History VideoGame / ResidentEvil7Biohazard

''Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'' [[note]]Stylized as ''RESIDENT E'''VII'''_ Biohazard'' in western countries and ''BIOHA'''7'''_ARD resident evil'' in Japan[[/note]] is a FirstPerson SurvivalHorror game and the sixth {{Numbered Sequel|s}} in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' franchise (and [[SequelNumberSnarl eleventh]] mainline entry), developed and published by {{Creator/Capcom}} for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and PC. The game is also the first in the series to have full support for VR platforms such as [=PlayStation VR=].[[note]]PSVR currently enjoys a 12 month exclusivity-deal for the game starting from it's release date.[[/note]]

On May 24, Capcom released a CloudGaming version for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in Japan. A worldwide release for this version was announced in September 2022. %%This is a topic of much contention in the States, and we don't want any potential flame wars extending to TV Tropes.

* SpeedRun: The "Just Get Me Outta Here" achievement requires you to beat the game in under four hours. A fairly generous time limit, all things considered, as a player familiar with the game can comfortably beat it with over an hour to spare so long as they skip every optional VHS tape segment. Currently [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VQ4Agkyps4 it can be done in about 1.5 hours]].
** There's also a separate achievement for completing the "Happy Birthday" videotape in five minutes.

* AnachronismStew: Although the game is set in 2017, there are equipment and technology related oddities that make it hard to decide whether the Bakers happen to be outdated or the developers were going for a deliberate aesthetic appeal. Overall, there seems to be an idiosyncratic mix of more modern technology such as smartwatches; laptops; and the Internet, alongside distinctly late 70's-80's aesthetics like cassette decks; tube televisions; VHS tapes; landline button-dialing phones, and muscle cars.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: The Bakers, despite many of them being turned into murderous cannibals, are revealed within Eveline’s HiveMind to have been good and honest people before their transformation (except [[BlackSheep Lucas]]). Ethan gets to meet (what's left of) the real Jack in Eveline's HiveMind after Ethan is engulfed by Mold, learning from Jack that after Eveline possessed his family and himself that they were powerless to fight back against her control, being forced to watch themselves do all kinds of terrible things. His last words to Ethan are to free Jack’s family, [[MercyKill which can only be done by killing Eveline.]]]]

** The 44 Mag is the most powerful weapon in the game, able to instantly kill most enemies on any difficulty with a headshot. Shame you'll only get to fire it 10ish times if you make sure to check every nook and cranny for it's well hidden ammo. Unless you have infinite ammo unlocked (I.E. you've already beaten the hardest difficulty) and intend to use it your antique coins are better spent on other upgrades.

** And then there's the monsters.

* BookEnds: [[spoiler: The final battle with Eveline takes place in the first area visited in the first demo and part of the main game.]]

* DeusExMachina: One, surprisingly enough, relevant to [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration gameplay and not just story]]: while most ''Resident Evil'' games contain healing systems that are beyond illogical, [[spoiler: ''7'' provides an in-game explanation by way of the in-game mold that gave the Bakers their superhuman strength and durability.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Eveline makes Alan, one of her {{Parental Substitute}}s, puke his guts out and die a horrible death after he calls her a bitch.

** Some of Mia's lines when she attacks you in the Guest House are [[spoiler: "it's my job, must contain outbreak", "must burn it all down", and "they're relying on me, everyone's relying on me", hinting at her role as part of The Connections.]]
** You can find photos of a helicopter and one is written that it's been up for a few days. [[spoiler: The helicopter turns out to be an Umbrella, Co. helicopter investigating the area.]]

** Inside the trailer is a letter. One part mentions [[spoiler: "Should I run? No, I can't. I'm dead, if she finds out.", alluding to the Zoe ending.]]

** In the Abandoned House, next to the fake altar, one can find a diary about [[spoiler: Marguerite getting an X-Ray, tying back to the doctor letter found in ''Grandmother'''s room, foreshadowing that Marguerite is the grandmother of the setting and "Granny" doesn't belong.]]
** In the "Happy Birthday" tape, [[spoiler:Clancy picks up a straw doll with a note with the word "YOU" written on it. In order to solve the puzzle, Clancy has to burn the doll to obtain the Dummy Finger. Solving the puzzle ultimately results in Clancy being burned alive.]]

* GoodParents: The Bakers were a normal family before whatever caused them to go insane occurred. [[spoiler: The Bakers taking in of Eveline is what caused them to go insane, but they did so out of the goodness of their hearts, which makes them an interesting case of TragicVillain. NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished, indeed.]]

