After watching the Resident Evil film directed by Zack Craig, Hideo Kojima stated that the movie felt more like a film about Resident Evil players. The viewing experience reminded him of his feelings when he first played the series.
Hideo Kojima mentioned on social media that he wasn't particularly interested in the film at first, but decided to watch it because it was a new work by Craig. He said the opening background music reminded him of The Thing; from then on, the film continuously featured classic horror scenes, terrifying situations, and jump scares until the very end.
The character Brian in the film reminded Kojima of his experience playing the first Resident Evil game on PlayStation back in 1996. He recalled repeatedly encountering game overs and shouting out in frustration.
The film adopts settings from the game series but does not fully adapt any single installment. GamesRadar described its story as existing on the fringes of the plot related to Resident Evil 2.