Resident Evil Village Review [RE4 + RE7 = GREAT HORROR-ACTION GAME?]
I know what you're thinking...is Resident Evil Village worth visiting? Is it worth your time and money? Is it 'worth it' as they say on the internet. Let our Resident Evil Village Review (spoiler-free) help you decide!
Synopsis
Set a few years after the horrifying events in the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 7 biohazard, the all-new storyline begins with Ethan Winters and his wife Mia living peacefully in a new location, free from their past nightmares. Just as they are building their new life together, tragedy befalls them once again.
The Good
This is more Resident Evil then Resident Evil 7 felt overall.
While Ethan is still superman, he feels a little more human this entry, little less generaman. All I'll say is: finish the freaking game.
It's definitely RE4 did the business with RE7, and if that sounds good to you, I think you'll love this game, definitely worth it!
Doll Lady's section is probably the highlight for me, in both imagination, tv/film horror nods and tense setting.
Good overall mixed of challenges and experiences for each house you need to take down!
Beautiful visuals with ray-tracing support, adding to the games setting and immersion
The varied character design is something to behold in this, obviously special shouts to the criminally nerfed Lady Dimitrescu and Doll Lady!
As I get younger and younger, I still find myself appreciating the open-area game more than the over bloated open-world takes, this is the former much like what I remember of RE4!
All voice and set-pieces are carried out well and with panache as you'd expect for Capcom in the modern dev era.
Quality sound and music as ever in an RE, just picking things up is ridiculous audio cue time in the game.
Lots of end-game things to do if you so choose, The Mercenaries mode is fun if you like arcade upgrade get score gameplay. And you can replay the story with things like infinite ammo or new weapon unlocks. You can also unlock a plethora of Concept art (with interesting dev comments), 3d figures and more.
The Bad
Lady Dimitrescu's stalking AI & area movement is very, very limited compared to both Nemesis and Tyrant unfortunately, you can easily juke and get around her because of this. Her stalk pattern is too easy and she's way too slow to cause any real issues in such a big-ass house.
Not a complaint at all, but this has the most easiest bosses in a resi game on normal, at least if you collect all the tings before hand, didn't die once to any of them.
Talking of in-game deaths, you WILL almost definitely get cheesed by some of the insta-death try again stroke multiple times sections, due to having no idea what you're SUPPOSED to do or where to go...
Now, I have to warn, this is a pretty combat-heavy RESI, not in a RE5 kinda way, but definitely more in the vein of RE4 than it is 0-Code Veronica. You have legit upgrades and an economy trade system for a reason. It has much horror and different levels of pacing to mix things up, but you will be f-up a looooot of fools.
The Ugly
A heads-up not to sell certain items like food and some kind of ability to make finding the sometimes tiny speckle gemstones would not have gone a miss and kept the game flowing better for folks that have to have everywhere on the map cerulean!
Performance issues here and therefor me with dialogue desyncing and stutters in places, may be my own setup though but feels somewhat common.
The Score
I was dithering between a 9.5 and a 10, but after finishing and comparing to other entries. Thinking about the addictive nature of wanting to unlock stuff, upgrade stuff, shoot stuff and figure out what the heck is going on all while being pushed from slow-burn intrigue, heart-pounding combat, mid-pace psychological horror to all that's in-between. Combined with the beefy playtime and extra content.
It's only fair this this game gets a rarely given 10/10! Some will disagree due to the combat leanings, but I can only say I enjoyed my time in Village despite most of the time not, if you know what I mean. Well done Capcom. You've done it again, now, where's my Code Veronica Remake, which reminds me, still need to finish that, 4, 5 and 6! Some many games, so little height.
10/10
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