Ever since Resident Evil 7, the horror series’ non-remake games have opted for a first-person perspective over the third-person perspective Resident Evil 4 set as the de facto choice in 3D games. Resident Evil Village was made with first-person in mind, though it did get a third-person camera mode post-launch. When Resident Evil Requiem launches next year, it’ll do so with first- and third-person modes right out the gate. But according to the game’s director, the latter was only added in so it wouldn’t be too scary for some players.

Speaking to GamesRadar, director Koshi Nakanishi explained how he implemented Resident Evil 7’s first-person perspective to make it “more immersive and more scary than ever before,” noting that he thinks “media and players agreed it was an incredibly scary game, but it was possibly too scary.”

He went on to say that because it felt too scary, he believes some players weren’t able to finish it, or even start it in the first place. In turn, with Requiem, he wanted to make sure there was a way to let as many people play the game as possible. “If you started the game off in first-person perspective, and you’re finding it’s too much, then-third person is almost a way to step slightly back from that level of horror and make it slightly easier to deal with by having the character on screen as a kind of avatar of yourself,” Nakanishi explained.

In another recent interview, Nakanishi explained how Requiem could be the “most extreme” game in the series, so his choice to offer a third-person mode sounds like it could be quite welcome for some players.

Resident Evil Requiem is out February 27, 2026, and will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.