When Hideki Kamiya, creator of Bayonetta, Devil May Cry and Okami, began his career working for Capcom on the original Resident Evil, few could have predicted his creative arc. Fewer still would have guessed that three decades later, the man who helped define survival horror would publicly ask the genre's leading publisher to simply remove the horror.
Yet that is where we find ourselves. His team at Clovers Studio recently took a break from developing the sequel to Okami to play Resident Evil Requiem, and during their gameplay session, Kamiya said: "I've been saying forever they should make a 'non-scary' mode. Look, I just want to enjoy the puzzles, the puzzles and the combat. I don't need the scary stuff."
The request landed with particular timing. Capcom announced that worldwide sales of Resident Evil Requiem, released on February 27, 2026, surpassed 5 million units. Requiem is a record breaker with five million sales in under a week. By comparison, 2023's Resident Evil 4 Remake took three months to hit that number, and 2021's Resident Evil Village took five months.
The irony cuts deep. Kamiya directed the original Resident Evil 2 in 1998 and worked on the first RE game as well as Resident Evil Zero. He built his name as the architect of one of gaming's greatest horror experiences. That game remains central to the franchise's identity; the Resident Evil 2 Remake is among the best-selling games in the franchise.
What makes Kamiya's sentiment less peculiar on closer inspection is his own career trajectory. When asked about horror games, he has said "I hate horror, though, so it wouldn't be horror." His most celebrated recent work has steered firmly away from the genre. Kamiya currently heads Clovers Studio, a spiritual successor to the Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio that developed Okami. Kamiya and Clovers Studio are currently working on Okami 2, a sequel that was announced during 2024's Game Awards ceremony.
Capcom, however, seems unlikely to act on Kamiya's suggestion. Requiem features a multitude of difficulty options, two playing perspectives (third and first-person), a mix of action and horror, and a high quality experience across all major platforms, which helped it walk the line between broad appeal and staying true to the core Resident Evil experience. The publisher's strategy of accessibility through flexibility rather than fundamentally dismantling the genre has proven wildly successful.
The game reached a new series record of over 344,000 concurrent players on Steam, which is double that of Resident Evil 4 Remake and triple that of Resident Evil Village, making Requiem the biggest launch in the franchise's history. Players, it appears, want horror in their horror game.
Still, Kamiya's request hints at something worth considering. As horror games grow more technically sophisticated and commercially mainstream, do they need to serve every taste equally? Or is there merit in letting a game be exactly what it claims to be? Requiem isn't over yet. Capcom has confirmed that the game will get new content and a story expansion. Director Koshi Nakanishi also said that Requiem is getting a minigame in May, and a photo mode in the near future.
Perhaps one of those updates could include what Kamiya requests. Or perhaps his discomfort with Requiem's scares simply reminds us that horror, by definition, is not meant for everyone. That does not make it less valuable as art.