Skip to content
Resident Evil Village is out now, and is the eighth main game in the series. For those still unsure why there’s no ‘8’ in the title, there is… It’s the “VIII” in ‘Village.
I love Resident Evil games. Apart from the odd few, I have enjoyed them immensely. Saying that, Resident Evil 7 was one of the games that I never finished because I was far too scared. Hearing that they purposefully made RE8 less scary than No.7 filled me with hope: another Resident Evil I could complete… or at least try to. In fact, it didn’t take too long and I realised that RE8 is still stupendously scary.
The storyline follows on from the dramas from RE7. Ethan and Mia have moved to Europe and had a little girl. You know things are going to get dark when Mia is reading one of the most terrifying and freaky fairy tales to her daughter – the Village of Shadows. I was already on the edge of my seat and ready to switch the game off. Then the worst things happen… you have to put your young daughter to bed. Due to being a Resident Evil game, you walk round the gigantic mansion of a house and find your way to your bedroom. One thing didn’t quite make sense here: the footprint of the house was definitely substantially larger on the ground floor. I wanted to find out what was going on through those secret walls. After doing your parental duty, you pop downstairs and an argument begins with Mia. Things kick off then a face from the past (Chris Redfield) turns up and turns your life upside down. Basically, he kidnaps you and your daughter, leading you to end end up in Romania and some messed up village. The hunt for your daughter begins….
One of the aspects that helps create the sheer terror of RE8 is the cinematic gameplay. Resident Evil Village mixes between your active involvement, and you on the edge of your seat because you can’t control Ethan, and things are particularly heating up. At times, the frustration boiled over. The enemies were taking too long to kill and my knife wasn’t doing much at all. Just like any other Resident Evil game, you spend most of the game running about with your gun and worrying about running out of ammo. Every now and again, you are so scared you draw your assault rifle, shotgun or sniper rifle until you run out of ammo. Then the terror resumes. There you are, running around with your knife aimlessly, stabbing at the dark. You’ll be hunting for a range of materials to help create more ammo. You can also make your first aid liquid. As soon as you are about an hour in to the game, you’ll understand why you need a constant supply of first aid supplies.
Overall, the gameplay works well for a Resident Evil game. There is nothing ground-breaking, but it fits the mould of the last few entries in the series. Be careful which level you put the gameplay in though, as you may get a little stressed out.
Games like these are at their best because of the atmosphere which they create. One of the many ways it can do this is through the sounds. It could be a zombie getting ready to cause havoc on your abandoned house, or the creepy murmurs of haunted house. It could also be Alcina haunting you, or Karl annoying the hell out of you. I won’t get into too much detail about Alcina because I am sure you have seen all the memes, but after about twenty minutes of her, I could tell even my wife was jealous and I am not even too sure if she likes me!
Throughout the whole game, the voice acting was pretty spot on. To be honest, it was pretty much a movie. As I have mentioned, this game both plays and felt like one. Characters were aptly portrayed, and all suited their roles to a T.
During the whole time of playing this latest entry, I realised that the graphics were too realistic whilst holding on to the Resident Evil feel. That might sound a bit confusing but Resident Evil games all have that grainy feel. If you think back to the first one where the motion would slow, so you could open the door and you got the sense of being there, even though it didn’t really look like you were.
Resident Evil Village is a bit different to this: it LOOKS like you should be scared and PLAYS like you should be scared. It was only the odd ornament which lacked the texture you would have seen in the movie. Even though RE8 is not primarily a PS5 game, it definitely feels like it could have been. Every aspect feels crisp, from the start in your random-sized house to the points of waltzing around the snow. The game feels like real life. That may be one of its downfalls, though. The game is too darn scary! Well, for me anyway…
AS such, this could be a contender for Game Of The Year. Now, about that Creepy Baby Blob Monster…
Resident Evil Village is out now in Steelbook form on PS5, PS4, Xbox One / Xbox Series X/S.
It’s also available in a regular form on PS5, PS4, Xbox One / Xbox Series X/S and Steam.
Important info:
- Publisher: Capcom
- Developer: Capcom
- Players: single-player
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
8 8 8 8 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
I have been a video game player since 1993 and a music fan since I can remember. I studied Film and Journalism at university and ended up becoming a Primary School teacher. Video games changed my life and sent me on the right track and have stayed with me ever since.