I liked DLCs for RE7, and I liked this one a lot. I didn't have high expectations for it since I knew there would be many reusing old assets mixed with new mechanics. But in the end, it actually has more than that. The main DLC about Rose nicely closes Ethan's family arc with some touching moments.
Shadows of Rose has some REALLY creepy levels with interesting mechanics, and the final boss is fun.
What's most important to me is that I feel that developers really cared about this expansion and put a lot of work and attention into it. It's a genuinely good DLC.

There's a random file in the opener of this one's Rose campaign that reads:

"To create art, simply add to the rabbits' carcasses. Decay is not an issue. Spruce them up with a bit of makeup, it makes them seem more alive."

???????????? I couldn't have surmised it better myself??? What the hell guys... You're making it too easy.............

OOOH it's your typical 'haunted house' ass rundown of the game and its mechanics in an abridged and overly simplified little package you'd expect from this kinda thing. Has no value past the first playthrough, but I assume we all like Ethan Winters well enough to wanna hang out with his kid for a little bit, so ehhh it's cute for that.

romping through the village engine again just gets me reminiscing hard though. RE4 is SO much more polished and satisfying than this wannabe! What a weird one, huh?

Shadows of Rose is a pretty solid though short expansion to RE: Village. It's not terribly special, and definitely isn't nearly as good as the main game, RE7, or RE2, but it is certainly enjoyable. The story isn't as interesting as I would like since you are just going through some memory world where anything can happen. The enemies that you shoot are pretty boring honestly, and Rose's powers are underwhelming. Honestly the second chapter is what really saves this DLC from mediocrity. It is genuinely pretty creepy, and unique for the RE games.

Rose stuff is cool if a bit short, but that's usually the case with extra story sections in RE games. Love that it's earnestly schlocky without ever falling into irony poisoning over how silly and melodramatic it is. Don't know if I'll go back to try to finish it faster or on harder difficulties but after running through the main game like 9 times now I'm all but burnt out on RE8.

Third person mode also cool and surprisingly enough makes parts of the game way easier. I can go for either or even if I eventually just went back to first person after a couple of runs.

Merc mode stuff I never really touched cause I didn't like it to begin with in this game and I only did enough to get the 30 kills combo for some extra points to get the infinite S.T.A.K.E. in the story mode lmfao. RE5 remains the peak for merc mode.

Pretty good content for the price though. Initially feared it was gonna be like 40 dollars for some reason, but it's only 20.

This review is mainly for the Shadows of Rose DLC. It’s at best, an okay rehashing of assets from the main game. It never reaches Village's highs. I don’t think it adds much to the story, and aside from one segment in House Beneviento that I liked, it doesn’t introduce anything particularly interesting gameplay-wise either. It feels very cobbled together. I know that the devs didn’t initially plan for there to be DLC for Village, and after playing this, that certainly feels like the case. It’s not at all an essential addition to the game, and I kind of regret rushing to buy it instead of waiting for a sale, because even at $20, it doesn’t really feel worth it. Also, there were numerous visual glitches that I ran into on the PC version that, while I didn’t really mind, are still worth noting, because it really adds to the feeling that this was kinda just thrown together.

DLC mileage will vary depending on your enjoyment of the base game and 7. At its core Shadow of Rose has the same things that I dislike about both games. That being the game/story is super geared to the first time playthrough. It's a roller-coaster ride and once you know all the beats you see past the smoke and mirrors making it never as effective as the first time.

The """stealth""" in this dlc gave me flashbacks of the evil within one. Having you awkwardly shimmy around a box crouched trying to see if the monster is look towards you or not. Its like a bad game of game mechanics telephone started with the last of us passed to the evil within then now to re8.

The gameplay itself is fun enough and the set pieces are pretty creative but i can't see myself ever playing this dlc again.

Son oyunda ana karakter Ethan'ın kızı Rose(bebek) kaçırılıyordu. Oyun boyunca bebeği kurtarmaya çalışıyorduk. Bu DLC o olaylardan 16 yıl sonrasında geçiyor. Rose artık ergen. Kendisi bazı güçlere sahip. Bu yüzden okulda "freak" olarak adlandırılıyor. (Halbuki hanım ağa olması gerekiyor.) Normal bir insan:) olmak için güçlerinden kurtulmak istiyor. Birimdeki bir arkadaşı da buna yardım ediyor.

Rose bir mantar aracılığıyla zihin yolculuğuna çıkıyor ve oyun burada başlıyor. Ana oyunun haritaları DLC'de değiştirilmiş şekilde kullanılmış. Çok büyük değişiklikler olan bölümler de var. Hikâye anlatımı için tatlı ve uygun bir yol tercih edilmiş.
Ana oyunun oynanışı ilk bölümlerde mevcut. Sonradan Rose'un güçlerini kullanmaya başlıyoruz. Bu güçlerin ana odağı mantarların kapattığı yerleri açmak, bir de düşmanları yavaşlatıp güçsüz bırakmak. Çünkü Rose zayıf bir karakter. İki sıkımlık canı var. Açıkçası mantığa uyduğu için bu fikri sevdim.
Bölüm tasarımı klasik Resi. Yine şahane. Anlatmaya gerek yok.

