This review contains spoilers
After eight Resident Evil games in a row that were okay at best and downright atrocious at worst (RE5 and the Revelations games were probably the highlights of that era, but that's not saying much) it's fairly satisfying to play a Resident Evil game that was not just good, but outstanding. Almost every single moment of this game had my heart pounding out of my chest. A return to not only survival horror game design but also what made Resident Evil as a franchise scary to begin with, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a triumph in horror gaming. Simply referring to RE7 as a return to form for the series, while true, is selling the game short, as it presents a plethora of original and unique concepts for the series as well.
On a gameplay level, RE7 feels exceptional to play. Resource management, fight or flight, and frequent puzzles are all back and in full swing, feeling almost exactly like the old-school games, just from a first-person perspective. The change in perspective proves beneficial too, as never before have you had to face your enemies so up close and personal. The weapon balance is absolutely perfect, with your pistols, shotguns, and more feeling powerful enough to be essential defense tools, yet weak enough to prove that you can't blast yourself out of every situation. Even in normal mode, the game provides a hearty challenge and oftentimes you will be running dry on ammo up until late game even if you're conservative with your resources. Although the game is admittedly somewhat short on enemy variety, I consider this a minimal issue considering the threat represented by the molded. Unlike the zombies of old, they don't just slowly shamble towards you, they make a mad dash and clobber you to death. This not only makes them highly dangerous but also necessitates mastery of the new block mechanic to survive. Player movement is another thing I'd like to praise, as I find Ethan's speed to be perfect for a horror game. It's not so slow as to ruin exploration but not fast enough to easily outrun enemies, and it's horrifying knowing that one is on your tail and you can't just easily sprint away. Item crafting actually feels like a core mechanic of the game, rather than tacked on like Revelations 2, with crafting itself requiring resources simply to perform the act rather than just the resources of whatever you needed to make.
Even the boat and mine sequences, areas that even fans of the game regularly criticize, I found to be much better than I anticipated. Although the boat sequence starts fairly slow, the moment you get a weapon it comes up to the pace of the rest of the game. The mine sequence turns into a molded blastfest, but that's just the structure of every Resident Evil game, so I find it hard to find fault in that.
If there's any complaint I have gameplay-wise, is that as cool and unique as the puzzles often are, the game too often seems to have little faith in the player and spells them out for you. The biggest example is the clock puzzle, where you have to find the correct time for a small, desktop clock by looking at the clock in the main hall. What would have been an interesting yet fair puzzle is ruined when the game hands you a memo outright telling you that it's the same time as the hall clock. While this isn't a huge problem, as there are still plenty of puzzles that aren't like this, it was slightly frustrating. Nonetheless, this is still a masterful survival horror experience, crafted by people who have much love for the originals while also paving the way for something new.
It was a surreal experience playing a Resident Evil game and being invested in the plot for once. While I won't claim RE7 to be the pinnacle of scriptwriting, as it does have a few narrative flaws, it's head and shoulders above most games in the franchise. I personally only consider a handful of RE games to be well-written (RE1, RE2, RE3, RE1R, RE4, and RE7, with big asterisks for 1 and 4), so this was certainly an enjoyable surprise. While the premise starts perhaps too closely with Silent Hill 2, it eventually evolves into the tragic story of the Baker family. A family of sadistic killers gives way to the story of innocent, loving people who made the mistake of rescuing someone, their kindness being taken advantage of and transforming them into agents of a cruel girl's bidding. Not only do the Bakers all have distinct personalities but they also offer a genuinely effective mix of nailbiting horror and comedic levity, and when you finally get to see their true selves late in the game, it becomes highly saddening. Showing Mia's degradation via the mold almost immediately from the get-go showcases the devastating effects that this new virus causes and immediately sets the stakes high. Although RE7 initially seems entirely disconnected from the greater world setting of Resident Evil, as the game progresses Capcom ties the game into prior entries effectively, foreshadowed with great mystery, which not only connects the game further into series lore but also helps explain RE7's otherwise self-contained story. There's an intriguing mystery to solve here, and the way it wraps up at the end is satisfying, despite a very underwhelming final boss.
