Since I wasn't a huge fan of RE 7 I'm still surprised I ended up loving 8 as much as I do, but it's easily the best mainline RE since 4 for me and it honestly feels like 4 through a modern lens.
Let's start with a small spoiler free synopsis of the story. It picks up a few years after the events of RE 7, Ethan and Mia Winters have now moved to a remote location in Europe, have a new 6 month old daughter Rose and are finally starting to rebuild their lives after their traumatic encounter with the Bakers, but that all changes when the very man who saved them years ago, Chris Redfield, attacks their home, killing Mia and kidnapping both Rose and Ethan in the process, however the transport Ethan was in gets destroyed, Ethan is now stranded in an unknown village seemingly overrun by monsters and is on a quest for vengeance to rescue his daughter and get answers from Chris. All this happens in just the first 20 minutes of the 10-15 hour journey. Avoiding major spoilers I'll just say there are plenty of twists and turns which marvelously play on the world-building set up by both the entire over-arching story of Resident Evil and especially RE 7, alongside a charismatic main cast of characters which will compel you to reach the end of this mysterious journey.
Speaking of characters, they're all great. This game did something I didn't think was possible, it actually made me like Ethan, so I have to dedicate a whole paragraph to that alone. I am admittedly a sucker for the trope of a father who will do anything and go through hell and back to protect his family so that alone makes me like Ethan more here and sure Ethan is still nowhere close to classic RE action heroes like Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, but he now feels more experienced and confident after the events in RE 7 which makes sense especially considering in the lore it states he took military combat training courses before the events of Village to better be able to protect his family. It feels like Capcom also tried to give him more of a personality both by giving him more dialogue and even some one-liners, his one liners don't feel like cheesy action hero one-liners like Leon, they feel more like a normal dad trying to be cooler than he actually is so he makes stupid jokes and it's just so fitting for his character.
Aside from Ethan, all the other characters are quite interesting and I strongly believe they will become just as iconic as some of RE's past characters. Chris Redfield of course has a big part and this game helps expand his character in many ways, but aside from that the main villains are especially fantastic. Everyone knows the elegant, yet sadistic vampire mistress lady Dimitrescu, but there's also the deranged and childlike Donna Beneviento and her doll Angie, the grotesque, hunchback fishman Moreau, the theatrical and cheesy mad genius Karl Heisenberg (My personal fave, who is basically like Nicolas Cage with Magneto's powers), the cold and calculating religious cult leader Mother Miranda and last but not least, the merchant, the Duke who is the ultimate bro and helps Ethan at every turn of his journey, which leads to the next segment of my review.
The gameplay, it's so damn good. A good way to describe Village is the smooth and fluid first person combat of RE 7 mixed with a lot of DNA and core mechanics that haven't been present in the series since RE 4. The inventory Tetris system is back, there's also plenty of treasures to find all over the village and what do you do with those treasures? Why sell them to our good friend the Duke of course! The Duke acts much like the iconic Merchant from RE 4. Providing inventory suitcase upgrades, crafting recipes, weapons modifications for the various guns you'll find throughout the Village and more. I also have to mention how great the crafting menu is, it might be a bit more casualized, but it's so much more efficient not having crafting materials take up inventory space. Oh and puzzles are slowly making a comeback to the series, it's nothing super complex, but there are some riddles and classic switch based puzzles and it's certainly a start.
Good level design is mandatory in RE and from the Spencer Mansion to the Raccoon City Police Department there's no short of iconic locations and Village's well...Village is just as memorable. From Dimitrescu's Victorian gothic castle to Moreau's Lovecraftian swamp and Heisenberg's industrial factory along with the main Village hub, there's so much variety to the design, it has a strong metroidvania feel with lots of backtracking and shortcuts that open up later after getting a key item, plus finding all the treasures gives players extra incentive to explore.
Enemies and boss fights are just as well designed as the levels, the lycans are much more wild and aggressive than zombies or ganados of the past so you in turn need to have quick reflexes and while all the bosses (except for one) are "hit the weak point for massive damage" in typical RE fashion, all their designs are killer and the locations you fight them are very memorable.
