Resident Evil Village (or RE8 as I'll refer to it) is an absolute masterclass in comedy, survival horror, puzzling, and first person adventure. Every mark that the game attempts to hit, it does and exceeds any and all expecatations I had.
I'll start with the environments, from minute one I was wow'd (as I was in RE7) with the insane amount of detail Capcom put into each and every room in the Winters' home. Moving from their home in Eastern Europe to the titular village intensified my feelings and awe for sheer beauty in design. Every single house was filled to the brim with items to make it feel real, as if someone had actually lived their and been displaced (true to lore,) the backdrops were gorgeous as the snow filled ground complimented a bright background and the massive Castle Dimitrescu pierced the sky, and each zone has a distinct visual pop and aesthetic to it. To that point, I was completely blown away by the aforementioned Castle. Even though you spend a reasonably small amount of time within the Castle's doors, Capcom maticulously crafted each room, be it small or large, with adherance to both Dimitrescu as a character and with the idea in mind as to how an aged up and renovated castle would actually look. The entry foyer and grandiose hallway make a phenomenal mark on how seriously Capcom takes their design. You know right away that Dimitrescu (whom you have met very briefly) is a woman of class and intrigue, she is a royal and has a home that matches her beauty. This continues on in each of the other lords' zones: Donna Benevinto's chaotic misery of a home matches her mental illness, Morreau's duel cave and dock based zone matches his fish-like demeanor, and Hesienberg's factory matches his inherent power and love for machinery. I genuinely do not believe any other game I have played, nor game I have not played, has matched character aesthetic to environment as well as Capcom did with Resident Evil Village. Everything within the village feels so visceral and real as to what I imagine small town wintery Eastern Europe is, and each lord's domain is so well done to fit the character's themselves.
Next are the characters themselves, and again Capcom (as it has done across most of their major franchises) has knocked it out of the park. Ethan Winters returns as the game's protagonist, yet they sprinkled in some of Leon Kennedy's one liner's from RE4 and turn him into the most meme heavy protagonist in Resident Evil to date (almost matching up to Dante as their funniest character.) He's just a genuine goofball, absolutely oblivious to the scenario going on around him no matter how serious it is. He'll state things that are hilariously obvious and dole out the absolute worst insults to the enemy's he fights. Honestly, I love the direction RE has had with their protagonists. You go from serious in Jill/Chris (RE1) to the oblivious and fresh Leon/Claire (RE2) back to Jill, then to the MGS-Lite Leon Kennedy himself in RE4, then to Chad McBiceps in Chris (RE5/6) then to full meme in RE7/8. Protagonist aside, the entire rest of the cast was beautifully done as well. The villains are legitimately the highlight of RE8, and to anyone who saw marketing material of Lady Dimitrescu should see this as no surprise. From very early on you are exposed to the sick cast of characters that populate the near seven hour experience. Lady Dimitrescu as I touched on earlier is regal and beautiful, speaking as someone who is high class and wealthy. She walks with a tremndously elegant stride and is dressed impeccably, looking like a celebrity dressed up out of the 1920's. Even though you can't look at her for very long (because she's constantly trying to kill Ethan,) I found myself very interested into her pale white skin and white dress combination, because it was so interesting as a villain's design. Going on to Donna Donna Benevinto and her sick dolls who make a very brief appearance. You see and hear very little of her (as the lore explains) which makes her a very cool villain. It's almost like my idea of the riddler who leaves his clues all over Gotham, but instead she contacts Ethan through context clues, puzzles, and her crazy creations. This mirrors her personality and is a nice reprieve from how in your face the rest of the villain cast is. Morreau is the next villain/lord of note and he is honestly the most forgettable to me, as his hunchback like figure and oft repeated tragic creation angle is really a callback to horror and science fiction that predates RE8. He is a sad character to talk to and be in proximity with, but nothing necessarily new. The next two main villains in Heisenberg and Mother Miranda are also captivating, each working toward their own motive that seems at odds. Heisenberg has a little bit of a mad scientist x Nicolas Cage demeanor, speaking and acting erraticly yet clearly is a character of heightened charisma. He's someone you'll find yourself laughing at in one moment then being in total fear of the next. Mother Miranda, because of her importance to the story (though she is mentioned throughout) I will refrain from talking about her in great detail, other than that her designed is absolutely fantastic. Other characters like a returning series favorite (play and you will find out,) Duke the lovable merchant, and the denizens of the village make for a lively and intruiging experience. This entire cast is memorable and for the few characters you meet is very impactful, I strongly believe this is one of gaming's best cast of characters of the last decade.
