This Resident Evil 8 Village (PS5) review contains minor spoilers…
For the series first next-gen outing, Resident Evil Village puts us back in the shoes of unlucky everyman Ethan Winters. Ethan is living in Europe with wife Mia and baby daughter Rosemary. He’s trying to move on from the horrific events of Resident Evil 7, but it’s a struggle. And there seems to be a growing rift between Ethan and Mia. That’s when supposed ally Chris Redfield appears one night and inexplicably kills Mia.
Sticking with the first-person perspective established in the previous game, Ethan watches as his child is taken away. He soon awakens in a creepy, folklore-inspired village and his quest to save Rose and find out why Chris killed Mia begins. Initially, Resident Evil Village seems to be following in the footsteps of its terrifying predecessor. But before long, the true horror that returned the Resident Evil series to form 4 years ago is diluted. As the action-heavy elements of Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 creep in, I got the feeling that Capcom couldn’t quite decide what they wanted Resident Evil Village to be. While the end result is great fun and undeniably engaging, it’s a muddled affair that misses the mark as often as it hits.
Resident Evil Village Review: Gameplay
Mechanically speaking, Resident Evil 8 Village is a similar experience to its predecessor. The first-person gameplay adds to the scares and helps ramp up the tension in some of the game’s tighter spaces and long, winding corridors. During Village‘s early moments, Ethan wields a small knife and handgun. You acquire other, far more powerful weapons relatively quickly, and add a shotgun to your arsenal less than an hour in. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with providing weapons like this, it gave me a sense of solace. I suddenly wasn’t so concerned about the mutant werewolves stalking me as a couple of shells were enough to dispatch the average foe.
Combat
As you approach Resident Evil Village‘s first major area – Castle Dimitrescu – you encounter The Duke. Essentially, he acts as a travelling shop for the player. You can buy supplies from him and upgrade your weapons. He’ll even cook you different meals to improve various stats. This is all fairly run-of-the-mill stuff, but its inclusion in Village made the game feel far more ‘action-adventure’ than ‘survival horror’. Even without The Duke, ammo is in abundance and you’re rarely without any. So having the ability to buy more at regular intervals made me feel far more comfortable pumping as many bullets as I could into enemies.
For the most part, combat boils down to three things. Block, dodge, and shoot. If any enemy gets too close, just put your arms up to block the attack. If they make a swipe for you and you don’t have chance to block, just take a step back or to the side. And, of course, remember to shoot them in the head. While this formula isn’t anything new or different for video games, Resident Evil Village is clunky and cumbersome at times. That’s not to say it’s bad by any stretch – the combat is perfectly passable. But it’s not particularly suited to the game’s more fast-paced, action-orientated approach.
Boss fights
Speaking of Village‘s somewhat clunky gunplay – it doesn’t lend itself to the big, over-the-top boss fights either. These mostly involved firing off as many rounds or explosives as possible. And because that stuff isn’t great in Village, the boss fights felt a bit awkward. It doesn’t help that bosses are (mostly) just huge mutants. While I understand the place these encounters have in this series, it’s a shame something more original couldn’t have been done with these intriguing characters.
Puzzles
The puzzles leave a lot to be desired in Resident Evil Village. Some of them are insultingly simple and unimaginative. If the a solution isn’t immediately obvious, a few moments to think about it is ample. You’ll get the job done in no time and swiftly move on. Capcom could’ve done better in this department.
Resident Evil Village Review: Setting
The village in Resident Evil 8 doubles as a semi open-world. But in the wide-open village, the game loses some of that P.T inspired magic. There’s lots of back and forth, too. You might need to find an item or solve a puzzle and have to head back the way you came to do it. That’s fine. But the first-person perspective isn’t as effective when revisiting areas you just cleared. It’s at its best when peering round corners in a dimly lit building – and there’s a good chunk of that. However, it’s not what you spend most of your time doing.
Castle Dimitrescu is undoubtedly a highlight of the game, as is its owner Lady Dimitrescu. It’s obvious why Capcom chose to publicise this area and character above everything else. The castle is a delight to explore – a maze of sorts, with discoveries to be made in every room and round every corner. The village itself is a unique setting, and wandering around its empty streets was both eerie and disorientating. Encountering the remnants of animal sacrifice was grim, and hearing a twig break or door creak behind me raised the hairs on the back of my neck more than once.
House Beneviento – the home of Donna Beneviento and her puppet Angie – is another standout area. For anyone keen for more of what Resident Evil 7 did so well, this is about as close as Village gets to delivering that. Unfortunately, the areas subsequent to this are distinctly ordinary in video game terms. You can’t fault Capcom for trying to make each area unique by mixing things up. But the generic action and constant stream of enemies in the latter half of the game just wasn’t as interesting.
Resident Evil Village Review: Story
I’ll do my best to keep this light on spoilers. So without going into too much detail, Resident Evil 8 Village‘s story is a mixed bag. There are some really special moments that encouraged me to push through, especially early on. There are also meaningful – if slightly shoehorned – callbacks to previous games. Although at times it felt like I was merely going through the motions to get to the next story beat. Almost like an ‘on-the-rails’ experience. After all, this isn’t a long game. I rolled credits after about 9 hours. There were a couple of optional areas I didn’t visit, and I didn’t acquire every treasure. However, the plot does move quickly and would feel stretched if the game were any longer. With that said, I would’ve liked to learn more about Village‘s key characters – primarily the four lords and Mother Miranda.
Mother Miranda comes off as an afterthought and obligatory ‘final boss’. There’s very little in the way of character development for her, and she is unquestionably the least interesting of the game’s top baddies. Chris’ parts – while brief – are OK and move things along nicely. There’s a long-ish segment at the end of the game involving Chris that shifts the tone of Village completely. This bit has already divided fans, and I can understand why. I didn’t mind it, but it wasn’t really what I wanted from Village. I felt that it sort-of diminished all the trials and tribulations up to that point. Once you reach Resident Evil 8‘s conclusion, you should have a good idea where Capcom want to take the series next. It’s a fine idea, if a bit obvious and by-the-book. Although it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
Resident Evil Village Review: Verdict
Capcom were in a tough spot with Resident Evil 8 Village. After Resident Evil 7, lots of fans were clamouring for more true horror. Others felt that it pulled the series too far from the successful action/horror formula established by Resident Evil 4. And now we’ve got a combination of both and the result is… a good game. Good but not great. There’s lots to like in Village – a fantastic setting, fun characters, and a mysterious story. But a sudden shift towards generic, run-and-gun gameplay and seemingly endless battles with droves of bullet-sponge enemies waters the whole thing down. In trying to capture the best of both worlds, Resident Evil Village is a game of two halves. And they are equally hindered by their jarring differences and incompatible foundations.
Overall rating: 7/10
Version played: PS5
Do you agree with our Resident Evil Village review? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other gaming articles…
–
Featured Image Credit: Capcom
