Mikami: 'There aren't any real survival horror games in the world right now'

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami has said he is returning to the survival horror genre because it has become too focused on action in recent years.

"For me, personally, why I came back to survival horror is that survival horror as a genre is becoming all action now. There aren't any real survival horror games in the world right now. That is the biggest motivation for me," said Mikami to IGN following the announcement of The Evil Within.

"Having the player pick up the controller and being genuinely able to say 'Wow, I haven't played a game this scary in ages!', that is what we are after. That is the main thing we are focused on," he added.

Tango Gameworks, the studio helmed by Mikami, is aiming for The Evil Within to be a classic survival horror title for current and next-gen consoles. A 2014 release is planned.

After helping to popularise the survival horror genre with the first Resident Evil, Mikami also helped trigger its action-oriented reinvention with Resident Evil 4.

Mikami also set up The Evil Within's story, which features three detectives arriving at an asylum after a mass murder. The lead detective is knocked unconscious and awakens in a different location, unaware of where he is.

The game's weapons will include handguns, knives, and axes, and players will also be able to set traps for enemies. But "heavy weapons" such as machine guns will not feature.

Art director Naoki Katakai added that "I think one of the things people want from Shinji Mikami is a horror game, but since there aren't very many really satisfying horror games anymore we wanted to make a game that we felt was satisfying, that we felt was scary."