Gameplaywise, RE8 is more of the same (in regards to RE7) with some great quality of life updates. New to RE8 (From RE7) are the removal of item boxes in favor of a rather large inventory and an improved crafting system which outright tells you which items you need to complete recipes for ammo and health. In that respect, getting those materials is extremely easy and non-grindy which I felt gave the game a lot of legs to run on. Anytime you kill a lycan/zombie, they drop a material that can be crafted (or money,) meaning that I never felt like trudging through the enemies they throw at you and actually felt the need to interact with them and kill them because I knew I'd be getting something in return. Money never felt scant in RE8 either, giving you items from the world and lord zones that sold for quite a pretty penny, allowing you to upgrade and purchase items as you pleased. A great returning feature to the RE series was the item fitting inventory style of RE4, except this time with a very forgiving size. In RE4 I often found myself having to sacrifice quite a bit to make my loadouts work, I never felt that in RE8. Continuing on gameplay, the puzzles in RE8 were very well done, and in the vein of the RE2/RE3makes one thing led to another and there wasn't ever a time where I felt completely stuck or had to look at a guide for assistance like I did in RE1. Puzzles clues lead to solutions very naturally and rarely feel "too easy."
The story and lore were fantastic in RE7, however they felt very isolated, which makes sense as you were rebooting the beloved and deep franchise with a new protagonist in a new setting and a new genre. In RE8 those two items again are very well done and due to spoilers I will not touch on them in detail other than to say that they answer many of the questions I had from RE7 and add on greatly to the intrigue and depth of the series' lore.
Resident Evil 8/Village is a game I never wanted to end, it's the definition of an instant classic and in my opinion, the best entry in the Resident Evil series. I strongly recommend this game to gamer's who appreciate memorable experiences and survival horror. It features jawdropping design and environements, memorable villains and moments, and very fluid combat and mechanics. This games' lore is best bolstered by playing the series to from the first mainline entry on, but I'd say RE7 is a requirement for playing RE8 as the story is a direct sequel to that game's events.
I'll start with the environments, from minute one I was wow'd (as I was in RE7) with the insane amount of detail Capcom put into each and every room in the Winters' home. Moving from their home in Eastern Europe to the titular village intensified my feelings and awe for sheer beauty in design. Every single house was filled to the brim with items to make it feel real, as if someone had actually lived their and been displaced (true to lore,) the backdrops were gorgeous as the snow filled ground complimented a bright background and the massive Castle Dimitrescu pierced the sky, and each zone has a distinct visual pop and aesthetic to it. To that point, I was completely blown away by the aforementioned Castle. Even though you spend a reasonably small amount of time within the Castle's doors, Capcom maticulously crafted each room, be it small or large, with adherance to both Dimitrescu as a character and with the idea in mind as to how an aged up and renovated castle would actually look. The entry foyer and grandiose hallway make a phenomenal mark on how seriously Capcom takes their design. You know right away that Dimitrescu (whom you have met very briefly) is a woman of class and intrigue, she is a royal and has a home that matches her beauty. This continues on in each of the other lords' zones: Donna Benevinto's chaotic misery of a home matches her mental illness, Morreau's duel cave and dock based zone matches his fish-like demeanor, and Hesienberg's factory matches his inherent power and love for machinery. I genuinely do not believe any other game I have played, nor game I have not played, has matched character aesthetic to environment as well as Capcom did with Resident Evil Village. Everything within the village feels so visceral and real as to what I imagine small town wintery Eastern Europe is, and each lord's domain is so well done to fit the character's themselves.
