Second Look - Resident Evil Village (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village.

It should go without saying that the strong reviews and sales numbers of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (RE7) led to a sequel in 2021, also the latest game in the series, Resident Evil Village (RE8). At least, that would be the typical story. In reality, RE8 entered development at the tail end of RE7’s production with the idea of continuing the previous game’s story and style. Early on, the development team came up with the concept of the village setting, as well as drawing influence from Resident Evil 4 (RE4) in making it a central game element. They also developed the game with more of a mixture of action and horror after observing reactions to RE7’s horror and deciding that dialing back and spreading out the scares would make it more approachable for newcomers. For accessibility, the title also emphasized the “village” aspect rather than officially designate it as Resident Evil 8 (even though that’s exactly what it is). Despite the change in approach, the end result garnered strong critical reception and sales over time.

As someone who started with the Winters storyline, I enjoyed RE8 when it came out, in spite of its flaws, and coming back to this game in my journey through the Resident Evil (RE) franchise didn’t change my opinion that much. Like my replay of RE7, however, what really changed was my perspective on its gameplay and how the story fit in with the overall timeline. Not only did I better appreciate some of its improvements over certain gameplay systems from its predecessor, but also its influence from RE4 and one specific twist that prompted all of these RE reviews in the first place.

Before I continue, I’ll mention now that since the physical Gold Edition copy came with a digital code for the extra content, unlike how RE7’s Gold Edition put everything but Not A Hero on the disc, I bought the Winters’ Expansion instead. This playthrough is also based on a New Game+ run on the PS5 with the Extra Content Voucher DLC active (and on Casual difficulty for reasons I have mentioned in a previous post).

Three years after the events of RE7, Ethan and Mia Winters have been relocated to Europe by Chris Redfield to better raise their daughter Rosemary. One night, Chris and his Hound Wolf Squad raid the house, kill Mia and abduct Ethan and Rose. During the drive, however, the transport truck crashes, leaving many of Chris’ men dead. When Ethan awakens, he discovers a nearby village overrun by werewolf-like beings called Lycans and finds himself unable to save the remaining villagers in an attack. Soon after, he’s brought before Mother Miranda, whom the village worships like a deity, and her four lords: Alcina Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Salvatore Moreau, and Karl Heisenberg. Ethan barely escapes the encounter and feels more determined than ever to find his missing daughter.

Ethan has his work cut out for him.

On this playthrough, I found that RE8 not only does a good job at continuing the Winters storyline, but also advancing the overall RE story in a new direction hinted at through RE7’s Not A Hero and End of Zoe DLCs. Ethan himself receives a lot more character development than in RE7, successfully going from a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto to a more well-rounded character by the end. His search for Rose does a great job at bringing out more of his emotional self and revealing his innermost thoughts and feelings, especially considering how he hasn’t fully recovered from the Baker House Incident in Dulvey, Louisiana. We learn more about his attachment and commitment to Mia and the interactions he has with the four lords reveal a more stubborn and determined personality born from landing in a situation where he believes he has nothing left to lose while his interactions with other villagers reveal his more caring and rational side. Where RE7 ended with an arguably underdeveloped version of the character, by the time RE8 ends, his final actions carry more weight and it’s hard to not feel emotional at his decision. It also helps that when certain revelations about what really happened in Dulvey come to light, the ending feels like the only way it realistically could have gone.

When the game begins, we also get to see part of a storybook called Village of Shadows, which presents a dark story in a unique visual style. On a second playthrough, I realized that this story foreshadows the game’s plot in a “dark fairytale” fashion, further cemented by the story’s climax, which players only see for the first time after beating the game. The way it echoed the ending of the game not only made me appreciate the approach more, but also served as a good setup for the emotional post-credits scene that sets up the Shadows of Rose DLC (more on that later).

