Resident Evil Village infuses the newfound first-person horror of Resident Evil 7 with the tense action survival of genre-defining Resident Evil 4. This is a game confident in its ability to terrify players while empowering them past the dread of overwhelming odds.
In the grimy recesses of Eastern Europe or Spain or wherever it was, I thought to myself, “Leon Kennedy is having a really bad day.” All he wanted to do was save the President’s daughter. Instead he was met with a cult of weirdos who had bugs bursting out of their heads. And then he was stuck in a lake with a mutated reptile. Then he was being chased down by a mechanical leviathan crashing through a stone castle. Poor guy had to not lose his cool while using a thermal scope to explode parasites embedded in an indestructible, thrashing goopy being. Not to mention Ada Wong never gave him the time of day.
Resident Evil 4 was and is an iconic game. It’s flurry of tense quicktime events, smart third-person action, and genuine waves of terror. Gone were the tank controls and claustrophobic camera angles that had become the hallmarks of horror and Resident Evil‘s DNA. Although Resident Evil 4 had beefy action, the overwhelming threat of the Las Plagas ensured that Leon and players never felt too strong and capable against the odds.
Capcom struggled to reach that harmony with Resident Evil 5 and 6, leaning more heavily into action and the punching of boulders with friends. Though Resident Evil 5 remains one of my favorite cooperative experiences, the presence of another player dulls that synergy of loneliness and fear.
Resident Evil 7 resurrected the franchise as both a callback and an evolution. The time between the numbered entries saw a deluge of first-person horror games that dabbled with no combat and a focus on psychological horror and jump scares. Ethan Winters’ trek across a Louisiana bayou was reminiscent of the tight confines of the Spencer Mansion or the RCPD building. But the shift to first-person transformed the survival horror in ways the fourth entry did. Players interacted with the nightmares from the perspective of Ethan, where a restricted field of view made anything not in his line of sight exponentially terrifying.
Resident Evil Village plucks inspiration from its elders. Players will encounter an exasperated protagonist, driven to his wits’ end. Weapons can be upgraded by selling collectibles and inventory slots can be moved around like Tetris pieces. And, of course, there is a monster closet packed to the brim with nightmarish beasts that defy logic. Where Resident Evil 7 was a reinterpretation of the series’ first entry for modern trends, Village blends in what made Resident Evil 4 so beloved. The result is beyond impressive, a thrilling ride of action, survival, and horror.
Village takes place a short span of time after Ethan Winters’ tumultuous encounter with the Baker family. His wife rescued with the help of Resident Evil mainstay Chris Redfield, Ethan and Mia moved to Europe and had a daughter. The trauma of those events looms over Ethan but it appears as if Mia barely remembers it, or chooses not to. A peaceful evening is interrupted with gunshots and the abduction of Rose at the hands of Chris. Knocked unconscious and carried away, Ethan wakes to find Rose and Chris gone and the men who were guarding him dead. One short, snowy trek later and Ethan stumbles into a remote village with a massive castle dotting the horizon.
Tone is a particular strength of Resident Evil games. A note found quickly scrawled on a table will tease a lingering plot thread. The sight of a bloodied room speaks volumes. A mood is set when a bell echoes across the landscape. In our normal, everyday world, there likely aren’t laboratories hidden under mansions and police departments. A castle may have a dungeon but its likely empty and not flowing with two feet of blood. Village offers another tantalizing spin on a comfortable locale. 7‘s brilliance came from evoking that “mansion” feeling again, packing it with illogical contraptions that worked within the confines of reality. Here, the titular village isn’t a backwater place abandoned by time, it’s an idyllic habitat that has been upended and torn asunder by unknown forces.
Players are given ample time to walk the snowy paths of the village before panic sets in. Everything feels normal but we know that it isn’t. How could it be? Dead crows hang from trees not far from a building where a person likely lived a humble life. Ethan walks through this home casually but like the player, he knows something lurks around the corner. The ambient noise of aged wood is interrupted by crashes as Ethan grabs an item from the basement. Upstairs a wall has been blown apart.
Capcom relishes in these opening moments of “peace” by subverting obvious jump scares. There are piles of bodies and streaks of death everywhere. People have tried to escape this village or have hidden out of sight, it feels like Ethan is in a town of ghosts. The player might be waiting for hell to break loose or a werewolf to pop around the corner but this tension is savored–a common theme in Village.
Think about those opening moments in Resident Evil 4. Leon asks a local man for help, only to shoot him down after a surprise attack. A few traps and violent villagers are encountered before taking a drastic turn at a small circle of buildings, leading to that encounter with Dr. Salvador, the chainsaw guy.
In Village that tension takes time to boil. Soon, Ethan is attacked by a lycan that bites off part of his hand. Soon after, players are stuck in a small building where multiple lycans attempt to break through, amplifying the stakes. Ethan can bar a door with a shelf but the windows and a hole in the roof present problems. Once that handful of beasts have been felled, Ethan walks deeper into the village for a heart-pounding moment of exploration. Progress a bit further and multiple lycans appear on the rooftops of rundown buildings, slowly backing away upon advance.
You know those bastards are going to attack, you just don’t know when.
That prolonged sense of fear and unease continues throughout Village. Capcom is careful not to rely on the same tricks beat after beat. Occasionally, the player is given long stretches of time to steel their nerves and take a breath. Infrequently, obstacle after obstacle impedes a moment of peace as an action scene transitions into a fight for survival in a dank corridor. I found myself breathless countless times in Village, not knowing when I would have to fight for my life or when I would need to let out a shout.
