Resident Evil 4 camera wasn’t intended to be groundbreaking

The Resident Evil 4 over-the-shoulder camera perspective was never meant to be groundbreaking, says legendary developer, Shinji Mikami.

Shinji Mikami was speaking during a video uploaded to the Biohazard YouTube channel, discussing 25 years of Resident Evil. Mikami had worked on a number of Resident Evil games, including some of the originals, as well as RE4 and RE7.

Mikami revealed that the over-the-shoulder camera perspective was only used as it seemed to work better than the traditional fixed camera. Jun Takeuchi was also featured in the video chatting with Mikami. Like Mikami, Takeuchi had also worked on a variety of Resident Evil titles.

Takeuchi revealed to Mikami that he was told by Epic Games, the original developers of Gears of War, that its camera was inspired by RE4. This should come as no surprise, considering that many video games to this day have followed the lead of RE4.

Continuing the topic of RE4’s camera, Mikami explained that “It felt natural, oddly enough. We weren’t planning on doing something innovative, but in the end, everyone kept saying we did.”

“To us personally, we just thought that angle was better,” continued Mikami “We weren’t trying to do something new or groundbreaking, there was none of that.”

In related, RE4 news, the Resident Evil 4 remake arrives for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X|S on March 24^th, 2023.

Are you surprised that RE4 inspired video games such as Gears of War and more, even if it was unintentional? Let us know across our social media channels.

Featured Image Credit: Capcom/Source: VGC via YouTube