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.
