Following on from the stunning narrative laid out in Resident Evil biohazard was going to be no easy task. Still, it’s fair to say that Resident Evil Village has blown all expectations completely out of the water.
Players step into the shoes of Ethan Winters once more; a man who now has a loving wife in Mia and even a young child called Rose. Though their home life isn’t perfect, it does seem far and away more peaceful than the horrors they went through just a few years prior.
All of that comes crashing down however, when a team led by Resident Evil fan-favourite Chris Redfield storms the family residence and kidnaps Rose, ushering in a new series of terrifying events for Ethan - and players - to go through.
It doesn’t take long for players to reach the titular setting of the game’s rural village. Infested with locals that are happy to tear you limb from limb without so much as a second thought, the influence from Resident Evil 4 - perhaps the weakest and most frustrating game in the series to-date - is clear. Thankfully, it manages to do a much better job than that predecessor.
A rogues gallery of villains is fronted by the already-iconic Lady Dimitrescu, but she’s not the only big bad hoping to bring your adventure to a gruesome close. In fact, she’s not even the person in charge. That honour instead befalls to Mother Miranda, whom Dimitrescu and three other comic book-esque characters work beneath.
Then there are the real lackeys. We’ve got lycans, gargoyles, werewolves and more, that you’ll have to fend off in increasing numbers as you progress through the game. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially with your short supply of weaponry and ammunition, so stealthy approach is often favoured to rushing in firing bullets in all directions.
With combat, you’re thrown in at the deep end. If you’re somebody who prefers to take it slow then, you may want to put your difficulty level right down. That may take away from the high-intensity moments in which you’re forced to hide rather than fight, however. Whatever your playstyle though, the story is a great one.
The narrative woven here by Antony Johnston is a thing of beauty. Though it is of course tragic and distressing at times, it’s delivered perfectly by a stellar cast which includes Todd Soley as Ethan Winters and Jeff Schine as Chris Redfield.
Just as the game appears to be getting a little too tough for some casual players however, the arrival of The Duke - another returnee from RE4 - means that you’ll be able to exchange treasures you find along your way for upgrades, weapon modifications and even permanent boosts to Ethan’s health.
When the time comes to face-off against Village’s bosses, you’ll be thankful if you’ve spent some time hunting and exchanging with the chubby little merchant. It’s not that they’re particularly groundbreaking in their mechanics but, if you go in underprepared without much to use to take them down, then you’ll likely feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall.
My main grievance with Village however, is with the lack of challenging puzzles. Though there are challenges to do throughout the game, they’re not at all difficult. For the majority of them, they’ll be a note left around, basically handholding you through what you need to get done to proceed. This is something I hope Capcom recognise as a downfall in any future instalments; it almost feels like the consumer is being treated as a little stupid by the development team.
Still, there is plenty of meat on the bones of this title to warrant playing. Even after you’ve completed your first run of the campaign, you’re going to want to go back and complete a number of objectives to gain access to concept art and the like.
There’s also the unlocking of the Mercenaries mode that unlocks following your first completion of the campaign. Here, you are forced to survive against an onslaught of enemies in a string of four stages taken from Village. You need to gain a rating of A or higher (S or SS if you’re really good) to progress to the next level, which is truly more challenging than anything the main game offers.
Orbs have been added to the mode, which give special abilities such as increasing damage on headshots. These stack as you play so, you go from relatively-weak fighter, to full-on killing machine if you play smartly enough.
Thrilling in almost every way, this is another stunning instalment to the Resident Evil franchise. Now, I can’t wait to see what is offered up when the much-anticipated multiplayer experience Resident Evil Re:Verse drops this summer.
Resident Evil Village is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam and Google Stadia. A code for the game on PS5 was given to Female First in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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