If I have any problems with it, however, it's that I think Eveline is a bit of a mixed bag as a greater-scope antagonist. While I find the idea of a BOW whose entire purpose is to blend in with human civilian populaces before unleashing the most nightmarish infestation imaginable incredibly scary, in practice she ends up just being a very cliche scary little girl trope which isn't scary nor narratively investing. In fact, I often found her quite cringeworthy. My other criticism is the choice between saving Mia or Zoe. While I don't think it's nearly as arbitrary as people seem to make it out to be (I can see why anyone would reasonably pick one or the other) I do wish we spent a little more time with Zoe to make the choice more impactful. Otherwise, it's a very solid story that emphasizes the importance of family connections, yet also how easily said connections can be corrupted into a perpetual hell of abuse, exaggerated to its logical extremes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering Capcom has one of the best art teams in the industry, Resident Evil 7 is one of the most graphically impressive games I've played in a very long time, especially after the ray tracing update. Each musty room of the Baker's home is teeming with small environmental details which helps make it feel like a lived-in space. Directly compare it to the often empty corridors of Revelations 2, which came out a short two years prior on the same platforms, and the difference is staggering. Textures are often high quality even when put up to reasonable scrutiny, and asset quality pushes as far as it reasonably can without tanking performance. From the dirtied interiors of the Baker mansion to the hauntingly infested outdoor bayous to the rotting and mold-infested basements, Resident Evil 7 has no shortage of terrifyingly detailed setpieces. The next-generation update pushes this even further, with many of RE Engine's negative quirks being ironed out. Gone are the game's questionably implemented and heavily pixellated screen-space reflections, replaced by high-quality RT reflections. The Baker house looks slimy, groggy, and wet without being overly shiny. Sometimes, however, the reflections do look a little awkward, such as the tree reflections not having leaves! The RT shadows also add heavily to the presentation, as much as you'd expect from a horror game, as beams of light cast dark shadows across the broken landscape. Human faces are expressive and highly realistic, and their sweaty visages are menacing. The molded, while fairly similar to the ooze from Revelations, are horrifying masses of meat and flesh that can emerge from nearly anywhere if you're not careful. While the game could have only benefitted from greater enemy variety, I really like what's here already. Once again, however, I'm not massively fond of the game's anti-aliasing, as it's either not effective enough or too blurry. The next-gen update's implementation of FSR 1.0 is also too smeary for my tastes.
Surprisingly enough, the game runs phenomenally on my PC. Even with max settings and max ray tracing running at native 1440p, the game typically ran consistently at around 120 FPS, with no stuttering problems whatsoever. I was surprised to see it running so well, but I did run into one issue, which was sustained drops to around 45 FPS seemingly at random. This occurred without rhyme or reason, typically lasted a minute at most, and happened maybe only five times throughout my entire playthrough, but it was immensely distracting whenever it happened. It's not a major problem due to its relative rarity, but it's something to keep an eye out for.
After the absolute mess that was Resident Evil 6's soundtrack and the competent but unfitting soundtrack for Revelations, Revelations 2 finally pushed the series back onto the right track with a decently effective industrial score, which is only amplified tenfold for RE7. RE7's soundtrack isn't exactly what you'd call pleasant listening, as its clanging, droning, and moaning is highly oppressive. It perfectly bobs and weaves with the environments, and upon listening to it as a standalone album, I realized that many of the sounds I had thought were environmental sound effects were actually intelligently atmospheric parts of the score. No matter whether it's some of the game's softer ambiance or the pounding, anxiety-inducing themes of the game's boss fights, the game never lets up. It grabs you by the balls and nearly rips them off. RE7 also boasts one of the franchise's best save room themes, with its reversed synths giving the vibes of sitting in front of a dim lantern, enjoying a brief respite of safety, yet mortified of what lurks outside. The game also boasts highly immersive and intelligent sound design, with every creak and bump in the Baker house putting me on edge and immersing me further within its world.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard might be a return to form, but as stated earlier, that's selling short one of the freshest, most original entries in the franchise. A true love letter to what it means to be Resident Evil, RE7's horrifying scares, finely tuned survival horror gameplay, solid and engaging story, beautifully immersive visual presentation, and oppressive soundtrack and atmosphere make it one of the franchise's finest entries, and one of the best horror games I've ever played. Although it does suffer from occasionally wince-worthy moments and perhaps some minor tech issues, this hardly takes away from what might be 2017's GOTY. Welcome back, Resident Evil.