** [[spoiler:Although out of ''all of them'' combined, the one that truly stands out is Eveline, for she is the one who infected the Baker family, has power over the infection itself to the point that she can project it from her body to attack people, and then eventually mutates into a horrific, slimy tentacled beast with a deformed face and the size of the mansion itself.]]

* JumpScare: The game has plenty of moments that got players to jump out of their seats. Most of the time is the sudden appearance of a Baker family member ambushing Ethan.

* LighterAndSofter: On a microscopic level. ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' was DarkerAndEdgier due to ''numerous'' characters dying, one of them being a playable protagonist, two zombie-infested major cities, and both of the game's protagonists, Leon and Chris, having to put up with more deaths than they can handle (as well as ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''). While this game does have on-screen deaths, but unlike ''6'', both this game and the DLC manages to ''have'' a SurprisinglyHappyEnding.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Ethan is...remarkably calm and lucid after having his left hand cut off early in the game. Even stranger is that the stump just stops bleeding on its own after about a minute. [[spoiler:The most likely explanation is that Ethan has already been infected by the Mold, which gives an enhanced HealingFactor.]] Although in the Japanese dub, he's a helluva lot more emotional.

* MarketBasedTitle: Creatively handled. In all regions, both the Western "''Resident Evil''" and Japanese "''Biohazard''" series names are present, with one market's main series name serving as the subtitle in the other market's title. The LogoJoke, where the number seven is squeezed into the title, even works in both regions (with the Roman numeral "VII" being highlighted in the last three letters of "EVIL" and a Hindu-Arabic "7" being highlighted in the "Z" in "BIOHAZARD").

* OffscreenTeleportation: The Bakers engage in this as they always manage to get ahead of you to wander in new areas. A particularly blatant example is in the attic after the fight with [[spoiler: Mia]], where Jack will appear behind you literally out of thin air, as long as you do not have your back against a wall.

* SightedGunsAreLowTech:
** Averted with Ethan's aiming skills. Unlike other ''Resident Evil'' protagonists, Ethan doesn't appear to have any formal gun training [[note]]except for his habit of not pointing the gun at anything unless he wants to shoot.[[/note]], so he fires his gun from the hip with a wide targeting reticle. Taking aim slows him down, but shrinks the reticle and makes his shots significantly more accurate; he apparently ''is'' using the sights, but the camera doesn't use common ADS perspective when he aims, to keep from blocking the view of what you're trying to hit. [[spoiler:Mia also has issues, as the recoil of the machine gun makes aiming extremely difficult.]]
** Redfield uses the common contemporary aim down the gun sights view in the gameplay trailer of "Not a Hero".

* SouthernGothic: A run-down Southern plantation... inhabited by superhumanly-powerful cannibals and other such friendlies.

** A drawer in the ''Bedroom'' DLC won't open the first time you try, and the text suggests a strong pull will do it, inviting the player to try again. When they do and it opens, not only is there nothing inside, but the drawer jams and can't be closed. Since Marguerite will notice ''any'' visible change to the room when she returns and, for it, attack and eventually kill you because you've been out of bed, the stuck drawer will tip her off every time she returns and earn you a likely death. That being said, there is a dialogue option you can select afterwards that can quell Marguerite's anger. Pick a wrong option, though, and it's still bad news

* DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready: After Ethan already got his hand chopped off, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Capcom subtly acknowledges]] through Lucas complaining about his hand getting chopped off as well that this already happened.

* AKA47: Most of the guns found in the game use cut-down versions of their real-life names. The M19 is a 9mm M1911 instead of the standard .45 ACP M1911 [[note]]Although oddly, its magazine capacity is 7 rounds like the .45 ACP model's default magazines instead of the 9mm's 9 round magazine. That said, it's notably beat up enough that the lower magazine capacity may be what's wrong with it.[[/note]], the M44 Magnum is a [[RareGuns .44 AutoMag]], the MPM Pistol is a Makarov PM (it was also called that name in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2''), and the P19 sub-machine gun is a [[RareGuns PP-19 Bizon-2]]. The oddballs out are the shotguns: the M21 is a stacked-barrel shotgun of unknown make/model, while the M37 is a Remington 870 with the forend of an Ithaca 37. Averted with the G17, which is a commonly used abbreviation for the Glock 17 [[note]]Unusually for a police sidearm, it has a civilian restricted-capacity 10-round magazine rather than the standard 17-rounder.[[/note]], although its appearance is changed from the real handgun to skirt around licensing issues, borrowing the fatter grip angle and scalloped slide texturing from a Diamondback DB-series pistol.[[note]]The Glock company is famously strict about protecting their brand identity; if you're going to change the name of their product, they expect you to change the likeness, too. This may be why the magazine capacity is different.[[/note]]

* RareGuns: The magnum handgun in this game is a [[http://www.guns.com/2013/03/13/the-44-automag-pistol-the-forgotten-handcannon/ 44 AutoMag]], a sleek, beautiful HandCannon that had an 11 year on-again-off-again production run, and commands a stupidly high price on the collector's market today. The gun is so rare that those lucky enough to possess one have to wildcat their own [proprietary] ammunition out of cut-down rifle casings. And while a specialty company in South Carolina ''did'' get the complete rights to the weapon in 2015 and started producing them again in 2017, it still commands a very hefty price tag.