While RE7 featured few connections to the games that had come before, RE8 leans more into the existing lore and legacy of the series. Chris Redfield has a larger role than in RE7, not only motivating Ethan at the beginning of the story, but also operating in the background throughout the village and eventually acting as the second player character in a similar, but more satisfying way than the previous game (once again forgoing the Partner system). His development feels consistent with what players already knew about him in his quest to rid the world of bioweapons, which also advances the BSAA plot in a direction that a future installment will hopefully illuminate. Building off of Not A Hero, Chris’ actions in the village lead to further references to The Connections, who feel like an intriguing hint at the future direction of the series.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that RE8 forgot about Umbrella. In fact, the game starts drawing connections between Umbrella and the village itself early on, culminating in a series of diary entries about a visit from Oswell E. Spencer that contain a twist that recontextualized the series so much, I went back and played through all of the main games just to get the proper context. Although RE8 is perfectly enjoyable without any context from other games apart from RE7, I found my effort to better understand the series worth it, as I not only experienced some good games, but did gain a better understanding of the evolution of Spencer’s plan in creating the original T-virus. As such, this twist felt natural to me and invited some interesting implications without necessarily contradicting existing information or taking away from Mother Miranda’s motivation.

An early hint at the village's significance.

Speaking of Mother Miranda, she and her four lords are rather memorable villains and mostly worthy additions to the series. However, I will concede that they’re a mixed bag. Mother Miranda herself has a motivation that adds context to RE7 in a way that makes sense, at least in the moment, and her actions show just how desperate and twisted she is in achieving her goal. Her four lords are like her children in a “found family” sense, though it’s rather dysfunctional as they all have different feelings on their relationship with their “mother”. Of these characters, Alcina Dimitrescu is the most memorable, both for her prominence in the trailers and how she took the internet by storm, but she’s still interesting within the context of the actual game out of her attachment to her three “daughters” and her begrudging willingness to please Mother Miranda. I also found Karl Heisenberg memorable in both his heinous research and his hatred for the rest of his family, which goes so far that he tries getting Ethan on his side. Salvatore Moreau, on the other hand, is more insecure about his place in the family and has a strong attachment to Mother Miranda, but there’s not much else to his character unless you read his associated files. Then we have Donna Beneviento, who doesn’t have much going for her (outside of her files) and doesn’t show up nearly as much as the doll she manipulates. Her location really leaves a strong impression, but she doesn’t have much character apart from tormenting Ethan with visions of Mia.

As far as the gameplay goes, RE8 further refined mechanics introduced or included in RE7 while also incorporating elements from RE4 in a fresh and new way. Ethan no longer needs to equip a Knife to destroy boxes, as the player can instead do so by interacting with the box, triggering the Knife animation. Ethan can now barricade certain doorways for some breathing room in the midst of combat. Perhaps owing to the game leaning more into an action direction, which hopefully doesn’t indicate the series once more slipping back into old habits, enemies now drop items, which Ethan can (thankfully) pick up from a good distance. As with other RE games starting from RE7, the player can also track down and break a certain number of an object, in this case the Goats of Warding, though there’s no reward tied to it apart from completing an achievement and earning CP for the Extra Content menu. Goats of Warding will also permanently disappear from the map when broken, even when starting a fresh save.

Players familiar with RE4 will feel more comfortable here, as this installment once again ditches the classic item box in favor of putting that burden on the player character through “Inventory Tetris”. To recap, this means that Ethan’s inventory takes up a larger expandable grid space than last time, but in exchange, different weapons and items take up a different amount of space. As with RE4, this approach allows a certain amount of freedom while forcing players to balance weapon and item utility while leaving space for whatever else they may find. One improvement over RE4, however, is that while Treasures and Key Items are still kept separate, so are crafting materials, leaving the player more room that they can play around with while still balancing crafting similar to RE7. Players can also still combine certain treasures to give them more value, though some require a little patience or good story timing.