On a gameplay level, RE7 feels exceptional to play. Resource management, fight or flight, and frequent puzzles are all back and in full swing, feeling almost exactly like the old-school games, just from a first-person perspective. The change in perspective proves beneficial too, as never before have you had to face your enemies so up close and personal. The weapon balance is absolutely perfect, with your pistols, shotguns, and more feeling powerful enough to be essential defense tools, yet weak enough to prove that you can't blast yourself out of every situation. Even in normal mode, the game provides a hearty challenge and oftentimes you will be running dry on ammo up until late game even if you're conservative with your resources. Although the game is admittedly somewhat short on enemy variety, I consider this a minimal issue considering the threat represented by the molded. Unlike the zombies of old, they don't just slowly shamble towards you, they make a mad dash and clobber you to death. This not only makes them highly dangerous but also necessitates mastery of the new block mechanic to survive. Player movement is another thing I'd like to praise, as I find Ethan's speed to be perfect for a horror game. It's not so slow as to ruin exploration but not fast enough to easily outrun enemies, and it's horrifying knowing that one is on your tail and you can't just easily sprint away. Item crafting actually feels like a core mechanic of the game, rather than tacked on like Revelations 2, with crafting itself requiring resources simply to perform the act rather than just the resources of whatever you needed to make.
Even the boat and mine sequences, areas that even fans of the game regularly criticize, I found to be much better than I anticipated. Although the boat sequence starts fairly slow, the moment you get a weapon it comes up to the pace of the rest of the game. The mine sequence turns into a molded blastfest, but that's just the structure of every Resident Evil game, so I find it hard to find fault in that.
If there's any complaint I have gameplay-wise, is that as cool and unique as the puzzles often are, the game too often seems to have little faith in the player and spells them out for you. The biggest example is the clock puzzle, where you have to find the correct time for a small, desktop clock by looking at the clock in the main hall. What would have been an interesting yet fair puzzle is ruined when the game hands you a memo outright telling you that it's the same time as the hall clock. While this isn't a huge problem, as there are still plenty of puzzles that aren't like this, it was slightly frustrating. Nonetheless, this is still a masterful survival horror experience, crafted by people who have much love for the originals while also paving the way for something new.
It was a surreal experience playing a Resident Evil game and being invested in the plot for once. While I won't claim RE7 to be the pinnacle of scriptwriting, as it does have a few narrative flaws, it's head and shoulders above most games in the franchise. I personally only consider a handful of RE games to be well-written (RE1, RE2, RE3, RE1R, RE4, and RE7, with big asterisks for 1 and 4), so this was certainly an enjoyable surprise. While the premise starts perhaps too closely with Silent Hill 2, it eventually evolves into the tragic story of the Baker family. A family of sadistic killers gives way to the story of innocent, loving people who made the mistake of rescuing someone, their kindness being taken advantage of and transforming them into agents of a cruel girl's bidding. Not only do the Bakers all have distinct personalities but they also offer a genuinely effective mix of nailbiting horror and comedic levity, and when you finally get to see their true selves late in the game, it becomes highly saddening. Showing Mia's degradation via the mold almost immediately from the get-go showcases the devastating effects that this new virus causes and immediately sets the stakes high. Although RE7 initially seems entirely disconnected from the greater world setting of Resident Evil, as the game progresses Capcom ties the game into prior entries effectively, foreshadowed with great mystery, which not only connects the game further into series lore but also helps explain RE7's otherwise self-contained story. There's an intriguing mystery to solve here, and the way it wraps up at the end is satisfying, despite a very underwhelming final boss.