** Lucas' ''Film/SawI''-esque trap that he calls "Happy Birthday" is one. [[spoiler:The puzzle requires you to light a candle and put it on a birthday cake with a bomb in it. However, prior to that, you are required to uncork a barrel full of fuel which soaks the room and catches fire when the cake explodes - locking the player into an inferno which kills them.]] The intended solution is [[spoiler: for the Ethan to watch a video created by a previous victim of the trap, allowing them to bypass the need to open the fuel barrel, so the cake doesn't set the room on fire.]] The problems with that: [[spoiler:even though Ethan watches the video, he is still surprised when the cake explodes even though logically he should know it will. The room which has canonically already been set on fire (possibly multiple times) is made of wood which bears no marks of this. And the video itself was being shot on a head-mounted camera which should have been destroyed in the same fire that killed the character wearing it.]]

* PlotHole: Mia's tape contains one. [[spoiler: While dodging Marguerite, Mia sees Eveline- in her child form- calling out to her across a gap. The problem with this is that Eveline has already been aged into her "grandmother" form by mid-2017 (when the tape was filmed). Thus, Eveline appearing as a child in this tape should be completely impossible, since its a ''video recording'' and not Mia's own perspective.]]

* RuleOfSeven: Same notes as ArcNumber above.

* GoodParents: The Bakers were a normal family before whatever caused them to go insane occurred. [[spoiler: The Bakers taking in of Eveline is what caused them to go insane, but they did so out of the goodness of their hearts, which makes them an interesting case of TragicVillain. NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished, indeed.]]
* GottaCatchThemAll: The Antique Coins and Mr. Everywhere bobbleheads, which have associated achievements/trophies for finding them all. The coins have two of them - one for collecting all 18 on Easy or Normal difficulty and one for collecting all 33 on Madhouse difficulty.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: Chris' campaign is heavily action-oriented in a return to the form seen in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 6]]'', such as finishing moves on stunned enemies while maintaining the game's horror atmosphere.

On May 24, Capcom released a CloudGaming version for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in Japan. %%This is a topic of much contention in the States, and we don't want any potential flame wars extending to TV Tropes.

** Aside from the whole "no basements" thing, the creators did a pretty good job of depicting South Louisiana's bayou country, and added a lot of details that those who've lived in or visited that part of the state will find familiar. In fact, there's bonus concept art in [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage the game's sequel]] showing a windmill in front of the Baker house, which was removed after a research team for Capcom learned there aren't any windmills in southern Louisiana.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The demo seems to borrow a lot of elements from the short-lived ''VideoGame/SilentHills Playable Teaser'', from reinventing itself as a first-person photo-realistic horror game to initially presenting itself as a project completely unrelated to its given franchise. This is actually stated by Capcom to be a coincidence, given that ''Resident Evil 7'' was actually in development since before P.T. came out. However, both titles shared a design lead in Jordan Amaro, a Konami designer who worked with Hideo Kojima on both P.T. and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV''.

-->'''Veronica''': OK... that worked. Gonna be some pissed computer techs up here, but--
-->'''Chris''': Cry me a river.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Nightmare'' is possibly this to ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 Resident Evil 4]]'''s Mercenaries mode. The only difference is that you have to survive long enough to get to 5 AM. And no, you don't fight two Jack Bakers because that would be hard to do.
** ''Nightmare'' also [[FollowTheLeader greatly resembles]] the popular ''VideoGame/NaziZombies'' mode from ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''.

** On your last boss battle with a heavily-mutated Jack, Zoe tells Ethan to use a cure on him, to which Ethan questions, but does it anyway. Then not less then 30 seconds later, she reacts in shock when Ethan tells Mia and Zoe there's only one cure left.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: On your last boss battle with a heavily-mutated Jack, Zoe tells Ethan to use a cure on him, to which Ethan questions, but does it anyway. Then not less then 30 seconds later, she reacts in shock when Ethan tells Mia and Zoe there's only one cure left.

