The Adventure Horror genre is usually where the player is most vulnerable, having little to no way of fighting back and having to rely on hiding and/or avoiding enemy encounters. This genre often has the player exploring a desolate environment to search for clues/items to help progress through the story. Endings in this genre are rarely happy, most are ambiguous. Games in this genre include the Clock Tower series and games like Outlast and Amnesia.
The Survival Horror genre gives the player much more capability, usually providing a better means of confronting enemies (Guns, Melee Weapons) albeit with limited ammunition and supplies. This genre shares a lot of similarities between both Adventure Horror and Action Horror, combining exploration elements with changing environments and a higher number of enemies that the player is able to kill. Endings in this genre vary greatly. Games in this genre include Resident Evil 1,2,4,CV and the Silent Hill franchise. The Action Horror genre is usually where the player is most powerful, having multiple weapons and rarely being short on ammunition. This genre more or less only has elements of horror mixed into the formula and is more focused on delivering a heart-pounding action experience with a few scares peppered in. Players are usually urged along through the story at a quicker pace, going through multiple different environments with little exploration. Endings in this genre are almost always happy, save for a few considerably depressing examples (though, in horror, depressing is usually a good thing). Games in this genre include the Left 4 Dead franchise, Resident Evil 4,5,6,ORC and Dead Space 3. The Hybrid Horror genre is, for want of a better phrase, a mixed batch. These games often mix multiple elements of the three main and the result is extremely varied. Most people try to group them in with any of the main genres of horror, but the truth is that they don't definitely fit under in any one. Games in this genre include the RE Revelations spin-offs, Alien Isolation, Dead Space 1-2 and Clock Tower 3. The majority of the early Resident Evil games fall under the Survival Horror genre of horror games, excluding spin-off titles such as the Gun Survivor series and Resident Evil Gaiden (side-story) which fall under Action Horror. The majority of the modern Resident Evil games fall under the Action Horror genre of horror games, again, excluding spin-off titles such as the Revelations sub-series which falls under Hybrid Horror. So, where does Resident Evil 7 fit on this scale? At the moment it is not entirely clear. Obviously, we can rule out Action Horror as well as Adventure Horror since, the player is not a power house, but neither are they defenseless, as we have found out. Logically, this puts Resi 7 somewhere in the middle of those two genres, so surely it is simply survival horror, right? Well, perhaps not. True, it has the majority of the same mechanics as purely Survival Horror, but I feel personally that it is more likely that Resident Evil 7 will fall under the Hybrid Horror genre, mixing elements between Survival Horror and Adventure Horror, giving the player a limited means of fighting back, but retaining a vulnerable atmosphere and giving the player the option to avoid some encounters (as Masachika Kawada has said). The conclusion is; There is more than one genre of horror game, and the Resident Evil series as a whole has NEVER fit into just one. There are Survival Horror games, Action Horror games and even more Hybrid Horror games. This in mind, here is what I have to say to everyone; No matter what Resident Evil games you prefer, we should all give Resident Evil 7 a chance. The series as a whole has never committed to one single genre of horror, and it is extremely likely that, in the future, it will change again. Capcom has not abandoned anyone, they are trying to cater to completely different groups of fans with each game. Every time the series evolves or swaps genres, it attracts all-new players, and the issue with that is, moving forward, all fans of every game expect to be appeased and, usually, that simply is not possible. Resident Evil fans come in all types, but in the end, we are all Resident Evil fans, there are games in the series for every kind of horror fan whether you like claustrophobic hallways, heart-pounding action set pieces or somewhere inbetween. That, I think, is what makes Resident Evil such a great series.
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