Should Resident Evil stay campy or be more serious?

[Gold Arsene]

Inspired by the "Leon after RE2" thread.

In that thread you had some people expressing the desire for Resident Evil to try and be more serious. Others said that if RE4 was remade they'd want stuff like Leon's action movie antics removed.

Personally I think this sounds completely horrible as the over the top tone is the reason I like this series. But I can kinda understand why someone may want a larger focus on the horror and how the more extreme action might take away from that.

But what do you think? Should the series try to be more serious? Should it embrace its inner Evil Dead? Or do you think there's a middle ground you'd like to see?

 

[Ms.Galaxy]

 

[Linus815]

The cheese is a big part of why RE4 is such an amazing experience. The game does a brilliant job at mixing more serious, gruesome & unnerving atmosphere with moments of comic relief. It's definitely my favorite RE in terms of tone, so yeah, keep the silly.

 

[-PyramidSong]

Leon needs a son/daughter and a beard.

But now seriously, I prefer more serious focus.

 

[Manu]

REmake2 got it right.

That said, suddenly liking RE is cool again so everyone who disliked the action era is like "they should reboot the story." Fuck no.

 

[AndrewB]

Theres no reason it can't be both (or at least serious with a sprinkle of crazy)

 

[Yurinka]

RE7 and RE2 remake have the perfect tone.

 

[Bishop89]

i think we have enough serious AAA games.


Campy please.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

REmake 2 has the perfect tone. However, if you're remaking 4, you gotta stick with that original vision.

 

[Metallia]

Some degree of campiness is ever-present in the series, to what degree the series should have it in a given title is personal preference.

I think there's an appeal to complete shlock like Leon's one liners and action scenes in 4 but also the mood and atmosphere of 7 and 2 Remake. I couldn't tell you which is better, but it's certain that what makes both of those good is their consistency in presentation within their own context.

Removing the shlock from 4 would be a terrible idea because it's baked into the game. It's not just Leon's one liners and a few QTEs. There's a scene where the man gets chased by a giant statue of Salazar for gods sake. Resi 4 without the shlock wouldn't be Resi 4.

 

[Hate]

Wasn't there some rumour about RE8 being based on RE3.5 which has more emphasis on horror and hallucinations?

If that's true, there's your answer.

 

[bak4fun]

I think it can be both but keep the campy games and the serious games apart

 

[Arkanius]

RE7 and Remake 2 are the gold standard for me right now
After Code Veronica, the tone went downhill and RE4 cemented that

 

[Capra]

RE2make is full of camp. Every single line out of Leon and Ada's mouths is just them vomiting cheese and Mr. X wears a silly hat that he cares enough about to leave spares lying around everywhere. Even RE7 struck a balance between legitimate horror and unapologetic camp with stuff like a shirtless zombie redneck quoting Evil Dead before initiating a chainsaw battle. The cheese is inseparable from RE. Embrace it.

 

[Asbsand]

It needs to be serious. RE4 is amazing but it feels the least RE to me of all mainline games - even 6 felt more RE somehow lol at least its stupid storytelling. You could tell Mikami wanted 4 to be something else than just more RE.

The thing is, all games, even 2 have this tone where I don't think most of it is intended as camp or satire but it becomes hilarious in its dead-serious face because of the context of everything happening in around it, like the crazy vehicular shit or increasingly ridiculous monsters you face. RE1 and REmake was a beautifully ugly blend of deeply effective atmospheric tension and B-grade writing and RE2 Remake continued that with authenticity. Even when it tries to be self-aware its audience is still pointing out the stuff that seems weird or out of place, and at this point that is RE to me. It takes itself more seriously than its audience is able to but we love it regardless.

 

[Nameless]

REmake 2 was the best gaming-horror experience I've had since Alien: Isolation, maybe even Silent Hill 2, and RE7 was fantastic too. All future mainline games and REmakes should dial down the camp and ratchet up the horror. Leave the arcadey campy action stuff to the Revelations games.

 

[Alienhated]

Campiness is the soul of Resident Evil.

 

[bak4fun]

I also agree that there's still cheese in the serious version and that's ok, it shouldn't be too serious but I still want a RE where the protagonist feels more like a human, than like some one from the matrix....

 

[Oreoleo]

Different games can go for different tones, I don't see why it has to be one or the other.
A little camp mixed in is generally a good idea though. Hard to take a game serious when you've got enemies literally ballooning in size and mass before boss fights (which seems to be a bigger RE staple than the camp at this point), RE7 and RE2make included.

 

[Vilam]

"Jill sandwich" camp... good.
Wrestling moves... fucking stupid.

 

[Khanimus]

RE2 is plenty campy. Any more in either direction would fuck up the balance of cheese and grimness

 

[Facism]

"It's so good to see you"

 

[Majukun]

i think japanese designers know what they are doing in this regard.

japan media in general doesn't seem to be that fixated unlike western ones with tone consistency and have been able to switch pretty much effortlessly and without worries between fun and serious, campy and cool since forever.

