When Resident Evil Village players first descended into the basement of House Beneviento, they encountered something unprecedented in the series: pure, weaponless terror. No guns, no grenades, no superhuman abilities – just a vulnerable protagonist armed with nothing but a flashlight and their wits. The sequence became legendary among horror fans, representing the series at its most psychologically terrifying.
Now, Director Koshi Nakanishi is taking those lessons and expanding them into an entire game philosophy for Resident Evil 9 Requiem. What worked for twenty minutes in Village’s most celebrated sequence becomes the foundation for RE9’s complete horror experience.
“There are similarities to that section for sure,” Nakanishi acknowledged during a Games Radar interview at Gamescom 2025. “I think each Resident Evil title has these sort of standalone parts where maybe you don’t have the weapons you’re used to and we can increase the horror feeling with that.”
But RE9 isn’t content to simply replicate House Beneviento’s success – it’s evolving those terror mechanics into something more sophisticated, more sustained, and potentially more terrifying than anything the series has attempted before.
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The House Beneviento Blueprint
To understand RE9’s horror evolution, we must first examine what made House Beneviento so effective. The sequence stripped away everything that typically empowers Resident Evil protagonists:
Complete Vulnerability: Ethan enters with no weapons, no combat abilities, and no supernatural powers. His only advantages are mobility and problem-solving skills.
Environmental Storytelling: The horror emerges from exploration and discovery rather than jump scares or combat encounters. Players piece together the tragedy through environmental clues.
Psychological Terror: The threats are primarily mental rather than physical. The fear comes from anticipation, atmosphere, and the unknown rather than direct confrontation.
Puzzle-Focused Progression: Players advance by solving environmental puzzles that require careful observation and logical thinking, not reflexes or firepower.
Sustained Helplessness: The vulnerability never breaks. There’s no moment where players suddenly gain an advantage or feel empowered.
These elements combined to create what many consider the scariest sequence in Resident Evil history. The question for RE9 became: how do you expand this twenty-minute experience into a full game without losing its impact?
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RE9’s Terror Amplification
RE9’s answer is sophisticated and multi-layered. Rather than simply extending House Beneviento’s approach, Nakanishi and his team have identified ways to enhance and evolve its core mechanics:
The Intelligent Stalker System
Where House Beneviento relied on atmospheric dread, RE9 introduces an active threat that combines the best elements of Mr. X, Nemesis, and Lady Dimitrescu with House Beneviento’s psychological approach. The stalker creature isn’t just a pursuing enemy – it’s an environmental hazard that fundamentally changes how players interact with the game world.
The creature’s sensitivity to light creates dynamic safe spaces that feel both protective and temporary. Unlike traditional safe rooms with arbitrary boundaries, RE9’s light-based sanctuary system provides logical, understandable protection while maintaining constant tension about light sources failing or being extinguished.
Destructible Hiding Spots
One of RE9’s most innovative terror mechanics involves destructible hiding places. When players hide under tables or behind objects, the stalker can destroy these hiding spots if it discovers them, permanently removing that option from the environment.
This creates escalating tension that House Beneviento never achieved. Each discovered hiding spot increases vulnerability for future encounters, forcing players to constantly adapt their survival strategies. The fear compounds over time as safe options disappear.
Grace’s Authentic Terror Responses
Unlike Ethan’s relatively stoic reactions, Grace Ashcroft displays authentic terror responses that amplify the horror experience. In third-person mode, players witness her stumbling, shaking, and flinching – physical manifestations of fear that create emotional resonance.
“She’s so scared when she’s running away from the creature,” Nakanishi explained. “But that doesn’t happen in first-person – making the camera move like that in first-person would be very unnatural, and possibly even uncomfortable!”
This dual-perspective approach allows players to choose their preferred level of immersion while maintaining the character’s authentic fear responses. The horror adapts to player preferences without compromising its effectiveness.
