Capcom taps F.E.A.R. writer Richard Pearsey to pen Resident Evil 7, marking the first time in company history that a Westerner has been handed the keys to a major RE game.

The reveal of Resident Evil 7 was one of E3 2016's biggest surprises. The entire title will be playable in virtual reality and will also feature a first-person point of view when it launches in January 2017. Developer Capcom is clearly seeking to refocus the franchise around a pure horror experience and move away from the action-oriented gameplay of Resident Evil 6.

With those goals in mind, it's perhaps not a surprise to learn that Resident Evil 7 will also see a dramatic change in the writing department. GameTribute has the report that RE 7's story will be penned by Richard Pearsey, the creative mind behind Spec Ops: The Line and F.E.A.R. What makes Pearsey's introduction to the series especially newsworthy, however, is that this is the first time Capcom has hired a Westerner as the lead writer for a major Resident Evil game.

During E3, Pearsey told a fan via Twitter that he was "glad to have played a part" in the game, although that tweet now appears to have been deleted. Either a Capcom suit told him to keep things low-key or perhaps Pearsey just doesn't want to call attention to himself. Either way, it will be interesting to see what kind of new ideas Pearsey brings to the franchise. Many fans have felt that Resident Evil has gotten away from its horror roots, and so a writer with Pearsey's background might be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Besides, F.E.A.R. and Spec-Ops, Pearsey's most recent title was iOS game 1979 Revolution, a title that made its own headlines after it was banned in Iran because it portrays the Islamic Revolution. Clearly, this is a writer who is not afraid to take risks and push people's buttons with his narrative, something the RE franchise could likely benefit from.

Resident Evil 7 will have some competition when it comes to market as E3 saw the reveal of multiple horror games that will launch within the next year. The entire genre arguably got a boost thanks to Hideo Kojima's P.T. demo and its many spiritual successors.

Even Resident Evil 7 producer Masachika Kawata said he loved the demo and was influenced by some of Kojima's work. P.T. has, of course, been removed from the PlayStation store thanks to Kojima's legal battles with Konami but its spirit lives on through the Resident Evil 7 demo that was released this past week. Fans who couldn't wait until January for the full title have already spent countless hours combing every inch of the demo for possible secrets.

Resident Evil 7 will release on January 24, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Source: GameTribute