Hideki Kamiya, the director of the original Resident Evil 2 and creator of Devil May Cry, has detailed a tongue-in-cheek concept for a cozy life sim starring a retired Leon Kennedy. The pitch, shared on Twitter and translated by Automaton, started as a joke response to fans asking him to return to the franchise. The punchline landed so well that people actually want it made.
The pitch
Kamiya was responding to fans who wanted him back working on Resident Evil when he laid out his vision. If he made a new entry in the series, he said, "it'd be a game where a retired Leon spends his days in the countryside fishing, gathering wild vegetables, baking bread, walking his dog, tending to his garden, driving 50 kilometers to the nearest general store, inviting his old friends over for barbecues, fixing his elderly neighbour's oven, and selling homemade lemonade at the local festival."
He then asked: "Would you still be OK with that?"
The answer, overwhelmingly, was yes.
Why Kamiya wants Leon to hang up the gun
This isn't the first time Kamiya has signaled he'd rather not deal with zombies. Despite directing what many still consider the best game in the Resident Evil series, he has openly stated he hates horror. Earlier this year he pitched Capcom on adding a "non-scary mode" to Resident Evil Requiem so he could enjoy its puzzles without the dread.
A cozy life sim where Leon's biggest threat is a 50-kilometer drive to the store tracks perfectly with that preference.
Fans are on board
The response on social media has been enthusiastic. One commenter dubbed the hypothetical game "Resident Evil Pokopia," and Kamiya followed up by directly addressing Capcom: "There seem to be a lot of people asking for a Resident not-Evil game like this. If you ever have the time, please consider making it... I'd like to play it too."
There's no indication Capcom plans to act on the idea, but the reaction highlights just how big the appetite for cozy games has grown. When a character known for roundhouse-kicking zombies gets pitched as a bread-baking countryside retiree and thousands of people respond with "yes please," the life-sim genre is clearly reaching audiences that traditional marketing wouldn't predict.
For now, "Resident not-Evil" remains a joke. But it's the kind of joke that makes you wonder what would happen if someone actually greenlit it.
Source: MSN via Google News - Life Simulation Games