The game’s first chunk is a dramatic roller coaster of Resident Evil hallmarks. Gunfights stretch across scenery as players cautiously retreat to find stable footing. Hunts for ammunition and valuables offer a future safety net. Gruesome deaths hammer home how unfriendly and dangerous the world is. Having played 7, I was comfortable with Village‘s grounded combat. Pulling off a headshot is no easy task as enemies sway and dodge while lurching forward. Players are encouraged more to guard as it mitigates more damage than a full-on attack. Often enough, a boss or lone enemy will get close, requiring players to dart in a different direction to avoid damage. Initially, it feels awkward to perform this dance but it raises the stakes of combat. Unlike his earlier counterparts, Ethan can move while aiming but players have to be conscious of what might might be outside of his tunnel vision. Simple crafting also returns to allow players to make ammunition and first aid kits.
Once players lumber into Castle Dimitrescu, the game’s mood shifts into those survival horror roots. Here we meet Lady Dimitrescu and her three daughters, who will torment Ethan in his time within the castle. While players are free to explore the castle, its walls create a kind of prison that players must navigate through puzzle solving and calmer shootouts. Encounters here feel more intimate and the larger world and story of Village begin to creep in.
Village tosses an assortment of villains at players who are more fantastical than a Louisiana family and Lady Dimitrescu is an appetizer for things to come. In fact, I was shocked at how quickly Ethan’s business at the Castle was resolved. Its Bloodborne-like gothic facade leads into opulent rooms bathed in red and excess. The most thrilling of fights take place in small rooms that act as tiny combat puzzles. Reflecting on it now, I feel as if Capcom paid its homage to Resident Evil 4 then wanted to transition players into those feelings from 1 and 7.
Shortly after Castle Dimitrescu, players will find themselves back into the village and with new connective tissue for previous Resident Evil games. Where Chris and a quick nod were the only referential bits in 7, Village hopes to dive deeper into the lore of the series while paying proper respect to Ethan’s search for Rose. Once Ethan gets his first real lead on his daughter, the game had me hooked until the end, wanting to know more about the madness behind this village and what part the Winters DNA played.
Exploring Village is an invigorating distraction. The village acts as a kind of hub that opens up more the further players progress in the story. A helpful map indicates what rooms still contain items of interest. Village also presents players with The Duke, a vendor who offers weapon upgrades and helpful items. The weapon inventory here is greatly expanded and players will need to be conscious of the treasures they collect and how they want to spend their money. Does all the cash go into upgrading the base pistol and shotgun, or do you save that money knowing a better weapon will come along? Sacrificing initial damage output for better returns was a rewarding experience in Resident Evil 4 and I happily continued it here.
A few times the puzzles in Village may mystify players or frustrate with wonky environment interaction–I’m looking at you fire chandeliers in the dungeon–but rarely stupefy to the point of confusion. Many times a solution to an out of reach treasure depends on story progression. Players can also hunt down animals to recover meat that The Duke will use to increase Ethan’s base health and other attributes. These touches provide a path for the player to feel noticeably stronger after tougher fights, making future battles appear less daunting.
Village focuses players on the hunt for the Four Lords, or the four main bosses of the game. Each is housed in a different spoke that stretches outward from the central village. Those who grew tired of the familiarity across Resident Evil 7‘s environments and enemies will have a bit less to complain about in Village. The roster of monsters has been greatly expanded from the Molded, offering up creative fodder and even more ridiculous and bizarre bosses. The new environments are grounded, yet remains twisted spins on reality.
But Village‘s second Lord is undoubtedly one of the most memorable parts of the game. Steering away from spoilers, players will find little to no combat in the moments surrounding this Lord. Instead, Capcom opts for psychological horror instilling the player with a feeling of dread at the prospect of turning a new corner. While it may borrow in a way from the previous game, I found myself panicked, nervous laughing, and shouting “oh my god” at what I came across. It was here that Village truly sold itself as something more than the sum of its parts, not content with just borrowing from the past. Hell, it even gave Silent Hill 2 a run for its money in the creepy department. Though the end sections of the game may focus harder of spectacle and action for some, Village frequently clutches to what it does best. And that’s no more apparent from the fact that the game takes the time to slowly inch players through a darkened cliff-side manor, stripped from the threat of death but still waiting for that moment when you may scream.
As an added bonus, Mercenaries mode returns but this time it’s in first-person! While I always found the time-based waves of enemies to be a little too nerve-wracking, the FPS perspective does help a bit. Cashing in money for buffs and helpful upgrades allows players to kill enemies faster and progress through the level in hopes of achieving a coveted SSS rank. What’s disappointing is that there is no co-op for Mercenaries as most of that effort has likely gone into Resident Evil Re:Verse. It’s a fun distraction but definitely not the main feature.
Resident Evil Village is a gripping entry for this long-running horror franchise. Capcom has excelled at translating the strengths of this series through perspective and tonal shifts. It succeeds as both a horror game and an action game. During Ethan Winters’ harrowing journey, players will feel a constant rush of looming dread and gut-wrenching victory. Each battle is fueled by a strange adrenaline. Do you fear the unknown terror of a nightmarish beast, or push out a sigh of relief after fending off a group of werewolves unscathed? Village throws players into a gauntlet of emotions but is always mindful of that constant reward. Whether you get pleasure from being scared to death or mastering your fears, Resident Evil Village is going to satisfy.