Sonraki bölümlerde silah gücü oyuncunun elinden alınıyor. Bir anda korku oyununa dönüyor. Bir kısımda bakmazsan harekete geçen mankenler kullanılmış. Özgün değil ama çok doğru noktada kullanılmış. En korkunç Resi sekanslarından biri olabilir.

Oyunun bu ikinci yarısı çok sinematik olmuş. Yani oynanış anlamında çok sinematik. Gizlilik var ama oyuna uygun değil. Sürekli Escape sekansları var. Bunlar çok fazla ve anlamsız şekilde zor. Escape sekansına zorluk konulmaz ki. Çünkü sinematik bir alan orası. Öldüğünde en baştan başlıyorsun. Aynı animasyonları defalarca izliyorsun. Yeni bir şey olmuyor ki.
Saklambaç kısımlarındaki gizlilik de tatmin edici değildi.

Hikâye sunumu güzel ama klişe. Mantar aracılığıyla zihin aktarımı fikri hoşuma gitti. Bir de karakterlerin hikâyesi noktalanmış oldu.

Shadows of Rose was nice. A bit mysterious (not talking about who Michael turns out to be...) in its set-up, and doesn't really deliver all that much. Mixed feelings: Would've loved the ending stinger to be a little different, but it was a nice "now you know" kinda rewatch.

The struggle of Rose is a familiar trope, so not much to say about her as a character. She's nice. Noorderburen actress slaying it.

Was nice to revisit the castle and to see The Duke in a different light as a Phantom Thief of Hearts. Mould creatures were a little clustered at first, but after you unlock the Rose powers it becomes a cakewalk. Overall it goes relatively quick. House Beneviento had a great atmosphere. Takes a little longer to learn the routes of -THAT- segment. Nice to see they can still add new things. The final leg of the house is really well done. A lot of Little Nightmares vibes.

Village section was short, but the whole buildup to the end was pretty sweet. The way you traverse in these worlds was also fun to watch. Idk if we're finally wrapping up the storylines from RE7 now, but it feels a little hamfisted in. Final boss is a bit clunky and takes too long if you, like me, forget to read the prompts. Once you figure out all your options it is so incredibly easy.

Overall: It was a fun return after me not playing it for the last 3 months. Saw some old favorites and had new mechanics that really fit the world of Village. Plot was a little lacking and we didn't really get any answers to the questions people were wondering. But it's a cool set-up for Rose as a character. Can't wait to see what is (and if there is anything) in store for her next.

Initially a fantastic showing, with effectively crafted scares even with the shift to 3rd person. The DLC expansion unfortunately falls apart in the second half, ending abruptly, and with much of the potentially interesting ideas complacently explained away on collectible documents towards the very end of the DLC. Asset re-use is incredibly prevalent here, and it's a twin-edged sword. The repurposing of RE8's content to play with expectations and craft new experiences is great, but it comes at the cost of not feeling particularly invigoratingly new.

The claustrophobic corridors of many of RE8's repurposed environments are both a help and hinderance in the enjoyment of this new content. Proximity based button prompts were already an issue in the base game's original first person mode, and this problem is exacerbated in third person. Third person camera made some sections tense in ways that are completely unique to this content, but I can also see the case where someone would argue this would undercut tension by being able to check around corners. For the most part, the transition between perspectives has worked well (even if the environments were not originally designed for this greater field of view and freer camera control.

Clocking in at roughly 3 hours of play time on my end (and I took what felt like a slower jaunt through this DLC than others) this expansion feels overpriced currently. This is particularly true if you have no interest in playing the base game in 3rd Person or in new Mercenaries content. If the Shadows of Rose DLC had been purchasable separately at somewhere closer to $8 instead of $16, it'd be an easier recommend.

I've only briefly messed around with the new Mercenaries content. Punching things as Chris is entertaining enough. What strikes me as somewhat bizarre is how buying this expansion pack only offers you the chance to play as the Lords from the base game - dependent on your skill ceiling and ability to score highly - rather than simply letting you use the characters you have just shelled out over $15 for.

All in all, fine enough content - but lower expectations and maybe wait for a sale or to simply purchase the Gold Edition of RE8 if you have yet to buy the game at all.

Only took a bit over 2.5 hours for the new story. Would have liked it to be a tiny bit meatier, even just another hour.

What we did get from the new story is cool though. They use it's concept to find weird creepy stuff it wouldn't make sense to do otherwise. The story gives a good conclusion to the Winters family's story in the RE games.

Some new additions to the gameplay can feel a bit clunky here unfortunately but otherwise it's an enjoyable experience overall

I mean it's alright...

