Quick, someone tell Dino Crisis fans to play Monster Hunter because, according to Shinji Mikami, these two franchises scratch the same itch. Or, at least, that’s what the creator of Dino Crisis and Resident Evil is saying.
In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Mikami expressed his surprise at the ongoing enthusiasm for a new Dino Crisis game, suggesting that there’s no reason for such a title right now.
The creator pointed to the overwhelming success of the Monster Hunter franchise as a primary reason for his doubts. According to Mikami, Monster Hunter has cornered the market on dinosaur gaming experiences, leaving little space for a Dino Crisis revival to make its mark, perhaps absent to the fact that Hollywood keeps on making bank with one Jurassic World sequel after another.
To no one’s shock, this comment didn’t sit too well with the internet, and why would it? While Monster Hunter undoubtedly features dinosaur-inspired creatures, both its gameplay and overall experience are fundamentally different from what Dino Crisis offers. Survival horror elements, narrative focus, and atmospheric tension defined the Dino Crisis experience, not looting, grinding, and landing awesome combos on gigantic monsters.
It’s been two decades since the last official entry in the series—longer if you don’t count anything past Dino Crisis 2— yet passionate fans have kept the flame alive through various means, including fan remakes and persistent calls for a revival.
While Monster Hunter’s success, especially following the multiple-platform release of Monster Hunter World, is hard to deny, there’s always room for multiple takes on similar themes. It’s like saying that Tango Gameworks shouldn’t have released The Evil Within because Resident Evil already had that market cornered.
Competition breeds innovation, and without too many survival horror games at the moment, Capcom definitely needs someone else to step up so it can avoid another Resident Evil 6 scenario following its most recent run.
Dino Crisis, or a AAA survival horror game with dinosaurs, wouldn’t be the worst idea. It could even take a page out of Alien: Isolation‘s book and give players a claustrophobic setting with a highly intelligent genetically enhanced velociraptor on the hunt.
However, given that Mikami hasn’t worked for Capcom for just as long as Dino Crisis hasn’t been on the market, it’s not like his comments carry any weight. If anything, it could end up making Capcom realize it should green light a remake.
A modern reimagining of Dino Crisis could potentially capture the original’s spirit in a more contemporary audience-friendly form, much like the critically acclaimed remakes of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4.
If we’re being honest, you can’t really find the same combination of survival horror and prehistoric threats that Dino Crisis brings to the table in any game that’s out at the particular moment.
Ultimately, the only thing clear here is Shinji Mikami doesn’t really want to do a Dino Crisis again, for some reason. Hopefully, Capcom isn’t of the same thinking.