 

[Kaguya]

Leon is pretty campy in REmake 2 too. Can't think of a single not campy RE game actually, but there's certainly a line to be drawn between pre RE:CV and after RE:CV, the series just said "fuck it" sometime during CV development.

 

[Deleted member 1656]

This is how it began, and this is how I want it to end

 

[mopinks]

it's a very delicate balance

I think RE2 and RE4 nail it really well

Code Veronica does not

 

[Deleted member 23046]

I would like to be on the Umbrella side for one time.



Trivia : this b-movie is from the director of the two Lucasart Indiana Jones games

 

[Jroc]

REmake basically played things straight.

REmake 2 and RE7 are more of a mix. The RE7 demo and a lot of the "tapes" played it straight.

After enduring CV and the Action Trilogy, I'd rather they lean towards realism than full on cheese. Light scenes are more effective when the rest of the game is heavy. Also, I think I remember reading that RE4 Leon was a product of localization, not the actual Japanese script.

 

[Rodjer]

Re2 is already serious.

Re7 is less campy than the previous games.

 

[Nameless]

There's a difference between cheesey B-movie dialogue and campiness being the dominant tone. I have no problems with the former just as long as the horror doesn't suffer because of it.

 

[Deleted member 10726]

RE4 had a great balance inbetween amused due to a really cheesy narrative and tension due to the enemies killing you pretty darn fast if they get the jump on you, and honestly that worked the best for me.

It was a good experience overall. I loved the tense sections like the area with the regenerators just as much as the incredibly ridicolous sequences like that whole laser corridor scene.

 

[AuthenticM]

RE2-R got the tone perfectly. Following games should stay in line with it.

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

For action RE (4,5): stay campy.

For survival horror RE (1,2,7): find the right balance. REmake2 did this perfectly. Leon is a lovable goofball but the game is serious enough that you can still get scared.

I love action RE and on that front, I'm fine with them going full suplex and boulder-punching, I love that shit.

They should just divide the series in two, honestly. Keep the main series focused on survival horror and go full action with Revelations or something. I like both flavors of RE.

And removing the silly shit from 4 would be completely missing the point. That game is tonally perfect.

 

[Donniewahlberg]

Why not both?

Seriously, RE2 remake is red hot and honestly scared the shit out of me at times but I'll be real I love cheesy Resi. Give me wrestling moves and boulder punching any day. Basically, I'd take both, it doesn't have to be one.

 

[PrimeBeef]

Stay campy. 1, I have no faith in video game writers to meld a good serious story that isn't ruined by what the characters do during the gameplay. And 2, it's zombies, can't really take that shit serious anyway.

 

[ParanoidRED]

REmake2 is a perfect mix between the 2 and they should stick to this balance

 

[Fat4all]

whatever Jawmuncher says do the opposite

 

[Deleted member 1656]

Re7 is less campy than the previous games.

Click to shrink...

is it

 

[Rodjer]

is it

Click to shrink...

I said less.
Compare re6 cutscenes and setpieces with re7.

 

[Deleted member 21003]

There's a reason I like RE1, 2 and 3 way more than anything that came afterwards.

 

[jwhit28]

The best part of Resident Evil to me is the B movie feel. It has to strike that same balance as MGS.

 

[Mirage]

I like the tone RE7 and RE2 have done I would be happy with it continuing like that.

 

[Visanideth]

Resident Evil 1 was pretty campy to be honest.

So I don't want the series to become TLOU. Stay what it is.

What I do not like is the level of camp RE4 introduced. So in short, "campy as a Romero/70s schlocky horror movie" is fine, "anime-campy where everyone is a borderline superhero doing parkour on tentacle monsters" is meh.

 

[Deleted member 1656]

I said less.
Compare re6 cutscenes and setpieces with re7.

Click to shrink...

I would just say they're different flavors of camp. RE1 & 7 really lean into '70s and '80s indie horror sensibilities and RE2, RE3, RE4, RE5, & RE6 lean into '90s and 00's action blockbuster cheese.

 

[Voytek]

It can be serious with some campy shit added in. All about keeping the right balance.

 

[Arttemis]

I don't care if it stays campy. I don't think that's even the right questions to be asking regarding the series' identity.

The only thing that matters is the series remain Survival Horror, just as it was created, and especially now that it has finally returned to its roots.

 

[JoeInky]

I enjoy both.

Classic REs are great survival horror games and later REs are great shlocky co-op games.

Both can and should exist tbh.

 

[Couscous]

REmake 2 already had a more serious and imo good tone. The problem is that the narrative in that game is just mediocre. I finished RE4 for the first time ever this saturday. That game can be a 10/10 and the GOAT with a more serious tone and some control updates. It's still a 9,5 and a top 10 game though.

 

[ffvorax]

RE should be more seriuos with a bit of silly. RE7 is perfect. RE2 is perfect. RE4 is ok. RE5 has some bullshit. Code Veronica is ok just because Wesker can do anything for me, even fly. RE6 is just to be forgotten has a whole game.

 

[Jawmuncher]

It should be cam-

whatever Jawmuncher says do the opposite

Click to shrink...

Make it serious.