There were some gamers who were able to obtain their own copies of Resident Evil VII earlier than others, thus it lead to a series of information flooding the internet. There were some spoilers of its story as well as the game's length of ten hours. There were also revelations about the game's difficulty options and it was also emphasized that it has a special setting for those who prefer hardcore survival horror.

Resident Evil VII has a difficulty setting that is called Madhouse, and this is a nod to the games that were previously identified with the earlier games within the franchise. The Madhouse difficulty setting takes the game's difficulty a little bit higher and it removes checkpoints in the game to make the enemies more capable of inflicting harm. Those playing Madhouse difficulty are not able to enjoy the perks of health regeneration especially since there are limited saves, thus players can only save their game's progress once they see a special cassette tape that can be found around the Baker family plantation.

In the older versions of Resident Evil games, there are ink ribbons and now the cassette tape saving mechanic serves as a nod, as reported by Game Rant. Those who are playing Resident Evil game should be assured that even if there were many changes that were made to the franchise formula, Resident Evil VII still possesses the feel of a true Resident Evil game. Those who have already spent years playing the series might want to consider choosing the Madhouse difficulty even if it is not yet sure whether this setting will be available automatically or it might still need to be unlocked through winning on a lower difficulty setting. Resident Evil VII will be released on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on Jan. 24, 2017.