The player controls Ethan Winters from a first-person perspective as he searches a derelict estate for his missing wife.[1][2] Although Ethan is a civilian with few combat skills,[3] he is able to arm himself with a variety of weapons including handguns, shotguns, flamethrowers, explosives and chainsaws[4] against the estate's residents, the Baker family, as well as humanoid fungal creatures known as the "Molded" and mutated insects. He can block attacks to reduce damage. Various sections of the game are spent being pursued by members of the Baker family, who, if engaged in combat, can only be temporarily incapacitated. However, these encounters are avoidable by means of stealth, or running away.[5][6]
Unlike Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, the gameplay emphasizes horror and exploration over action.[3][7] The inventory uses a grid-based system with an initial capacity of 12 slots, but may be expanded several times over the course of the game. An item can occupy up to two spaces, and four items may be assigned to the D-pad. Item boxes found in save rooms may be used to manage and store items, and can be retrieved from different item boxes for later use.[5][8] Items in the inventory can be used, examined, or combined with other items to increase their usefulness.[9] Many of the game's puzzles require that items be examined under certain conditions in order to reveal secrets.[10] Tape recorders can be used to manually save the game's progress, which, depending on the given difficulty level, may require the use of a cassette tape.[5][11] Videotapes are scattered for Ethan to find, which place the player in the perspective of a different character, often revealing plot information or clues needed to solve a puzzle.[5][12] The PlayStation 4 version is playable in virtual reality using the PlayStation VR headset.[13][14]
Items can be unlocked by completing various in-game objectives (i.e. beating the game in a certain time or on a specific difficulty); these items will then show up in the item box on subsequent playthroughs. These items include glasses that point out the location of items, a powerful handgun, a circular saw, shoes that increase walking speed, and scrolls that decrease damage taken while guarding, among others.
