When I played Resident Evil Village for the first time a few years ago I was absolutely enthralled by the insanely fun experience it took me on. It was only on this fourth replay since then that I started to realize some of the flaws in the game. Make no mistake, I still enjoy the game immensely (the 9/10 ain’t for nothing) but this replay and review were by very nature in favor of being more critical of it, and the more I think about it the more critical I get.
To start off with let me just say, the presentation and setting of this game is still excellent and probably my favorite thing about it. One thing admirable thing that Resident Evil has done several times throughout it’s lifespan is reinvent it’s setting and tone, and while it hasn’t always been successful (glares at 5 and 6), 8 continues this theme naturally and spectacularly. The moment when you first enter the Village at sunrise in this game is nothing short of breathtaking, the scope of the incredible looking environment before you and the thought that you’re going to have to comb through all of it to beat the game blend together to make what I believe to be one of the most interesting settings in the series’ history. All of the environments on this game are incredibly atmospheric, from an ancient but well-kept castle, to a lonely and eerie house in the mountains with a waterfall backdrop, to a menacing underground factory, all of it works as really effective environmental storytelling that shows you exactly what has happened in this village and what kind of creatures live here. Speaking of creatures, another thing I really liked about Village was how it adapted the common horror tropes found in other Resident Evil games to fit the setting perfectly. Instead of hoards zombies there are herds of Lycans, instead of evil scientists or corporations as the villains there are gothic horror monsters, and instead of a virus that makes people lose their minds there is the power of ancient evil that the villagers fear. All of this adds up to making what would otherwise seem like a really disconnected game in the series feel like it fits in just perfectly in terms of vibe and atmosphere.
Resident Evil Village is no slouch in terms of gameplay either, adapting the series main formula while also trying some new things that pay off excellently. The gameplay of Village divides itself into two distinct halves, the pure horror half and the action half and while some have taken issue with this system I’ve found no real problem with it, The first half of the game is excellent and clearly more enjoyable in terms of what I play a Resident Evil game for, being the horror. Having the main character enter a completely foreign setting and being powerless to do anything against the lycans and horrific monsters is a perfect way to breed horror in the game and is done excellently in the first few sections of the game. As you progress through the game though you get more weapons in your arsenal and start feeling less powerless and that’s when the action half of the game kicks in. While I enjoyed this half less I still think it’s alright, being able to take on anything and taking on the areas where you were oppressed by monsters in the early game just feels really good and satisfying, and although it comes at the cost of the horror, I still think it adds a lot in and of itself. There’s also a treasure system in this game that’s really fun to utilize to it’s fullest capacity. Throughout the village you’ll find locked up areas that you can return to later with the right item to discover what they have inside, this can range from new weapons or weapon parts to valuable treasures that you can sell to the merchant for tons of money, it’s really satisfying to find how to get these treasures and gives the player great reason to scour and explore the whole village. All of this as well as just the basic RE formula of managing inventory, solving puzzles, and knowing when to conserve ammo and when to fight all adds up to one of the best RE games to date in terms of gameplay.
At last I come to part which I feel is the weakest in Resident Evil Village, the story. On the first few playthroughs of this game I thought the story was passable, nothing groundbreaking or anything, but alright, now I see that I couldn’t have been more wrong there. While I still don’t think the story brings down the amazing gameplay present here, it is absolutely not something I’d call good. While Ethan Winters was not an incredibly likeable character in RE7 he wasn’t unbearable either, he was just a normal guy who got dragged into a messy situation, this is not the case in Village. In Village Ethan Winters is an unbearably annoying character who doesn’t seem relatable in the slightest, he makes increasingly stupid one liners that don’t sound natural from a character like him, asks increasingly stupid questions to other characters (usually along the lines of “What the hell is going on here”) despite things being completely cut and dry, and makes increasingly stupid decisions in every situation he finds himself in. Ethan isn’t the only one who’s dumb here, Chris’ decision to not tell Ethan what was going on when he shot his wife point blank and took his infant daughter at the beginning of the game will never not be confusing and a really stupid inciting incident, and Mother Miranda’s plan to split Rose up into parts and have Ethan go and collect them only to take Rose back instantly after he’d done that rather than just starting her evil ceremony with Rose instantly is a baffling oversight. It’s lazy writing like this that infuriates me that I ever thought this game’s story was decent, still if seen as just a means to end for the incredible gameplay it’s easy enough to ignore and doesn’t take anything away from that.
