14 DAY TRIAL // Resident Evil 6 initially used just one core character from the history of the series, but one piece of artwork was enough to convince the Capcom team that both Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield could be included in the same title.
Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who is the executive producer working on Resident Evil 6, told Eurogamer that, “Leon Kennedy was going to be the main character at first. But Sasaki-san approached me and asked if Chris Redfield could be put in as well.
“I was against this idea at first - we just had him as the main character in Resident Evil 5, and I didn't think it would be a draw for people if it was just the same character that we had before.”
The team finally decided that both characters could be part of the game when concept art was produced, both pointing weapons at each other in apparent hostility.
The development team at Capcom plans to create a game that will be much more ambitious than any previous installment and that can easily be seen in the three storylines which start off in different areas at different times and then mix in order to converge to China and a dramatic conclusion.
The fact that Leon, Chris and newcomer Jake Muller, son of Albert Wesker, have a companion that complements their own abilities and that offers cooperative opportunities also shows the ambitions that Capcom has for the Resident Evil 6 world and story.
The three characters also offer a number of different takes on the horror genre, with Eiichiro Sasak, a director working on the game, adding, “What we're trying to do with Leon, for example, is a real recreation of gothic horror style.
“Some people would say we're trying to recreate Resident Evil 1, but that wouldn't be accurate - Resident Evil had its own sense of horror. This feels more like the horror you're used to in the original, but we're taking it in a new direction.”
Resident Evil 6 will arrive earlier than initially expected on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC.