Mikami: Shadows Of The Damned Broke Suda51's Heart

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Shadows of the Damned was a good game. We thought it was the positive result of an all-star Japanese collaboration at Grasshopper Manufacture.

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami teamed up with another industry icon, Suda51 (Killer7, No More Heroes), and they brought in Silent Hill sound director Akira Yamaoka, too. But in a recent CVG interview, Mikami said that despite decent critical acclaim, Shadows was very much not the game Suda51 wanted to make.

Here was the somewhat surprising response to the question, "Did Shadows of the Damned, your collaboration with Suda51, turn out as you'd initially intended?"

"No, it became a completely different game. That was a bit disappointing. I think Suda was unable to create the scenario he'd originally had in his head,and he rewrote the scenario several times. I think his heart was broken. He's such a unique creator, so it seems to me that he was not quite comfortable with making this game."

Interestingly enough, Mikami added that if the game had turned out the way his colleague wanted, "it probably would have sold even less." It still would've been "unique," though. As a side note, Mikami added that he didn't play Resident Evil 5 until last year; he just couldn't bring himself to play the first RE with which he wasn't involved. As for his stance on the franchise continuing on without him:

"I'm not especially happy or sad about it. I think they're working very hard on it. The guys at Capcom are working hard."

He's not sure he'll play it, either. But anyway, it's interesting to hear that Shadows wasn't what Suda51 wanted. ...wonder what he did want.

Related Game(s): Shadows of the Damned

Tags: shinji mikami, suda51, shadows of the damned, grasshopper manufacture

7/17/2012 9:35:24 AM Ben Dutka

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