Resident Evil 8 will let players build walls to defend themselves

Capcom is adding a bunch of new tricks and gameplay mechanics into Resident Evil 8 to keep things fresh.

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Although Resident Evil Village harkens back to RE4 with its supernatural village and haunted castle, the eight mainline sequel sets itself apart in many ways. A big one is mechanics. This time around, players can guard (a feature in RE7) as well as repel enemies with a new combat-based kick attack. While scouting a recent interview with Resident Evil Village Producer Tsuyoshi Kanda, I noticed another new feature: Building walls.

According to Kanda, gamers will be able to build walls out of furniture in order to strategically protect themselves against the multitude of horrors in RE8. "This is a much more action-oriented game. We included the guard function from the previous game, but now it's possible to do a counter attack. You can also utilize furniture to build walls, so there are a few ways you can handle different situations. We have some more new tricks, but you'll have to check it out yourself," Kanda said.

The guard and kick features add more immersion--and anxiety--to combat.

Kanda also talks about how RE8 will utilize PS5 and Xbox Series X hardware. The powerful Navi GPU and Zen 2-powered consoles allows Capcom to do lots of things that previously weren't possible, like rendering tons more enemies on the screen as well as pack in ray-traced reflections and visuals. Capcom also plans to push each system's new PCIe 4.0 SSDs to their limit with ultra-fast loading times.

Audio was also a big focus for Capcom. Resident Evil 8 will support the PS5's new Tempest Engine for more immersive experiences, and will take advantage of the Series X's 3D Audio for spatial sound.

"As this is our latest game, developing an incredibly immersive gameplay experience for the new generation of consoles was one of our top priorities. Our target was a stress-free gaming experience, so we focused on optimizing the game in a way that greatly reduced load times despite the high-resolution graphics.

"We also wanted to ensure the combat was smooth on all platforms, so we've been tweaking every detail right down to the wire to offer the best experience possible.

"We've kept some of the European-style gothic aspects of horror from the first Resident Evil, but added this sense of terror that accompanies a desperate struggle. We took full advantage of the hardware in order to deliver an onslaught of blood-thirsty creatures onscreen simultaneously, howling and growling while they viciously pursue the player, giving rise to unprecedented levels of panic. There's also a lot more to do in this game compared to others in the series, so I hope people enjoy it."

Here's a few tidbits from the interview:

• Capcom is very serious about next-gen optimizations
• Powerful RE Engine and efficient pipeline flows accelerated RE8's development
• 200 Capcom devs worked on RE8
• Company wants to sell 10 million copies

Resident Evil Village (RE8) is due out May 7, 2021 on PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Google Stadia.