Shinji Mikami and a brief history of 'Survival Horror'



Since i'm talkin about Survival Horror games alot, I thought I should give some expostion and context about survival horror and its creator Shinji Mikami.  

 

Now, because some of you may not know who Shinji Mikami is, and why his new game 'The Evil Within' is important in the gaming world, here's a quick history lesson.

Shinji Mikami, a Japanese game designer, is often considered the farther of survival horror because of his game 'Resident Evil' released in 1996 for the Playstation 1.

 

At the time there was nothing quite like it. With the creation of survival horror a new sub genre was born. (See my 'Survival Horror Fever' post to get a better understanding of what survival horror is.)

Mikami directed his last Resident Evil game with 'Resident Evil 4' in 2005, which was when survival horror reached its peak.

 

Resident Evil 4 revolutionised horror gaming; removing the fixed camera angles and clunky controls for an over the shoulder third-person perspective. Tonally the game was also different from other survival horror games, with the focus being more on action, gunplay and fighting enemies and less on puzzle solving and brooding atmospheres. The game was still scary and tense but not in the same ways as traditional survival horror.

 

Resident Evil 4 was huge critical and commercial success and gave birth to the many features now found in most third-person shooters. Many game designers took note of the success of the game and the attitudes towards survival horror began to change. Survival horror began to turn into action based horror games with the focus being fighting and shooting and leaving the survival aspect behind.

Survival horror pretty much dropped from mainsteam gaming, with it being taken up by indie game designers.

 

Shinji Mikami announced his return to horror gaming after a long absence after Resident Evil 4.

Stating that this will be the last game he directs. He also stated that it will be a "true" survival horror game, "one in which the player confronts and overcomes fear."because of the fact that he was disappointed by recent survival horror games becoming action horror games.