I wasn't the biggest fan of 7 personally, but Village took all the good from that game and just fucking smushed it together with a bunch of old Resi stuff that I do love, layered it in fresh ideas and somehow made one of the best games in the series. It's the perfect amount of utterly bonkers while maintaining just enough "logic" that it's possible to follow what's going on.

Without saying too much, it does also touch on some things in 7 that I wasn't really into, and I think I may be able to appreciate that game more after playing this one.

I nearly slept on this entry. I'm really glad I didn't :)

This was.. actually kinda great? I can't argue with complaints I've seen about the combat getting repetitive, but having played it in small chunks rather than a continuous run I really didn't feel that myself. What I did struggle with however (beyond some minor glitches that forced me to do a couple bosses twice) was the Huddle Up playlist.

It's such a great idea for the game but the lack of a customisable or even limited playlist means it's all too easy to have this big dramatic set-up mid boss fight before going full-ham, hitting play on the player and then BOOM! 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' jingles along while you kick the scut out of a big monster.. thanks game, way to kill all hype and remove any sense of badassery.

Even the final boss I was left listening to Tainted Love, which yeah is a good song, but where's the heavy guitar riff and energetic vocals? They couldn't even make the song for the last boss a specific one that goes with the tone? Huge missed opportunity.

Anyway that aside the game is the right kind of dumb fun, the characters are loveable and develop as you progress, s'good stuff I like it