One could argue that the chief competition for the Resident Evil franchise over the years has been Silent Hill from Konami. Despite this, Resident Evil VII producer Masachika Kawata recently expressed his admiration for the Silent Hills playable teaser P.T., and acknowledged the similarities between it and the next core entry in the Resident Evil series.

Resident Evil VII and P.T. are both first-person exploratory horror games with an emphasis on atmosphere and jump scares. Even though the two experiences are similar, however, Kawata was also quick to point out that Resident Evil VII was in development before P.T. was announced, and that the team had already decided on a first-person viewpoint before ever seeing P.T. in action.

Kawata went on to say that he was disappointed when P.T. was cancelled, and that he "really loved it." Perhaps Kawata's admiration for the Silent Hills playable teaser is what inspired Capcom to release a P.T.-like demo for Resident Evil VII shortly after the game's announcement.

It may have also inspired the general design of the demo as well. For example, like P.T., the Resident Evil VII Beginning Hour demo won't be in the full game. Furthermore, the demo is filled with obscure puzzles that the community is trying to figure out, and even days after its release, the demo still has a few unsolved mysteries that have left players scratching their heads. As some may recall, the gaming community banded together in a similar way when P.T. dropped to try to reach its ending, but those gamers had a bit more luck in their venture.

In fact, it may be because of P.T. that people still haven't given up when it comes to finding a secret ending in the Resident Evil VII demo. Since P.T. could be beaten, and beating it resulted in the first trailer for Silent Hills appearing, perhaps gamers are expecting a similar surprise for figuring out the secrets of the Resident Evil VII demo. Maybe that surprise will be a confirmation that a Resident Evil 2 remake demo will come bundled with the full version of Resident Evil VII as some have speculated, or it could trigger a new trailer for Resident Evil VII itself.

With the popularity of P.T., it's no surprise that Resident Evil VII has mimicked its "playable teaser" idea, even if it apparently didn't influence Resident Evil VII's gameplay. Kawata is right to be disappointed that Silent Hills was never able to finish development, but hopefully his own Resident Evil VII project will scratch that itch for horror gamers.

Resident Evil VII will be available January 24th, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, and Xbox One.

Source: GameSpot