Hideki Kamiya, legendary Capcom veteran behind gems including Resident Evil 2, thinks newer games from the studio like Resident Evil Requiem are… too scary?

Yes, indeed, Kamiya finds games like Capcom’s more recent Resident Evil entries a tad too spooky for his tastes, as per a recent interview with VGC.

First declaring that “this is not a joke,” the Devil May Cry mastermind says he’s “being one hundred percent serious when I say that I wish they would make it so that their games can also be enjoyed by people like me, who can’t handle scary games at all.” And… honestly, I get it.

Look, even Resident Evil 7 director Koshi Nakanishi admitted his game was “possibly too scary” and “some people couldn’t handle it” last year (and as somebody who loves the seventh entry, I’d most certainly agree).

Requiem, according to Kamiya, isn’t any better. “Just recently this year we had Resident Evil Requiem and the big return of Leon Kennedy, and he went back to Raccoon City… reliving all of those memories and all of those experiences.”

He then states that, “As somebody who directed that original game, Resident Evil 2, I was curious to know how that panned out for him.” Unfortunately though, the horror-adjacent side of Requiem made that impossible for Kamiya.

“I wanted to experience that myself as a player,” as he says, “but the game was way too scary, and I couldn’t.” So, what’s the solution, then, so that all flavors of player can enjoy Capcom’s stories? Apparently, a less scary game mode.

“It’s not a joke,” Kamiya explains. “I legitimately wished it would include some kind of non-horror mode for people like me.” He outlines how he’s spoken to “folks who are on the Resident Evil teams at Capcom” and admitted as much to the devs.

“I tell them that their games are way too scary, and they’re like, ‘What, come on, they’re not that scary,'” the Resident Evil 2 legend recalls.

Kamiya concludes that the devs “seriously seem to have no awareness of how scary the things they make actually are, so I really hope they address that at some point” – even if that means just making it “so that the zombies’ faces aren’t so scary.”

You know, “Why not have a mode that just puts, like, brown paper bags on all of their heads, or instead of having these dark, dingy rooms everywhere, they could have really pleasant mood lighting” – which I’m not too sure I agree with…

These are horror games, after all, and this isn’t the first time he’s brought the topic up. Earlier this year, Kamiya said Capcom “should make a ‘non-scary’ mode” because “look, I just want to enjoy the puzzles.”

So, there you have it – Resident Evil has become too frightening for the very folks who helped mark its name amid other survival horror giants.

If you’re yet to play it, be sure to check out our Resident Evil Requiem review to find out if it’s worth your time, or our Resident Evil Requiem safe codes guide to help you through it.