Resident Evil creator’s new studio teases first game

Resident Evil and The Evil Within creator Shinji Mikami’s new studio, Unbound Inc., has joined Shift Up, the developer behind Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: Nikke. The two companies announced their partnership on Wednesday in a video that offers strong hints about Mikami’s next game.

Mikami, who serves as founder and CEO of Unbound, says he’s “actively creating and producing a new game title” and that he’s been “fully involved on-site” in developing what he describes as a “large game.”

“I think you can expect a lot from us soon,” he says.

Based on the content of the video announcement for Unbound and Shift Up’s partnership, it certainly looks like Mikami is working on a new horror game. While the video presents a tour of Unbound’s Tokyo-based office and offers soundbites from the studio’s game developers, those scenes are filled with terrifying-looking creatures skulking in the backgrounds: winged demons, imps, and what appears to be a “biblically accurate angel.” Even a team dinner shows staff about to dine on a horrifying anglerfish.

Mikami is best known for the games he created while working at Capcom in the ’90s and ’00s. Mikami served as director on the original Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4, and as producer on games like Devil May Cry and Dino Crisis. He left Capcom in 2006 to co-found PlatinumGames, where he directed Vanquish. The veteran game designer then formed Tango Gameworks in 2010, where he directed and produced games The Evil Within, Hi-Fi Rush, and Ghostwire: Tokyo.

Unbound was founded in May 2023, after Mikami left Tango Gameworks. According to the company’s website, Unbound aims to “grow into a team of around 100 people, and to be deeply involved from the inception of a new original IP project aimed at a worldwide audience.” Shift Up says it has completed the acquisition of Unbound by acquiring all the company’s shares as of April 1.

Unbound says it’s working on a “high-end” original IP project powered by Unreal Engine 5 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox platforms.