RE8 also has its own version of the popular Merchant in the form of the Duke. He may not be as good to look at, but he provides a similar utility, letting the player buy and sell various items, earning or exchanging Lei in the process. However, he can also cook various dishes that provide permanent stat bonuses, provided the player can procure enough fish or meat from killing certain animals. In addition, he can sell Weapon Charms, but they provide no bonuses and are purely cosmetic, unlike the Weapon Parts that permanently boost a weapon’s attributes (contrast this with the useful Charms the Merchant sells in Resident Evil 4 (2023) (RE4R)). There are also some weapons and related parts only available on a second playthrough, including the S.T.A.K.E., which helps make the game significantly easier, especially with Infinite Ammo on (I played this way the second time for catharsis); you can even access New Game+ items by loading a completed Save file when you start. Overall, the Duke is a very helpful character and I appreciated his presence whenever he showed up.

Amat Victoria Curam

With its larger overall map, I found it interesting that RE8 had a semi-open design, with a more open village hub but more linear paths when dealing with the Lords. Coming off the rest of the series, I thought this design struck the right balance considering the more action-oriented direction and liked how it allowed room for experimenting with different styles and greater enemy variety than RE7’s Molded. Dimitrescu’s castle feels more like the Baker plantation with more verticality, complete with the family acting as pursuers; Moreau’s reservoir has more puzzle elements, including how you progress through the stage; and Heisenberg’s factory is an extended “lab” section that features unique powerful enemies while playing with lighting and destructible elements. House Beneviento still deserves special mention for focusing solely on horror, making Ethan completely powerless as he completes a puzzle and eventually faces an abomination that made me dread a replay. While the horror of the abomination can go down once you realize how scripted it is, it doesn’t make the atmosphere of the house any less tense. While I did find it interesting that a second playthrough replaces certain items you’ve already collected with a free 10000 Lei, I didn’t like how clearing Castle Dimitrescu makes it completely inaccessible, necessitating a guide so you don’t miss anything important (especially Trophy/achievement opportunities).

Owing to its use of the RE Engine, RE8 looks just as good as RE7, if not a little better, including its balance of realism and stylization, though there is still some noticeable texture loading. There’s also more noticeable “yellow paint”, but it’s still fairly subtle, including yellow rope that indicates an important area, and other subtle environmental hints still exist. Interestingly, the yellow rope seems to have an explanation, as one visual in House Beneviento shows a guiding piece of string originating from a ball of Donna’s yarn. Photo Mode helps with capturing some of the striking visuals the game is capable of, though certain effects oddly persist in this state, including the pulsating lights in Heisenberg's factory. Players may also find it odd how you never see Ethan’s face, even during the occasional third-person cutscene, though I personally admired the dedication.

Interesting to see a subtle explanation for some signposting.

I also thought RE8 had effective sound design, though the score didn’t stick with me as much as other games, including RE7’s Safe Room music, even if I found the Duke’s music calming. Similarly, the voice acting sounded about on par with RE7, though Chris has another new voice actor, Jeff Schine. No idea if Chris’ voice will remain in flux or stabilize from this point, but Schine’s performance sounded more in line with what veteran fans would expect him to sound like.

As with RE7, RE8 had its own pre-release demo, Maiden, as well as post-release DLC in the form of the Winters’ Expansion, which released in October 2022. For the sake of completeness, I will discuss them all here, beginning with Maiden.

Similar to Beginning Hour before it, Maiden is a visual showcase that follows a different character, a maiden named Ingrid, with no consequence to the main story. Although very short, only around 20 minutes, this demo does a great job nailing the tone and atmosphere of RE8, including the feeling of running away from a pursuer in Castle Dimitrescu. As I’m writing this, I wonder if this demo also contributed to the perception that Alcina Dimitrescu would have a larger role than she really did, but it’s still nonetheless worth playing even as a standalone experience. Interestingly, you can not only read a lot of the same files that you can read here within the main game, but one encounter also lets you obtain (and sell) Ingrid’s necklace, implying her ultimate fate (this interaction does not rely on playing the demo).