Graphics and sound design are even more spectacular than RE 7 and that was already the best RE had ever been on those fronts so you can just imagine how beautiful this game looks and sounds.
Village manages to be both one of the most legitimately terrifying and action packed entries in the series, but does it in such a natural way. One minute you might be defenseless, being chased down by Dimitrescu and her daughters and the next you could be mowing down hordes of enemies and fighting a boss controlling a literal DOOM like tank machine, but you never have an over abundance of ammo on your first playthrough, even if you thoroughly explore, you'll have just enough to make it from location to location and this is why Village has such a tense atmosphere. It's a perfect marriage of survival horror and Hollywood blockbuster action that the series hasn't had since RE 4.
Anyone in the RE community will tell you all the best RE games are some of the most replayable games ever made and Village is no exception. Once you beat the game you'll unlock an extra content shop where you can purchase some special weapons and infinite ammo mods using currency you make from challenges you complete in game which can range from killing so many enemies with a certain gun to beating the game in a certain timeframe or on a specific difficulty, so it'll make a lot of players adapt their play style and try many things they wouldn't prior, especially if you're going for the 100%/platnium trophy.
Mercenaries mode which hasn't been in RE since 6 also makes a comeback and while it's kinda undercooked with only a couple stages, it does incorporate a lot of elements Raid Mode from the Revelations games introduced, like abilities, enemies having health bars, seeing damage counters, being able to purchase weapons and not just having a set loadout and I really like this new Raid Mode/Mercenaries hybrid. It's just unfortunate there's so few stages and you can only play as 1 character.
I honestly have almost no complaints about this game. Resident Evil Village is a modern classic that hits the mark at every turn, it tells a compelling story, manages to flesh out a protagonist who really needed it, has an interesting cast of characters, the combat, exploration and crafting are all some of the best the series has ever had, level design is well crafted with plenty of variety, enemies and bosses are both designed well and fun to fight, the game also looks and sounds better than ever and has hours worth of replay value, this truly is peak RE and it's more than worthy of being released as a celebration of RE's 25th anniversary.
Let's start with a small spoiler free synopsis of the story. It picks up a few years after the events of RE 7, Ethan and Mia Winters have now moved to a remote location in Europe, have a new 6 month old daughter Rose and are finally starting to rebuild their lives after their traumatic encounter with the Bakers, but that all changes when the very man who saved them years ago, Chris Redfield, attacks their home, killing Mia and kidnapping both Rose and Ethan in the process, however the transport Ethan was in gets destroyed, Ethan is now stranded in an unknown village seemingly overrun by monsters and is on a quest for vengeance to rescue his daughter and get answers from Chris. All this happens in just the first 20 minutes of the 10-15 hour journey. Avoiding major spoilers I'll just say there are plenty of twists and turns which marvelously play on the world-building set up by both the entire over-arching story of Resident Evil and especially RE 7, alongside a charismatic main cast of characters which will compel you to reach the end of this mysterious journey.
Speaking of characters, they're all great. This game did something I didn't think was possible, it actually made me like Ethan, so I have to dedicate a whole paragraph to that alone. I am admittedly a sucker for the trope of a father who will do anything and go through hell and back to protect his family so that alone makes me like Ethan more here and sure Ethan is still nowhere close to classic RE action heroes like Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, but he now feels more experienced and confident after the events in RE 7 which makes sense especially considering in the lore it states he took military combat training courses before the events of Village to better be able to protect his family. It feels like Capcom also tried to give him more of a personality both by giving him more dialogue and even some one-liners, his one liners don't feel like cheesy action hero one-liners like Leon, they feel more like a normal dad trying to be cooler than he actually is so he makes stupid jokes and it's just so fitting for his character.
