Resident Evil devs monitored players' brainwaves to ensure their free-to-play spin-off was sufficiently scary, which is weird because almost no one thinks it's scary

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2. Survival Horror Games
3. Resident Evil
4. Resident Evil Requiem

Resident Evil devs monitored players' brainwaves to ensure their free-to-play spin-off was sufficiently scary, which is weird because almost no one thinks it's scary News By Jordan Gerblick published 10 February 2026

By all accounts, Resident Evil Survival Unit is not sufficiently scary

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When the free-to-play mobile spinoff Resident Evil Survival Unit quietly launched last November, I distinctly remember a lack of chatter around it. Resident Evil is one of my all-time favorite franchises, and even though it looked, smelled, and quacked like a generic mobile game wearing a Resident Evil skin, I still had to know if it was any good. And from what little I could find online, that did not appear to be the case, and so I quickly moved and forgot about it.

Now here I am, writing a story about how its developers literally monitored play testers' brainwaves to make sure the game was sufficiently scary, and suddenly I'm scratching my head wondering if I'm thinking of the right game. But no, it's the same poorly reviewed mobile game from South Korea-based studio JOYCITY, and it's most definitely not considered a scary game.

Regardless, in an interview with This Is Game (machine-translated by Automaton) JOYCITY business lead Jun Seung Park said the developers wanted to make sure the game was "objectively scary."

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"We conducted a bio-signal-based focus group test, monitoring players' brainwaves, eye movements and pulse to objectively measure their levels of tension and immersion," said Seung Park. "Even if we received positive responses through surveys, looking at actual bio-signals could lead to a different conclusion. Through this data, we obtained meaningful results that helped us adjust the fear levels and immersion."

The only way I can make this make sense is by looking at it with the context that it's a machine-translated interview and that perhaps things were lost in translation. And to be fair, it sounds like game starts out like a pretty traditional, and competent, Resident Evil experience with mobile controls, but according to almost every review I've scrubbed through, it then turns into a pretty standard base-building mobile game, gacha mechanics and all, just with officially licensed Resident Evil vibes. Count me out.

Resident Evil Requiem has "a different kind of replay value" than the rest of the series, director says: you can use Leon to steamroll the zombies you're too scared to deal with as Grace

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES Mobile Gaming Platforms Jordan GerblickSocial Links Navigation

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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