Game developer Capcom officially addresses the mystery behind fans' use of the dummy finger within the demo for its forthcoming horror title Resident Evil 7.

It was just yesterday that Capcom stated it was paying attention to fan feedback for the demo of Resident Evil 7, but couldn't "confirm any specifics" regarding its gameplay. Now, however, the developer is pointing toward a potential answer when it comes to the use of one of the mysterious objects in the title's frightening PlayStation 4 demo by addressing the dummy finger.

According to an email sent from Capcom to fans who joined the series' Ambassador Program, the studio declared that Resident Evil 7's The Beginning Hour trial has been downloaded upwards of two million times. More importantly, though, the developer intimates that the mannequin finger found within the demo has no use as of now, but could soon enough.

As seen in the tweet from Twitter user pierock87, Capcom's email sent out for the sake of sharing information with its ambassadors has a picture of a key chain sitting alongside the dummy finger with a message reading, "About a certain 'finger'. . . The path is closed for now, but patience..." Plus, there are even hashtags for Resident Evil 7 and the detached digit, no doubt attempting to provoke players into discussing the puzzle even further.

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With Resident Evil 7's producer Masachika Kawata having recently declared that he "loved" the popular  Silent Hills playable teaser P.T. developed by Hideo Kojima, it should come as no surprise that Resident Evil 7's demo is just as enigmatic as the Metal Gear Solid creator's now-cancelled project. As it happens, fans have been attempting to find all the hidden items, see all the endings, and discover all the secrets within the trial, but for the most part, the allure in its mystique still remains.

While fans continue to attempt and solve all of the quandaries in Resident Evil 7's The Beginning Hour including the dummy finger's role, the developers at Capcom have declared that even should players do so, the demo gameplay won't be in the full game, which ostensibly means it has little to no bearing on the proper release. Nevertheless, the title's director Koushi Nakanishi has said that it should be considered "kind of a tonal preview instead of a content preview."

With this being the case, Resident Evil 7 fans ought to expect a return to the series' survival-horror roots, as there won't be many guns, but there will be lots of environmental exploration and puzzles to solve. However, one of the major departures from in the franchise's original dynamics is that instead of the camera being placed in a fixed position or in the third-person perspective, players will experience the game in first-person. Taking all of this into consideration, next year can't come quickly enough, as Resident Evil 7 is primed to drop at the beginning of 2017.

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

Source: pierock87 – Twitter (via Eurogamer)