Aside from Ethan, all the other characters are quite interesting and I strongly believe they will become just as iconic as some of RE's past characters. Chris Redfield of course has a big part and this game helps expand his character in many ways, but aside from that the main villains are especially fantastic. Everyone knows the elegant, yet sadistic vampire mistress lady Dimitrescu, but there's also the deranged and childlike Donna Beneviento and her doll Angie, the grotesque, hunchback fishman Moreau, the theatrical and cheesy mad genius Karl Heisenberg (My personal fave, who is basically like Nicolas Cage with Magneto's powers), the cold and calculating religious cult leader Mother Miranda and last but not least, the merchant, the Duke who is the ultimate bro and helps Ethan at every turn of his journey, which leads to the next segment of my review.
The gameplay, it's so damn good. A good way to describe Village is the smooth and fluid first person combat of RE 7 mixed with a lot of DNA and core mechanics that haven't been present in the series since RE 4. The inventory Tetris system is back, there's also plenty of treasures to find all over the village and what do you do with those treasures? Why sell them to our good friend the Duke of course! The Duke acts much like the iconic Merchant from RE 4. Providing inventory suitcase upgrades, crafting recipes, weapons modifications for the various guns you'll find throughout the Village and more. I also have to mention how great the crafting menu is, it might be a bit more casualized, but it's so much more efficient not having crafting materials take up inventory space. Oh and puzzles are slowly making a comeback to the series, it's nothing super complex, but there are some riddles and classic switch based puzzles and it's certainly a start.
Good level design is mandatory in RE and from the Spencer Mansion to the Raccoon City Police Department there's no short of iconic locations and Village's well...Village is just as memorable. From Dimitrescu's Victorian gothic castle to Moreau's Lovecraftian swamp and Heisenberg's industrial factory along with the main Village hub, there's so much variety to the design, it has a strong metroidvania feel with lots of backtracking and shortcuts that open up later after getting a key item, plus finding all the treasures gives players extra incentive to explore.
Enemies and boss fights are just as well designed as the levels, the lycans are much more wild and aggressive than zombies or ganados of the past so you in turn need to have quick reflexes and while all the bosses (except for one) are "hit the weak point for massive damage" in typical RE fashion, all their designs are killer and the locations you fight them are very memorable.
Graphics and sound design are even more spectacular than RE 7 and that was already the best RE had ever been on those fronts so you can just imagine how beautiful this game looks and sounds.
Village manages to be both one of the most legitimately terrifying and action packed entries in the series, but does it in such a natural way. One minute you might be defenseless, being chased down by Dimitrescu and her daughters and the next you could be mowing down hordes of enemies and fighting a boss controlling a literal DOOM like tank machine, but you never have an over abundance of ammo on your first playthrough, even if you thoroughly explore, you'll have just enough to make it from location to location and this is why Village has such a tense atmosphere. It's a perfect marriage of survival horror and Hollywood blockbuster action that the series hasn't had since RE 4.
Anyone in the RE community will tell you all the best RE games are some of the most replayable games ever made and Village is no exception. Once you beat the game you'll unlock an extra content shop where you can purchase some special weapons and infinite ammo mods using currency you make from challenges you complete in game which can range from killing so many enemies with a certain gun to beating the game in a certain timeframe or on a specific difficulty, so it'll make a lot of players adapt their play style and try many things they wouldn't prior, especially if you're going for the 100%/platnium trophy.
Mercenaries mode which hasn't been in RE since 6 also makes a comeback and while it's kinda undercooked with only a couple stages, it does incorporate a lot of elements Raid Mode from the Revelations games introduced, like abilities, enemies having health bars, seeing damage counters, being able to purchase weapons and not just having a set loadout and I really like this new Raid Mode/Mercenaries hybrid. It's just unfortunate there's so few stages and you can only play as 1 character.
I honestly have almost no complaints about this game. Resident Evil Village is a modern classic that hits the mark at every turn, it tells a compelling story, manages to flesh out a protagonist who really needed it, has an interesting cast of characters, the combat, exploration and crafting are all some of the best the series has ever had, level design is well crafted with plenty of variety, enemies and bosses are both designed well and fun to fight, the game also looks and sounds better than ever and has hours worth of replay value, this truly is peak RE and it's more than worthy of being released as a celebration of RE's 25th anniversary.