If I have any problems with it, however, it's that I think Eveline is a bit of a mixed bag as a greater-scope antagonist. While I find the idea of a BOW whose entire purpose is to blend in with human civilian populaces before unleashing the most nightmarish infestation imaginable incredibly scary, in practice she ends up just being a very cliche scary little girl trope which isn't scary nor narratively investing. In fact, I often found her quite cringeworthy. My other criticism is the choice between saving Mia or Zoe. While I don't think it's nearly as arbitrary as people seem to make it out to be (I can see why anyone would reasonably pick one or the other) I do wish we spent a little more time with Zoe to make the choice more impactful. Otherwise, it's a very solid story that emphasizes the importance of family connections, yet also how easily said connections can be corrupted into a perpetual hell of abuse, exaggerated to its logical extremes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering Capcom has one of the best art teams in the industry, Resident Evil 7 is one of the most graphically impressive games I've played in a very long time, especially after the ray tracing update. Each musty room of the Baker's home is teeming with small environmental details which helps make it feel like a lived-in space. Directly compare it to the often empty corridors of Revelations 2, which came out a short two years prior on the same platforms, and the difference is staggering. Textures are often high quality even when put up to reasonable scrutiny, and asset quality pushes as far as it reasonably can without tanking performance. From the dirtied interiors of the Baker mansion to the hauntingly infested outdoor bayous to the rotting and mold-infested basements, Resident Evil 7 has no shortage of terrifyingly detailed setpieces. The next-generation update pushes this even further, with many of RE Engine's negative quirks being ironed out. Gone are the game's questionably implemented and heavily pixellated screen-space reflections, replaced by high-quality RT reflections. The Baker house looks slimy, groggy, and wet without being overly shiny. Sometimes, however, the reflections do look a little awkward, such as the tree reflections not having leaves! The RT shadows also add heavily to the presentation, as much as you'd expect from a horror game, as beams of light cast dark shadows across the broken landscape. Human faces are expressive and highly realistic, and their sweaty visages are menacing. The molded, while fairly similar to the ooze from Revelations, are horrifying masses of meat and flesh that can emerge from nearly anywhere if you're not careful. While the game could have only benefitted from greater enemy variety, I really like what's here already. Once again, however, I'm not massively fond of the game's anti-aliasing, as it's either not effective enough or too blurry. The next-gen update's implementation of FSR 1.0 is also too smeary for my tastes.
Surprisingly enough, the game runs phenomenally on my PC. Even with max settings and max ray tracing running at native 1440p, the game typically ran consistently at around 120 FPS, with no stuttering problems whatsoever. I was surprised to see it running so well, but I did run into one issue, which was sustained drops to around 45 FPS seemingly at random. This occurred without rhyme or reason, typically lasted a minute at most, and happened maybe only five times throughout my entire playthrough, but it was immensely distracting whenever it happened. It's not a major problem due to its relative rarity, but it's something to keep an eye out for.
After the absolute mess that was Resident Evil 6's soundtrack and the competent but unfitting soundtrack for Revelations, Revelations 2 finally pushed the series back onto the right track with a decently effective industrial score, which is only amplified tenfold for RE7. RE7's soundtrack isn't exactly what you'd call pleasant listening, as its clanging, droning, and moaning is highly oppressive. It perfectly bobs and weaves with the environments, and upon listening to it as a standalone album, I realized that many of the sounds I had thought were environmental sound effects were actually intelligently atmospheric parts of the score. No matter whether it's some of the game's softer ambiance or the pounding, anxiety-inducing themes of the game's boss fights, the game never lets up. It grabs you by the balls and nearly rips them off. RE7 also boasts one of the franchise's best save room themes, with its reversed synths giving the vibes of sitting in front of a dim lantern, enjoying a brief respite of safety, yet mortified of what lurks outside. The game also boasts highly immersive and intelligent sound design, with every creak and bump in the Baker house putting me on edge and immersing me further within its world.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard might be a return to form, but as stated earlier, that's selling short one of the freshest, most original entries in the franchise. A true love letter to what it means to be Resident Evil, RE7's horrifying scares, finely tuned survival horror gameplay, solid and engaging story, beautifully immersive visual presentation, and oppressive soundtrack and atmosphere make it one of the franchise's finest entries, and one of the best horror games I've ever played. Although it does suffer from occasionally wince-worthy moments and perhaps some minor tech issues, this hardly takes away from what might be 2017's GOTY. Welcome back, Resident Evil.