The game was developed simultaneously with and the people who worked on the game were not involved with the development of. The development team chose to develop the game for the because they felt that its could produce a 'tense, scary experience with a realistic atmosphere that could make players feel like there could be something lurking around every corner.' The developers decided to give the game an episodic structure with short and varied chapters to make it suitable for playing on a. The Raid mode was designed so that players could 'bring the game to their friend's house and enjoy it with friends face to face, as they talk.'
The developer's main goal was to bring back the content and horror of the series' roots, while at the same time trying to modernize the gameplay. A cruise ship was chosen as the main setting of the game because it could provide claustrophobic corridors and make the player helpless in the middle of the ocean. The ship's main hall was inspired by the opera house in Paris.
To increase the horror aspect of the game, enemies were designed to moan and emit terrifying sounds even before being spotted by the player. Nakanishi remarked that this mechanic allows players to determine which enemies are coming for them from their sound alone.