On March 2, 2022, it was announced that the game will be brought to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS later in the year, with existing owners of previous generation versions eligable to upgrade for free. The PC version will be updated as well to take advantage of newer graphics hardware.

* NightmarishNursery: Several rooms of the Baker property have been converted into an extended bedroom/playroom for Evelyn, the resident CreepyChild. By the time you get there, it's totally unlit, the toys are crawling with black mould, and the atmosphere is nothing short of terrifying. Plus, Marguerite keeps her altar hidden behind the bed, using Evelyn's "gift" as a makeshift shrine. Turn around quick enough as you leave, and it becomes clear that Evelyn ''has been watching you'' for every second you've been in here.

* HopeSpot: Very early in the game, you find a note showing a list of people who either turned into the molded or died while captured, except for Clancy Jones who has an "L" next to their name, implying he survived and is in hiding. [[spoiler: [[ShootTheShaggyDog That "L" did not stand for "Lost"]].]]

* HappyEndingOverride: As ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' reveals, [[spoiler:the infamous "Welcome to the family son" knock out that Jack gave to Ethan? ''It killed him''. Considering his SuperStrength [[note]]Which allows him to almost effortlessly break Ethan's limbs and neck, alongside other gruesome feats[[/note]], it's no surprise that a HeyYouHaymaker and then a curb stomp to the head killed a normal human being rather than knocking him out]].

* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: When Deputy Anderson arrives to the scene, he doesn't immediately believe Ethan is in danger and continues to question him, despite the looming threat of the Bakers lurking around. It also doesn't help that Ethan gives cryptic answers to the deputy’s questions, so he treats Ethan as a possible suspect. This is ''also'' the ensuing of reality, as victims of extreme psychological trauma can have trouble articulating exactly what happened to them.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: To increase the size of your GridInventory and avoid CriticalEncumbranceFailure, you pick up and wear multiple backpacks. Yes, ''multiple'' backpacks. Even better, they only add four slots, which is easily filled by a shotgun and a grenade launcher.

** Unlike most previous ''Resident Evil'' games, which predominantly featured player characters with some form of law enforcement or military background, the player character of ''7'', Ethan Winters, is an ordinary civilian with no combat training, though he handles the various guns in the game well enough to at least suggest it isn't the first time he's ever picked one up (he ''is'' implied to be from Texas, after all).
** Mia is kind of a DamselInDistress, but she does all right. [[spoiler:Because she's ''actually'' working for a shady bioweapons dealer and well trained with firearms in her playable segment later in the game. Her initial DamselInDistress role is in fact due to Eveline's mind control capabilities.]]
* ActionizedSequel: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. ''Resident Evil 7'' is a hard swing back into the horror genre.