Resident Evil Village is a really fun game with some serious narrative issues. The incredible atmosphere and really fun gameplay still manage to save the game for me, but the bafflingly awful story annoys me greatly and is gonna make it hard for me to want to replay this game anytime soon.
To start off with let me just say, the presentation and setting of this game is still excellent and probably my favorite thing about it. One thing admirable thing that Resident Evil has done several times throughout it’s lifespan is reinvent it’s setting and tone, and while it hasn’t always been successful (glares at 5 and 6), 8 continues this theme naturally and spectacularly. The moment when you first enter the Village at sunrise in this game is nothing short of breathtaking, the scope of the incredible looking environment before you and the thought that you’re going to have to comb through all of it to beat the game blend together to make what I believe to be one of the most interesting settings in the series’ history. All of the environments on this game are incredibly atmospheric, from an ancient but well-kept castle, to a lonely and eerie house in the mountains with a waterfall backdrop, to a menacing underground factory, all of it works as really effective environmental storytelling that shows you exactly what has happened in this village and what kind of creatures live here. Speaking of creatures, another thing I really liked about Village was how it adapted the common horror tropes found in other Resident Evil games to fit the setting perfectly. Instead of hoards zombies there are herds of Lycans, instead of evil scientists or corporations as the villains there are gothic horror monsters, and instead of a virus that makes people lose their minds there is the power of ancient evil that the villagers fear. All of this adds up to making what would otherwise seem like a really disconnected game in the series feel like it fits in just perfectly in terms of vibe and atmosphere.
Resident Evil Village is no slouch in terms of gameplay either, adapting the series main formula while also trying some new things that pay off excellently. The gameplay of Village divides itself into two distinct halves, the pure horror half and the action half and while some have taken issue with this system I’ve found no real problem with it, The first half of the game is excellent and clearly more enjoyable in terms of what I play a Resident Evil game for, being the horror. Having the main character enter a completely foreign setting and being powerless to do anything against the lycans and horrific monsters is a perfect way to breed horror in the game and is done excellently in the first few sections of the game. As you progress through the game though you get more weapons in your arsenal and start feeling less powerless and that’s when the action half of the game kicks in. While I enjoyed this half less I still think it’s alright, being able to take on anything and taking on the areas where you were oppressed by monsters in the early game just feels really good and satisfying, and although it comes at the cost of the horror, I still think it adds a lot in and of itself. There’s also a treasure system in this game that’s really fun to utilize to it’s fullest capacity. Throughout the village you’ll find locked up areas that you can return to later with the right item to discover what they have inside, this can range from new weapons or weapon parts to valuable treasures that you can sell to the merchant for tons of money, it’s really satisfying to find how to get these treasures and gives the player great reason to scour and explore the whole village. All of this as well as just the basic RE formula of managing inventory, solving puzzles, and knowing when to conserve ammo and when to fight all adds up to one of the best RE games to date in terms of gameplay.
At last I come to part which I feel is the weakest in Resident Evil Village, the story. On the first few playthroughs of this game I thought the story was passable, nothing groundbreaking or anything, but alright, now I see that I couldn’t have been more wrong there. While I still don’t think the story brings down the amazing gameplay present here, it is absolutely not something I’d call good. While Ethan Winters was not an incredibly likeable character in RE7 he wasn’t unbearable either, he was just a normal guy who got dragged into a messy situation, this is not the case in Village. In Village Ethan Winters is an unbearably annoying character who doesn’t seem relatable in the slightest, he makes increasingly stupid one liners that don’t sound natural from a character like him, asks increasingly stupid questions to other characters (usually along the lines of “What the hell is going on here”) despite things being completely cut and dry, and makes increasingly stupid decisions in every situation he finds himself in. Ethan isn’t the only one who’s dumb here, Chris’ decision to not tell Ethan what was going on when he shot his wife point blank and took his infant daughter at the beginning of the game will never not be confusing and a really stupid inciting incident, and Mother Miranda’s plan to split Rose up into parts and have Ethan go and collect them only to take Rose back instantly after he’d done that rather than just starting her evil ceremony with Rose instantly is a baffling oversight. It’s lazy writing like this that infuriates me that I ever thought this game’s story was decent, still if seen as just a means to end for the incredible gameplay it’s easy enough to ignore and doesn’t take anything away from that.
Resident Evil Village is a really fun game with some serious narrative issues. The incredible atmosphere and really fun gameplay still manage to save the game for me, but the bafflingly awful story annoys me greatly and is gonna make it hard for me to want to replay this game anytime soon.