Over the years, the Resident Evil series has undergone a variety of transformations, continually challenging itself to create fresh gameplay experiences while still holding on to its core elements.
Resident Evil Village
Gameplay - An Evolution of Fear
The gameplay in Resident Evil Village manages to stray from its predecessor yet still capture the elements that made it great. The developers have intriguingly experimented with combining striking elements of action and survival horror. The game maintains the first-person perspective introduced in Resident Evil 7 but takes a different approach, focusing less on horror and more on action. While the movements may feel somewhat slow, the game has been finely tuned to heighten tension and survival, depending on your surroundings.
Graphics - Visual Spectacle
The environments in Resident Evil Village are breathtakingly gorgeous, with a detailed and immersive world that constantly keeps you guessing what lurks behind every corner. The game effectively uses its visually stunning graphics to create an atmosphere filled with suspense, amplified by the uncertainty of what monster you might encounter next.
Features - A Homage to the Best
The variety of enemies and challenges sprinkled throughout the game can be directly linked to past Resident Evil games, combining them in a new light to provide an interesting experience. However, in its focus on variety, the game can sometimes take a somewhat over-the-top turn, specifically in the last hour. Though action-packed, these moments detract from the atmospheric tension built up in the game and feel more akin to an entirely different game.
Woven Storytelling
The story unfolds three years after Resident Evil 7, with the protagonist Ethan Winters waking up after a car crash and wandering into a village overrun by werewolves, reminiscent of the start of Resident Evil 4. However, the game stumbles in the connection of the overarching RE franchise, making it feel a bit tacked on and disjointed.
Conclusion - A Worthy Mutation
From its predecessor, Resident Evil 7's return to pure horror, Resident Evil Village takes a bold step in redefining the action elements of the franchise while subtly maintaining the series' horror roots. Even though the game loses track in its latest stages and lacks coherence in the franchise's larger narrative, the varied gameplay and beautifully detailed world make Resident Evil Village a beast of its own making.
- Beautiful and detailed graphics
- Intelligent mix of action and survival horror
- Varied gameplay mimicking the best of previous games
- Potentially disjointed narrative with franchise-wide connections
- Last stages can feel out of sync with the rest of the game
- Might seem too dissimilar to players fond of RE7's pure horror
