Resident Evil 9's director reveals there was a 'phantom Chapter 2' that was cut 'in the process of finalising the game's structure'
Resident Evil Requiem managed to snag the spot of my favourite modern Resi game on release. At just 10 hours long it managed to have me hooked for every zombie jumpscare and complicated puzzle. I didn't think it could get much better, but now I'm finding out that there was even more to it.
"I've mentioned in interviews before that there was a phantom 'Chapter 2' for Resident Evil 7 that was cut during development," director Akifumi Nakanishi explains in an interview with Denfaminicogamer. "It was a scene where you move from the first annex to the main building. But actually, there was also a phantom Chapter 2 for Resident Evil Requiem.
"In the process of finalising the game's structure, we make a lot of choices, like 'Let's move this scene further in the story,' 'Let's cut this part out completely,' or 'Let's add a different element here.'"
Nakanishi doesn't explain in any more detail what this phantom chapter could have entailed, but it likely would've slotted between Grace leaving Rhodes Hill Hospital and Leon's segment shooting his way through the derelict outskirts of Raccoon City. This means it could've been something minor like us getting to drive around in Leon's shiny new Porsche or even perhaps even a trip to the Arklay Mountains, although that's probably worth a whole game in and of itself.
"We don't just suddenly cut things out at the end of development; we often make repeated revisions during the initial, rough draft stage," Nakanishi adds. "In that process, it's quite common for entire chapters to disappear. It's similar to editing text or video. We shoot a lot of footage, arrange it, and think about whether the intended message comes across, how the tempo and interest are, and then we cut out anything that's unnecessary. Surprisingly, sometimes the overall result is better if certain elements are omitted. Subtraction is really important.
"Having a lot of information can change how users perceive things. When I first started working on Resident Evil, I was told, 'Resident Evil may look difficult, but it has to be understandable even to casual gamers who don't usually play games.'"
While I don't actually have many complaints about subtracting or even the length of Requiem—I quite liked the fact that, alongside many other Resi games, it was doable in a weekend—I do think that an extra chapter slotted into Leon's Raccoon City ventures would've been great.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing as Leon as much as the next Resi fan, but I found Raccoon City lacked some of that horror/action balance that the Hospital section managed to strike. I missed playing as Grace and destroying my blood pressure.
"Of course, the person who produced it will be disappointed and may even get angry, but if the result is good, everyone will be satisfied," Nakanishi says. "Conversely, that means we have to take responsibility for the result." The end result was certainly nothing to turn your nose up at, so while I do wish we could've had a little more time with Grace or even another character, I think that structure that Requiem ended on worked well enough.
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