Hideki Kamiya is so scared of Resident Evil Requiem that he can’t sleep
Odd detail: the director of the original Resident Evil 2, Hideki Kamiya, confessed via a post that the new entry terrifies him to the point of sleepless nights. He even floated the idea of a “non-scary mode” for Resident Evil Requiem.
Kamiya brought it up while chatting with people at his studio Clovers; the convo didn’t stay dry. He said he’d rather skip the horror bits, focusing on puzzles and combat instead. One of the devs pushed back, arguing that removing the fright would strip the series of its core. Kamiya shrugged it off with a joke — he wants the systems, not the screams.
だからさー…「怖くないモード」を作って下さいよ… ゾンビが可愛くなって、血しぶきも花吹雪になって、音楽もウキウキする感じの曲になって、楽しい気分でパズルやバトルだけを純粋に遊べるやつ… 遊びたいのに怖くて夜一人で眠れなくなるから遊べないんですよ…そういう人の気持ち考えて… — 神谷英樹🍀 Hideki Kamiya🍀 (@HidekiKamiya_X)
He also admitted a small frustration: he’d like to play Resident Evil Requiem, but the horror element literally keeps him up — he can’t sleep alone afterward. That’s the sort of confession you don’t expect from a creator of scares.
Meanwhile, the game’s numbers are hard to ignore: ~5M copies sold in under a week and a new peak for concurrent players on Steam for the franchise. Commercial hits don’t mute the personal panic, though — success and sleeplessness can coexist.
Kamiya is, in parallel, working with Clovers on the sequel to Okami.