This game has some of the best atmosphere of any video game from the time, thanks to being an original build for Resident Evil 4. None of the future titles have been able to replicate the amount of life & personality that these environments & enemies hold. With that being said, there are a lot of growing pains with this being a pioneer hack & slash title. While the camera does add a lot to the atmosphere, it does get in the way of combat many times which can be devestating on harder difficulties. The gameplay itself is pretty strong by todays standards, but there is a fair bit of jank you have to deal with beyond your actual skill.

Starts off pretty fun with a rehash of castle Dimitrescu which I enjoyed. The creepy doll house bit was fun. Every area is just an asset flip though you literally only explore areas you've already been to in the main story. At least RE4 Separate Ways or RE7's DLCs had new areas and new mechanics. This just feels incredibly samey.

The story is also easily the worst of anything I've played in RE, including 5. The sappy Fast & Furious 'family' trope is overdone and it's just too much here. The plot twist is beyond obvious. The plot is even more contrived than the base game. The main character is as plain and boring as they come, especially for this series. I could go on, but ultimately this is just a lazy asset flip with some cool ideas thrown in like the mannequins.

Top that all off with the janky third person mechanics that feel so shoehorned in and this becomes something that is not really worth playing to be completely honest. Please don't let this be the future direction for the franchise. For all the complaints people had about the End of Zoe DLC for 7, at least it had new areas, new enemies, and completely revamped combat. This has 'hold R1 to get rid of moldy obstacles in the corridor'.

Resident Evil has always had this problem where, after a few games with the same protagonists and antagonists, the conspiratorial lore and glut of proper nouns overwhelm any sense of good narrative. This DLC makes a good argument for closing the door on the Winter saga. It all has the feeling of watching deleted scenes on DVD with a new, worse actor spliced into the lead role. This maudlin family drama cannot continue! We need a return to the camp and hard resets of RE:4 and RE:7, stat.

That being said, I've never loved to hate a RE level more than the House Beneviento basement. Smart idea to do an encore setpiece down there.