You Can Now Experience Resident Evil 7 From A Different Perspective

During the Jan. 21 Resident Evil showcase, among the details confirmed about the upcoming Resident Evil: Village was that it will utilize the same first-person perspective introduced in its predecessor, Resident Evil 7. Also returning from the franchise's seventh numbered entry will be protagonist Ethan Winters, once again as the player-controlled character. For now at least, modern Resident Evil games will remain Ethan Winters-starring first-person shooters.

YouTube channel Enveloping Sounds, however, teased a look at what Resident Evil 7 might look like in an alternate reality where the series never abandoned the perspective of its earliest entries but maintained virtually every other technological improvement introduced over its decades-long existence.

The earliest Resident Evil games not only made use of a third-person point of view but locked the in-game camera in place. Camera angles varied from room to room, so that one area might feature a zoomed-out overhead camera, while in another the camera might be level with the player character and at a closer distance.

In order to replicate this effect in Resident Evil 7, Enveloping Sounds made use of two player-created mods. The first, called "Ethan With Head," was created by users alphaZomega and ZombieAli. Since in the game's default first-person perspective, Ethan Winters' head is never shown, this mod adds a functional head onto his character model. The second is called "Third-Person OTS Script" and was created by users cheezeit and goldedtoad. It introduces a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective similar to that of Resident Evil 4. Within that script is a tool capable of fixing the camera in locations other than over Ethan's shoulder.

In the Enveloping Sounds video, Ethan traverses the main house of the Baker family ranch that serves as Resident Evil 7's primary location. Its graphical fidelity notably matches that of Resident Evil 7 sans mods. The only significant difference on display is the division of some areas that are contiguous in its unmodded version into discreet rooms, each with its own fixed camera position.

Some players have already been given a chance to explore Resident Evil: Village's central location in a demo released exclusively for the PS5. Those who haven't yet been able to secure a PS5 amid its historically successful launch or players otherwise looking for a novel Resident Evil experience can now turn to this new look at Resident Evil 7 in the time leading up to the launch of Village and its multiplayer companion. With a little bit of know-how, enterprising fans can even download the two necessary mods and replicate the experience themselves.