 

One of the main attractions for the Winters’ Expansion is a new third-person view, which the development team added in response to demand from players. However, implementing it took a while because they designed the game around the first-person view and making sure it worked in third-person required as much work as a regular installment, or at least that’s the official word. For the sake of this review, I had planned on playing it the second time entirely in this viewpoint, but found myself switching back to first-person out of familiarity. That said, this viewpoint does work and is perfect for people with motion sickness or for those who insist on playing an RE game in third-person.

This expansion also updates The Mercenaries into The Mercenaries Additional Orders through the addition of two new stages (The Bloody Village and the Bloody River), bringing the total to six, and three new characters, Chris Redfield, Karl Heisenberg and Alcina Dimitrescu, bringing the total to four. Otherwise, it plays similarly to other versions of this mode, where you have to kill enemies, score as many points as possible and exit before time runs out, but the new characters have their own exclusive abilities they can collect and items they can purchase form The Duke. While this does add more welcome variety to the mode, I found myself not having as much fun as other interpretations of The Mercenaries, especially RE4R, partly due to its relative difficulty. The fact that a few weapons are locked behind doing well in this mode led me to purchase the Extra Content Voucher DLC to skip the grind, which I would consider a valid decision.

The real meat of this expansion, however, is Shadows of Rose, which follows a sixteen-year-old Rosemary Winters, who has been working for Chris Redfield and his Hound Wolf Squad. In her civilian life, she has been ostracized for her unique powers, which she considers a curse, and wishes to get rid of them. When Charlie Graham aka “K” suggests that Rose can rid herself of her powers by locating the Purifying Crystal within a fragment of the Megamycete, she jumps at the chance, only to find that her journey is not what it seems when she meets a mysterious ally that she names Michael.

There are some positives to this content. We not only get a glimpse at Rose’s life following the ending of the base game, but her character development is compelling. Rose controls a bit differently from Ethan, giving players a glimpse at her mutamycete powers while balancing it with some light gunplay. The world within the Megamycete also contains new Molded enemies, calling back to RE7 while also introducing some interesting variety. Rose’s powers also come in handy with puzzle solving or overcoming certain obstacles, some of which occurs while under pressure, adding some tension without trying too hard. Her powers also have a limited use against enemies and require either a Sprig of White Sage or Bunch of White Sage to restore charges. Although this content features a forced third-person perspective, it helps make it more distinct from Ethan’s gameplay and I didn’t mind it too much, since they clearly designed the experience around that viewpoint, including a rather unique boss fight design for RE (although it’s admittedly funny how dedicated they are to still never showing Ethan’s face).

For every interesting idea, however, there is something that holds the gameplay back. While Rose can use her powers to slow enemies down or escape grabs, the escapes prove more useful and I ended up using guns most of the time unless necessary. Since the button mapped to healing in the base game now activates Rose’s powers, you have to heal from the Inventory screen, which gets annoying fast. Although I liked certain encounters, the overall level design gets more linear after the return to Castle Dimitrescu. The return to House Beneviento afterwards does a great job at ramping up the tension like in the base game, including one effective jumpscare that doesn’t feel cheap, though the tense section where you avoid mannequins feels just a little less scary when you know how to deal with them. That’s also not getting into how I guessed certain story twists almost immediately and how the level design is not only mostly recycled assets (running through a remixed Castle Dimitrescu, House Beneviento, Chris’ section and Ethan’s final section), but also features signposting even more obvious than the base game. As if that wasn’t enough the story doesn’t even advance beyond the post-credits scene in the base game, leaving me wondering if Rose will come back in a hypothetical Resident Evil 9 or not.

Looks like they even recycled the cake from RE7.

I would say it’s still worth playing Shadows of Rose once for some closure, but I wish it had even a touch more original content.

Overall, I enjoyed my return trip through Resident Evil Village and got a bit more out of it with the context of the rest of the series. Even with its flaws, it’s still one of my favorite Resident Evil games and I’m eagerly awaiting future games, be it more remakes or even a new entry. Although the Winters’ Expansion could have used more care, it’s still a good package if you can get it on sale.