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Seen a lot of Big Chat about horror games recently, so here's my take on modern games made in 'PS1 style'. While it's true that the constraints of the tech at the time meant we got pre-rendered backdrops (Resi initially was first person), once you make that choice...
You are now in the realm of directing your game in a manner much closer to a film director than most. Camera placement, cinematography, etc are now at the fore much, much more than just ShootBang. The reason Resi and Resi2 are so beloved is because they're so well directed...
Every frame/room angle/is considered by itself and as a whole, and as such the game lives and dies on the atmosphere generated in those rooms as much as the enemies and the puzzles. Mikami and Kamiya, and their teams, were masters of this.
And just as there are good directors, there are bad directors, and a lot of PS1 style games feel like the rash of found footage movies after Blair Witch: the approach is the same, the understanding and skill is not. Anyway @andihero made me think of this so blame him
To follow up: one of the reasons that the various unreleased alpha/beta stuff from Resi, from simple angle changes in rooms to whole different concepts, are still so popular is that it represents different, definitive authorial intent from what we got. And in Resi, that's massive
In Resi you're both the star AND the director, or maybe the editor: you both flex the muscles on-screen and, one way or another, choose what we see next. So that simple angle change, and associated enemy placement/combat, ripples throughout the rest of the game. OK back to work
