Sticking with official announcements, we actually still know very little about the upcoming Resident Evil 7. For those willing to go into the weeds however, there are a few plot tidbits dropped here and there.
Though it has since been taken down, a brief plot description for Resident Evil 7 appeared in the game’s ESRB rating of all places (spotted by Gematsu). The description reads:
“This is a survival-horror game in which players assume the role of Ethan, a man searching for his missing wife in a derelict mansion. From a first-person perspective, players explore the environment and use pistols, shotguns, flamethrowers, explosives and chainsaws to kill mutant creatures. Combat is accompanied by realistic gunfire, screams of pain, and exaggerated blood-splatter effects. As players progress through the story, cutscenes can depict instances of gore and intense acts of violence: a character’s arm dismembered by a chainsaw; a man’s leg taken off at the knee with a shovel; a character impaled through the face with a shovel. Some areas also depict mutilated corpses with exposed organs/viscera. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” are heard in the dialogue.”
Other than documenting the game’s violence and mature content in awkwardly sterile language, the description gives us a bit of context for the events seen in the recent Resident Evil 7 gameplay trailer. From the trailer, we already knew there would be an Ethan in the game, but the gameplay seems to be from his wife’s perspective.
Additionally, Capcom recently presented at CEDEC 2016 in Japan (via IGN Japan), showing off the engine for the new game. While there are no specifics, the presentation highlighted a handful of character models we will likely see in the game. It is not a hard stretch to think one of the men must be Ethan, and the blonde woman his wife.
Resident Evil 7 releases Jan. 24, 2017.