, 2017. The teaser demo ‘The Beginning Hour’ is available on the Playstation Store now for Playstation Plus members. Check out the “Desolation” trailer from E3 2016 below: