Fear factor vs film factor

'Resident Evil Requiem' developers question if their horror still lands, as Kojima builds a game like no other

Two of the industry's most intriguing projects — Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem and Hideo Kojima's Physint — are reshaping expectations in very different ways: one questions whether it can still terrify players, the other seeks to erase the boundary between cinema and games.

Together, they showcase both the uncertainty and ambition driving modern game design. The developers of Resident Evil Requiem have admitted they are unsure if the upcoming entry in Capcom's long-running horror series is genuinely frightening.

The game, directed by Resident Evil 7 lead Koshi Nakanishi, returns to a first-person perspective and aims to combine psychological tension with expanded survival elements.

Designed to merge the claustrophobic atmosphere of Resident Evil 7 with the broader scale of Village, Requiem offers players larger environments and new challenges.

However, according to Nakanishi, years spent working within the horror genre have left the team uncertain about whether their work still has the intended effect. "We've made so many of these that we can't tell anymore until someone else plays it," he told IGN.

He added that prior to the game's showcase at Summer Game Fest and Gamescom, the team often questioned: "Was this actually scary? Because we don't even know anymore. This is our bread and butter, what we make every day."

That uncertainty extends to the creative process itself. Nakanishi explained that while brainstorming potential set pieces, the team frequently debates whether scenarios are too extreme or insufficiently unsettling.

He recalled one discussion where they considered depicting the character Grace sustaining serious injuries, but ultimately decided to scale the idea back.

Early hands-on previews from Gamescom have already highlighted the game's oppressive atmosphere, noting its careful blend of confined interiors with expansive, hostile areas.

Still, whether Requiem delivers the kind of fear long associated with Resident Evil will only become clear when it is released in 2025. For now, even its developers are waiting to see if their latest project strikes the balance of survival gameplay and horror that defines the series.

If Requiem is testing the limits of fear, Kojima's Physint is stretching the very definition of what a game can be. The upcoming PlayStation exclusive marks Kojima's return to the action-espionage genre, with a release not expected before 2030.

First announced during a State of Play broadcast in January 2024, the project remains in its conceptual phase as Kojima finalises work on Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

In May 2025, Kojima revealed he was the only member of Kojima Productions working on Physint at the time, suggesting a development cycle of five to six years. By August 2025, updates confirmed the game was still at the conceptual stage.

Developed in partnership with Sony and Columbia Pictures, the title is being described as more than a traditional video game, combining action-espionage mechanics with high-production live-action elements.

Kojima has called the project the "culmination of [his] work," reflecting his long-standing ambition to merge cinematic storytelling with interactive design.

Confirmed cast members include Charlee Fraser, Ma Dong-seok, and Minami Hamabe, though their roles remain undisclosed. Promotional artwork has teased a leading character yet to be revealed, fuelling speculation among fans.

Expected to launch exclusively on the PS6, with a possible PC port later, Physint is Kojima's most ambitious effort to date. Where Resident Evil Requiem embodies the uncertainty of horror in a well-worn franchise, Physint embraces the future, blurring lines between Hollywood spectacle and interactive play. Both, in their own ways, demonstrate that gaming's evolution is as much about risk as it is about innovation.