New Horror Innovations Beyond Beneviento
While building on House Beneviento’s foundation, RE9 introduces several entirely new terror mechanics:
Environmental Manipulation by Enemies
The stalker creature can throw furniture and objects at players, creating dynamic environmental hazards. This isn’t just cosmetic – it demonstrates intelligence and adaptability that makes the threat feel more real and unpredictable.
Light as Limited Resource
Unlike traditional horror games where flashlights have infinite batteries, RE9 treats illumination as a precious, finite resource. Players must carefully manage light sources while using them strategically to ward off threats. The constant awareness of dwindling light creates sustained anxiety.
Medical Horror Elements
Grace’s awakening on a medical gurney, complete with blood extraction and surgical bandages, introduces body horror elements that House Beneviento only hinted at. The violation of bodily autonomy adds visceral discomfort to psychological fear.
The Emotional Transference System
One of RE9’s most sophisticated horror innovations involves what Nakanishi calls “emotional transference” – using Grace’s visible reactions to amplify player fear through empathy.
“You can almost empathize with the character more when you see them on screen,” he explained. “It almost makes you panic, because you see her panicking.”
This represents a fundamental evolution from House Beneviento’s approach. While Donna Beneviento’s domain relied on environmental storytelling and atmospheric dread, RE9 uses character animation and performance to create horror through emotional connection.
The system works bidirectionally: Grace’s fear responses make players more afraid, while her gradual adaptation helps players feel their own growing competence. It’s a sophisticated feedback loop that maintains horror effectiveness throughout extended gameplay sessions.
Sustained Terror Without Exhaustion
House Beneviento’s greatest limitation was duration – its intensity couldn’t be maintained indefinitely without exhausting players. RE9 solves this through what Nakanishi describes as dynamic pacing curves with greater extremes than ever before.
“You can’t keep the horror tension to the max through the whole game because it’s quite exhausting,” he acknowledged. “So you need to have this kind of dynamic pacing curve where you’ll have a very tense horrific sequence and then we give you a bit of a release.”
RE9’s innovation lies in making these tension/release cycles more extreme. The horror sequences are more terrifying than House Beneviento, while the relief periods provide genuine respite without breaking immersion. Players get the full intensity experience without the fatigue that would normally result.
The Intelligence Factor
Perhaps RE9’s most significant evolution beyond House Beneviento involves intellectual engagement. Grace’s FBI analyst background provides justification for complex puzzle-solving and investigation mechanics that feel natural within the horror framework.
Unlike House Beneviento’s largely environmental puzzles, RE9’s challenges require active investigation, evidence gathering, and logical deduction. Players aren’t just solving mechanical puzzles – they’re conducting a criminal investigation while being hunted by supernatural threats.
This intellectual engagement serves multiple purposes: it provides agency during vulnerable moments, creates investment in the story beyond mere survival, and offers alternative progression paths for players who prefer thinking to reflexes.
Learning from Village’s Lessons
Nakanishi has been remarkably candid about learning from Resident Evil 7’s reception, noting that it was “possibly too scary” and that “some people couldn’t handle it.” This awareness shapes RE9’s approach to expanding House Beneviento’s terror mechanics.
The dual camera system specifically addresses this concern. Players who find the first-person experience overwhelming can switch to third-person for slight psychological distance without losing the horror experience entirely. It’s accessibility through design rather than dilution.
The Future of Survival Horror
RE9’s horror design represents more than just an evolution of House Beneviento – it suggests a new paradigm for survival horror that combines psychological terror with character development, environmental storytelling with active investigation, and sustained vulnerability with meaningful progression.
By taking Village’s most successful horror sequence and expanding it into a complete game philosophy, RE9 isn’t just building on past success – it’s defining what survival horror can become in the modern gaming landscape.
The house on the hill taught players to fear the unknown. Now Grace Ashcroft’s nightmare promises to teach them something far more unsettling: that sometimes, knowing the truth is even more terrifying than ignorance.
The evolution of fear continues, and it’s learning from its most successful teacher.
Sources
- Games Radar interview with Koshi Nakanishi at Gamescom 2025: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/resident-evil/resident-evil-9-requiem-interview-gamescom-2025/
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