* AnachronismStew:
** Despite the game being explicitly set in 2017, there are a number of equipment and technology related oddities that make it hard to decide whether the Bakers happen to be very outdated or the developers were going for a deliberate aesthetic appeal. Overall, there seems to be an idiosyncratic mix of more modern technology such as smartwatches, laptops, and the Internet, alongside distinctly late 70's-80's aesthetics like cassette decks, tube televisions, VHS tapes, landline button-dialing phones, and muscle cars.
** Despite the year being 2017, the footage from the ghost hunter team is viewed via a VHS tape, even though Clancy is recording everything with a modern head-mounted video camera.
** Ethan decides to bring a paper print-out of the email [[spoiler: Eveline had Mia send him to lure him,]] that brings him to the Baker estate, although the presence of an email proves the existence of the Internet. Most people would just keep this on their smartphone. Speaking of phones...
** There are no cellphones of any kind to be seen in the house. Not smartphones, not flip phones, not even a 90's-era brick-with-an-antenna neglected somewhere amidst the copious debris of the Baker estate. In fact, all of the phones featured are not only landlines, but 80's-90's era corded button-dialers complete with flashing light when the phone rings. The only two times they appear, they appear either outside the house or before everything went to hell. One is in the Zoe ending cutscene, and Lucas can be seen using a smartphone during the ''Daughters'' DLC and at the begining of ''Not a Hero''.
** Circling back to the Internet mention, there are no computers seen on the Baker estate, save for [[spoiler: the laptop on-board the tanker Mia uses to broadcast her warning to Ethan]] and Lucas's laptop, seen in his lab and during the ''Daughters'' DLC. This may be because the family are ''literally'' in the middle of nowhere with terrible cellphone reception, so they use landlines - Lucas has a smartphone because he's in contact with some unsavory types...
** Another interesting piece of technology is the Codex, the nifty smartwatch characters wear around to monitor their vital signs and track [[spoiler: Eveline or traces of her Mold and D-Series-related paraphernalia]]. The game has a licensing deal with Pebble, and the Codex takes the shape of the [[http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/12/7/13864804/pebble-time-2-core-canceled-fitbit-deal ill-fated Pebble Time 2]]. Interestingly enough, even though most smartwatches require a connection to a smartphone (via Bluetooth) in order to function to any useful level, a major selling point of this specific model of Pebble would have been its lack of requirement of a phone connection in order to use (some of) its smartwatch features, which may be an explanation for the game's notable lack of cell/smartphones. That being said, the Codex [[spoiler: being able to take and make calls]] solely from the watch itself without any kind of cellular connection would not be possible.
** Despite the appearance of a laptop which can send modern digital video over the Internet, as well as emails and smartwatches, for some reason the go-to video documentation format seems to be VHS tapes, and there are no high-definition/flat-panel televisions to be seen in the Baker estate, instead the game solely features old-fashioned box and tube televisions with VHS players attached to them. Even though Clancy feasibly uses a modern, head-mounted camera, the camera somehow produces VHS tapes for playback. Ethan also utilizes cassette tapes (at least on Madhouse difficulty) and cassette recorders to save his progress through the game. Still, a step-up from the ink ribbons and typewriters of past entries to the franchise, but an odd choice in a game that also features more modern technology.
** Other than that, some footnotes can be made about the vehicles seen and the weapons used. Both sets feature both distinctly retro/vintage-styled pieces as well as more modern ones. In the gun category, Ethan can wield a G17 (the Glock 17, originally designed and initially manufactured in 1982) alongside a M21 shotgun (which takes the form of a much more old-fashioned twin barrel, break-action shotgun) as well as using homemade pieces such as the Burner flamethrower and the Grenade Launcher. The post-game weapon [[spoiler: Albert-01R]] takes a decidedly more modern approach in comparison to the other weaponry on display. As far as vehicles go, we see a distinctly 70's-era muscle car (possibly modeled after the car seen in ''Evil Dead'') alongside a much more modern looking police cruiser (though that is admittedly much farther away and out of focus.)
** The ''Daughters'' DLC shows that pre-infection Lucas owned both a laptop and a smartphone. Mind, the generally outdated and run-down state of the Bakers' home and belongings is TruthInTelevision for some people who live in the very poor areas of south Louisiana, and it's never suggested that the Bakers were a particularly wealthy family to start with -- certainly not wealthy enough to properly maintain their sprawling estate beyond keeping the utilities running for the past three years.
** The extremely outdated technology and run-down property is very TruthInTelevision for a lot of small poor rural towns in the US even today. Cell reception in these areas is often minimal or nonexistent, and people without much money aren't going to be spending their limited money buying lots of modern computers and smartphones, when internet infrastructure in the area is equally poor. You will often see lots of very old cars in these places as well.
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: The Bakers, despite being turned into murderous cannibalistic implacable monstrosities, are still very much the good and honest people they were before their transformation, trapped within Eveline's hive-mind and forced to watch everything they're forced to do without being capable of doing anything about it. Ethan gets to meet (what's left of) the real Jack in Eveline's hive-mind after he is engulfed by Mold, and Jack heart-wrenchingly explains to him that as Eveline slowly possessed him and his family, they were completely powerless to fight back against her control, and had to watch themselves do all kinds of terrible things. Jack's last words to Ethan are "free my family, please".]]

* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: A police officer who comes on the scene doesn't immediately believe Ethan is in danger. Ethan damages his case immediately when he admits he doesn't own the property. It also doesn't help that Ethan gives very cryptic answers to the officer's questions, so the cop treats Ethan as a suspect rather than a victim, which is ''also'' the ensuing of reality, as victims of extreme psychological trauma can have trouble articulating exactly what happened to them.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: In the end, the serum which Zoe put all her faith and hope in, the serum which she had Ethan risk life and limb to gain ingredients to and create in order to escape the Mold, turned out to be completely ineffective at curing herself. In addition, if the player administered it to Mia instead, Eveline just re-infects her into her HiveMind at the shipwreck to talk to her. The only real use that the serum had was to defeat Jack's second form, though he's able to return from that too. Ethan had to fully defeat Eveline to free everyone from the hive mind.]]
** Then ''Village'' reveals that [[spoiler:defeating Eveline didn't actually free everyone from the hive mind: there is a bigger one, the megamycete, which acts like a massive databank that contains the consciousnesses of everyone that's ever been infected with the mold, including those who died. Eveline, who was seemingly killed at the end of ''7'', reappears to Ethan this way. This also means killing Eveline didn't actually free the Bakers.]]