I took advantage of the DLC and replayed the entire Village campaign in third person, it didn't really add too much to my previous experience other than taking some of the "scare" out of the game, which was kind of interesting in an of itself. That being said though, you can tell this game was 100% intended for a first person perspective and a lot of the self discovery between story beats didn't hit quite as hard, not really close. Other moments like traversal on foot and in the boat felt a little awkward, especially the latter which didn't feel like it was animated correctly for the third person perspective. It was fun replaying the game though as this is easily my favorite RE entry and took a quick six hours to complete. I streamed it for friends and it was a good time, made even moreso by the third person perspective's lack of fear factor, making it spectator friendly for the non-horror inclined. RE8 is a fantastic game, but I think the new camera perspective removes a good bit of what makes the game "special."

After beating the campaign again I moved onto the Shadows of Rose DLC and I expected, something better honestly. Revisiting the locations from the first two bosses of the main game is on paper okay, but didn't feel very fun in the expansion. Even though you've got different objectives and the enemies you're fighting/dealing with are not the same as in base Village, the entire loop and locations repeat which makes it feel like a rehashed experience. Rose is an interesting character and I'd love to see more out of her in the RE franchise, but I felt that the story didn't do her character justice. Maybe I had the wrong expectations going in but this wasn't as fun for me as RE7's "Not a Hero" DLC which was short, but fundamentally different from the main game. My takeaway is more like mine for "End of Zoe" was, which also re-used a lot of the same scenery and gameplay loop, but to a far lesser extent than Shadows of Rose. I really digged some of the horror elements (like the mannequins that were Doctor Who-esque) and would love to see Rose again in a scenario like that, but that may be wishful thinking.

In all, I would recommend this to RE8 fans for some closure, but only if they are adament that they'd like more.

This wasn't really worth it for me. I don't think the 3rd person mode works for this game. It doesn't ruin it, but why would you play it if 1st person works better?

For Mercenaries, I wanted to try Dimitrescu just for fun but turns out you need to spend hours to unlock a character that you already paid for.

Shadows of Rose was the only interesting part, but it's just revisiting zones of the original game, not even all of them. The only really good part was Beneviento's House.

Overall I wouldn't recommend getting this at full price, wait for a discount.

Third Person Mode: Didn't enjoy it, it actually made feel sick.

Mercenaries: Enjoying this mode so much more now. Chris is so fucking fun, I LOVE punching the shit out shit. Heisenburg is pretty cool. Demitrescu is really interesting and fun. All the characters are fun and their kits are put together well.

Shadows of Rose: The first part is fine, a little annoying and I kind of don't like playing Dead By Daylight with the enemies and Boss. The second part is dope because it probably has the best iteration of the "Don't look away" enemy type I've seen, AND you get to be small. The final boss is a little clunky on keyboard, but fulfills my desires of doing cool powers. The story definitely doesn't fill me up as much as the main game, but I can imagine it if it did.

Having to crouch to fit into normal rooms as Lady Dimitrescu made me giggle, Heisenberg and Chris are cool but she's definitely the best part of this expansion and gives that Dead By Daylight-esque dumb fun of being this tall, powerful thing without getting bullied by people with 1000 hours in the game. Think her and Bayonetta would be friends irl. Was not expecting to get much from the Mercenaries stuff since I barely touched it in the base game but I'm really enjoying it and I can't imagine playing without this expansion stuff.

Shadows of rose kind of sucks though. It has Castle Dimitrescu again without the charm of the Dimitrescus and House Beneviento again with an ok twist before descending into just feeling silly from a horror perspective and a bit messy from a gameplay one.

If it wasn't for the mercenaries stuff I wouldn't recommend this, but that mercenaries stuff is really fun so I'm kind of 50/50. Probably best to wait for a sale.

(i've also still to check out the main campaign in third person which i may or may not idk i'll see)

Pros:
- More time spent in the gloriously immersive world of Resident Evil Village.
- Wraps up the Ethan Winters story nicely.
- Creative implementation of Rose's power set and a smattering of standout new enemy types (the mannequins that only move when you are facing away from them)...

Cons:
- ...the mould creatures are still just fodder.
- The two main set piece sequences are essentially remixed versions of sequences seen in the main game.
- Final boss fight can be a little clunky.

While Shadows of Rose doesn’t quite take Village to the next level, it’s kind of insane that they were able to create something worthwhile out of so many reused assets.

It’s a bite-size campaign that condenses and simplifies the RE8 experience: key hunting, some puzzles, some shooting, an unbelievably scary bit, and a bombastic/very Japanese final boss fight. Not groundbreaking, but it works despite obvious conveniences.

I was invested in the Shadows of Rose story, but the dialogue can be corny and overwrought. The Mercenaries additions are neat (play as boulder boy, booba lady, and neckbeard!), although I still wish it were more like Mercenaries from RE4. Third person is a welcome inclusion but isn’t entirely necessary (aside from getting people to stop asking for it). If you enjoyed RE8, it’s likely you’ll enjoy this, but you probably knew that going in.

I personally love Village and am glad to have more of it, but part of me wishes they would have created tons of all-new environments and weapons and enemies and made it a full game… and called it Resident Evil 9.

But that’s a lot to ask from a $20 DLC.