When stat tracking is implemented into video games the right way, there isn't much that beats it. I'll always be interested in seeing how many people did some asinine, completely unnecessary thing in any game that pulls me in, and Resident Evil 7 is the latest of those adventures.
If you were wondering what that prompt for Resident Evil.net was at the beginning of Resident Evil 7, then you might be surprised to hear that Capcom has been tracking every player that's accepted it. No, not the scary, dystopian tracking that you see in episodes of Black Mirror or any number of sci-fi movies (we hope). Capcom is instead using the data to visualize some interesting data. For example, at the time of publishing, Resident Evil 7 players have racked up more than 570 years of playtime. And that's not even counting any player that chose not to be tracked.
What's great about the stat-tracking page is that it connects to your account, so it knows how much progress you've made through the story. This means that Capcom hides certain information from you to avoid spoilers; once you've completed certain sections of the game, more stats are revealed to you.
It's funny to see that the vast majority of people aim for a Molded's head when confronted by the gruesome, regenerating monster—at this point, everyone knows exactly how to best take care of Resident Evil's creatures. But not everyone is successful. The Molded is the number one cause of death, claiming responsibility for more than 22 percent of player fatalities.
Capcom has also been tracking how many times the game's lone bra was examined. Players have looked at it more than 600,000 times, but only 43 percent of players have actually done so. With a tracked player count of about 800,000, that means many players have examined the useless bra more than once. You filthy animals.
Of the roughly 800,000 tracked players, about 10 percent of them have played in VR. That makes us particularly sad as no one on PC will get to experience that for themselves until next year.
The last stat I want to share is the number of billiard balls pocketed. If you didn't know you could play billiards, don't worry: you're not alone. I certainly didn't know, and it turns out 99.53 percent of players didn't either. As of publishing time, only 4,424 players played billiards. Now I know exactly what I'm doing next time I load up the game.
There are plenty more stats available on the page, and you can check them all out here.
Resident Evil 7 received a score of 90/100 in PC Gamer's review. Critic Andy Kelly called it "the best Resident Evil in years."
"It takes an industrial pressure washer to the series, blasting off years of accumulated filth and grime," he said. "And you’re left with a lean, polished survival horror that borrows from its legacy, but isn’t afraid to look to modern horror games for inspiration too."
