Resident Evil Village Review

Here we go again! (As DMX would put it). Capcom has delivered another game to the expanding series of the Resident Evil franchise and it does not disappoint at all. Fans of the ongoing series and new players can jump in and enjoy it all the same!

Let’s start with Ethan Winters. In Resident Evil 7, I was not very impressed with the character to start. I also found the game very frustrating at times due to Ethan’s lack of abilities and the fact he was never in the previous story line and that he was just forced upon us.

In Resident Evil Village, I find that Ethan Winters has had significant character development and his abilities and weapon choices made the game much more enjoyable. I understand that this is by choice of Capcom, but as a player we tend to blame the characters. As far as the aesthetics of the game, I am completely amazed, especially with the castle. The detail and time put into the look and feel of everything shows the effort that was put into Resident Evil Village.

If playing on the PS5, a clever use of the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback adds another layer of tension to combat. If you’re using a handgun, you’ll be able to pop off shots with a tap of a button, but you’ll need to squeeze the trigger quite hard to fire your shotgun or rifle. The item management is very satisfying too, the inventory system riffs Resident Evil 4’s attaché case, meaning you can organize everything beautifully or leave it in a chaotic mess, which ever suits to your liking.

At times, I found myself really taking my time to search for items and acknowledging the small fine details. Also, the imagery of the mountain tops before Heisenburg’s factory on the bridge was very impressive! The feel of the graphics were so good that I spent more time than I needed to just to enjoy them. Especially during small side quests like hunting animals or treasure. The use of the different lighting techniques gives a feel of being sucked right into the story and putting you right in the action.

As far as the story goes, it was completely enjoyable, however, the ending left me a little bit sad and disappointed. Will Rose be our new main character? After all, in the Resident Evil time line, all of our favorite characters are hitting an age passed their prime. However, why not use a past character like Sherry Birkin or Jake (re2 and re6) to keep the idea of “good guy bioweapons”? I was confused as to why they had to bring in new characters to keep RE going when there are already so many fan favorites.

I’m not going to complain about it too much though. The story was great and really wrapped things up towards the end. It just makes you wonder how the next one will be, will it end the trilogy, or will a completely new chapter to the series come into play. A single complaint is that I felt the castle portion of the story wasn’t long enough and this could have been expanded on, also this could’ve been put at the very beginning of the game.

I think we all wanted to see more of Lady D, considering she was also considered the “most favorable” vessel in Miranda’s eyes. It would’ve been cooler to see more of her, and the castle in my opinion, especially because that was the main part advertised to help sell the game.

All in all, just an amazing game. Great visuals, spot on controls, thrilling story with a touch of vintage Resident Evil early days, it is a great combination of Resident Evil 4 and 7. And little easter eggs like The Duke made references to the Merchant in re4. The Duke is a character that you learn to love! The controls were easy to pick up and it had the right combination of horror and action. If you want to jump in or back to a RE, this is the perfect game to do it!

Game 2 Gamer’s Final Score: 4.5

Frustration Level: Mid

Replay Value:    Mid