Next are the characters themselves, and again Capcom (as it has done across most of their major franchises) has knocked it out of the park. Ethan Winters returns as the game's protagonist, yet they sprinkled in some of Leon Kennedy's one liner's from RE4 and turn him into the most meme heavy protagonist in Resident Evil to date (almost matching up to Dante as their funniest character.) He's just a genuine goofball, absolutely oblivious to the scenario going on around him no matter how serious it is. He'll state things that are hilariously obvious and dole out the absolute worst insults to the enemy's he fights. Honestly, I love the direction RE has had with their protagonists. You go from serious in Jill/Chris (RE1) to the oblivious and fresh Leon/Claire (RE2) back to Jill, then to the MGS-Lite Leon Kennedy himself in RE4, then to Chad McBiceps in Chris (RE5/6) then to full meme in RE7/8. Protagonist aside, the entire rest of the cast was beautifully done as well. The villains are legitimately the highlight of RE8, and to anyone who saw marketing material of Lady Dimitrescu should see this as no surprise. From very early on you are exposed to the sick cast of characters that populate the near seven hour experience. Lady Dimitrescu as I touched on earlier is regal and beautiful, speaking as someone who is high class and wealthy. She walks with a tremndously elegant stride and is dressed impeccably, looking like a celebrity dressed up out of the 1920's. Even though you can't look at her for very long (because she's constantly trying to kill Ethan,) I found myself very interested into her pale white skin and white dress combination, because it was so interesting as a villain's design. Going on to Donna Donna Benevinto and her sick dolls who make a very brief appearance. You see and hear very little of her (as the lore explains) which makes her a very cool villain. It's almost like my idea of the riddler who leaves his clues all over Gotham, but instead she contacts Ethan through context clues, puzzles, and her crazy creations. This mirrors her personality and is a nice reprieve from how in your face the rest of the villain cast is. Morreau is the next villain/lord of note and he is honestly the most forgettable to me, as his hunchback like figure and oft repeated tragic creation angle is really a callback to horror and science fiction that predates RE8. He is a sad character to talk to and be in proximity with, but nothing necessarily new. The next two main villains in Heisenberg and Mother Miranda are also captivating, each working toward their own motive that seems at odds. Heisenberg has a little bit of a mad scientist x Nicolas Cage demeanor, speaking and acting erraticly yet clearly is a character of heightened charisma. He's someone you'll find yourself laughing at in one moment then being in total fear of the next. Mother Miranda, because of her importance to the story (though she is mentioned throughout) I will refrain from talking about her in great detail, other than that her designed is absolutely fantastic. Other characters like a returning series favorite (play and you will find out,) Duke the lovable merchant, and the denizens of the village make for a lively and intruiging experience. This entire cast is memorable and for the few characters you meet is very impactful, I strongly believe this is one of gaming's best cast of characters of the last decade.
Gameplaywise, RE8 is more of the same (in regards to RE7) with some great quality of life updates. New to RE8 (From RE7) are the removal of item boxes in favor of a rather large inventory and an improved crafting system which outright tells you which items you need to complete recipes for ammo and health. In that respect, getting those materials is extremely easy and non-grindy which I felt gave the game a lot of legs to run on. Anytime you kill a lycan/zombie, they drop a material that can be crafted (or money,) meaning that I never felt like trudging through the enemies they throw at you and actually felt the need to interact with them and kill them because I knew I'd be getting something in return. Money never felt scant in RE8 either, giving you items from the world and lord zones that sold for quite a pretty penny, allowing you to upgrade and purchase items as you pleased. A great returning feature to the RE series was the item fitting inventory style of RE4, except this time with a very forgiving size. In RE4 I often found myself having to sacrifice quite a bit to make my loadouts work, I never felt that in RE8. Continuing on gameplay, the puzzles in RE8 were very well done, and in the vein of the RE2/RE3makes one thing led to another and there wasn't ever a time where I felt completely stuck or had to look at a guide for assistance like I did in RE1. Puzzles clues lead to solutions very naturally and rarely feel "too easy."
The story and lore were fantastic in RE7, however they felt very isolated, which makes sense as you were rebooting the beloved and deep franchise with a new protagonist in a new setting and a new genre. In RE8 those two items again are very well done and due to spoilers I will not touch on them in detail other than to say that they answer many of the questions I had from RE7 and add on greatly to the intrigue and depth of the series' lore.
Resident Evil 8/Village is a game I never wanted to end, it's the definition of an instant classic and in my opinion, the best entry in the Resident Evil series. I strongly recommend this game to gamer's who appreciate memorable experiences and survival horror. It features jawdropping design and environements, memorable villains and moments, and very fluid combat and mechanics. This games' lore is best bolstered by playing the series to from the first mainline entry on, but I'd say RE7 is a requirement for playing RE8 as the story is a direct sequel to that game's events.