Imageboards from Project Zwei.

Famitsu.com has posted an expanded transcript of the Shinji Mikami interview that appeared in Weekly Famitsu earlier the week. This is the same interview where we first learned of the Tango Gameworks' first project, which is codenamed Zwei.

All we've seen from Zwei so far is a collage of image boards. It's too bad that Tango is holding back on the screens, as Mikami expressed confidence in the visuals.

Said Mikami about the game's current state of development, "At present, we've at last cleared the initial phase. Regarding art creation, we're already getting a very good atmosphere. We're extremely confident about the graphics this time. Of course, we can't recreate the same quality as shown in these image boards, but we can deliver game screens with atmosphere that is close to this. There are still mountains of inadequate areas, though, so we'll have to work with the designers on brushing these up."

Mikami shares a quotable about Project Zwei.

Mikami also shared some details about how the Zwei project began. Planning first began at the end of 2010. Mikami and his team spent the following New Years in a cooling off period, then started off the year looking at the project from an objective eye. They felt that what they had would work.

The Zwei name is just a codename. Famitsu asked if the title has been finalized, but Mikami responded that it's still undecided (based off his response, this does not seem to be a case of holding back on the info -- the name appears to actually not be set). Zwei, which Mikami noted means "2" in German, has hardly anything to do with the game's content. "It just sounds cool."

So we know Zwei will be survival horror. Famitsu asked Mikami what this means to him. Survival horror, responded Mikami, is something that is created atop a fine balance between the fear players feel and the feeling of accomplishment they feel of overcoming that fear with their own power. It's not just about scaring the player, but it is, as the name says, "survival horror." When thinking of horror games as entertainment, the ability to overcome and crush the fear with your own hands is the thrill of games. For Mikami, this thinking is something that has not changed since he made the original Resident Evil.

With Zwei, Mikami said that he's aiming for "pure survival horror," something that brings together all the elements that he considers survival horror.

The basic settings for the game are around half way complete, said Mikami. Asked how things look at present, Mikami replied that everything seems fine right now because there aren't any bugs yet. While he said this with a laugh, there was actually some truth to the statement, as Mikami added that he and his staff are spending time and effort on the basic settings to form a solid foundation for the game -- in other words, no bugs (or issues) in the settings.

As we mentioned in our writeup from earlier in the week, Mikami did not share a platform for the game. However, he did say that he expects it to be released on HD consoles.