This year marks the 25th anniversary of Resident Evil.
After a detour back to Raccoon City in the recent remakes,
Capcom is now inviting us to a sinister European village,
continuing the tale of Ethan Winters
that began in RE 7’s mold-infested Louisiana bogs.
The story picks up a few years after Ethan’s traumatic run-in with the Baker family.
Ethan and Mia are living a relatively quiet life, when Chris Redfield suddenly attacks
and kidnaps their six month old daughter Rose.
Alone and left for dead, Ethan embarks on a mission to find answers and rescue his daughter.
The specifics are too juicy to get into, but despite a misstep or two,
the events pull you into a gripping mystery with a compelling cast of characters
and leaves you hungering to learn more.
Resident Evil is host to a number of unforgettable locations like the Spencer Mansion
and Raccoon City Police Department,
and the titular village presented here leaves a lasting impression.
Enormous snow-covered mountains engulf the valley, creating a sense of quiet isolation.
The air is cold and heavy with unknown menace, like
something dreadful has just transpired.
Castle Dimitrescu looms forebodingly over the abandoned homes and battered shacks,
highlighted by its elaborate and confined interior.
There are further locations to discover as well, and while some are more memorable than others,
each one serves as a strong focal shift to the narrative and atmosphere.
Exploring each area offers its own set of obstacles and rewards.
The settlement is swarming with lycans
and is deceptively tricky to navigate amidst recent destruction.
Barricades and locked gates force you to find alternate paths
or return later with key items.
Meanwhile, the castle is guarded by none other than Lady Dimitrescu and her three daughters,
making thorough exploration much less manageable
as they frequently hunt you down.
Depending on a number of factors like current ammo, health,
or the number of creatures lying in wait,
it’s vital to adapt your strategies accordingly.
Puzzles feel like they’re making a small comeback,
as they’re trickier to work out than they’ve been in the past few games.
These brain teasers range from simple riddles
to nostalgically rearranging boxes and fuses.
They’re clever and pleasantly balanced without feeling obtuse.
Resident Evil Village is one of the scariest entries in the series,
expertly balancing the buildup of slow, creeping tension
with bursts of frantic terror.
Ominous stretches of silence and anticipation are punctuated by moments of chaos
as lycans claw and smash their way into structures.
Every time you start to get comfortable,
new hazards or seemingly unstoppable foes make their presence known,
relentlessly keeping you off balance and on the defensive.
Combat deftly mixes blockbuster action with intimate anxiety.
Ethan is more confident after surviving the Bakers, but
still not as capable as protagonists like Leon Kennedy or Jill Valentine.
Blocking incoming attacks is critical for survival, and if timed correctly,
you can follow up with a shove to gain some distance.
Large, open spaces provide plenty of opportunities to stay mobile
when you’re overwhelmed.
You can hunker down to defend a location by barricading doors,
shooting bags of flour to disorient enemies,
or placing land mines at choke points –
then use alternate exits to relocate.
Cramped castle interiors provide their own frightening encounters
as zombie-like creatures shamble unremittingly towards you,
doing their best to smother you in narrow dead ends evocative of earlier games in the series.
Item management is handled through an upgradeable suitcase similar to Resident Evil 4
instead of traditional storage boxes.
Crafting plays a significant role without feeling burdensome,
as those resources are stored in a separate tab
instead of clogging up precious inventory space.
Less valuable recipes like handgun ammo are fairly easy to craft,
but healing tonics and more powerful ammunition are hamstrung by rare resources like
herbs and chemical fluid,
presenting hard choices about how to use the ingredients at hand.
Arguably the most important character in Village is The Duke.
The enigmatic merchant has a habit of showing up exactly when you need him,
offering moments of cozy respite and intriguing banter.
Money and treasure can be found in the environment or from defeated enemies,
allowing you to trade for powerful weapons, mods, ammo, health, and upgrades.
There are even a handful of stat-boosting meals that can be cooked by The Duke,
provided you have the necessary ingredients.
Each upgrade increases your chance of survival,
and the feeling of slowly getting stronger is perfectly addictive for the 15 hour adventure.
The starting equipment feels suitably underpowered as lycans absorb round after round
until you invest in something stronger,
while shotgun shells are always in short supply
making missed shots feel terribly distressing.
Stronger enemies and bosses usually require more specific tactics to bring them down,
encouraging you to always be aware of your surroundings.
We all have different skill levels so finding the right difficulty
is vital for enriching the sense of fear and desperation.
Casual, standard, and hardcore settings are available at the start,
with a fourth, Village of Shadows, unlocked by completing the game
or pre-ordering the deluxe edition.
Village of Shadows feels designed for later playthroughs though,
as not only are there more enemies during fights,
but they can soak up ridiculous amounts of damage even from a moderately upgraded arsenal.
Hardcore is tough but fair and features forgiving checkpoints.
Even in the bleakest moments, it always feels like you have a fighting chance.
After completing the main campaign, challenges retroactively unlock,
awarding points that can be spent on things like concept art, character models,
infinite ammo, and additional weapons.
They range from finishing the game under a certain time
to killing enemies with specific weapons.
It’s just one of the ways Village encourages replayability,
whether it’s to take on harder difficulties or to focus on tasks you wouldn’t normally do.
Additionally, fans of new game plus can use completed save files
for future runs to retain hard earned weapons, upgrades, and cash.
The fan-favorite Mercenaries mode returns for the first time since Resident Evil 6.
This time-based challenge is all about high scores and fast-paced action.
Each stage is split into distinct zones, and to progress further,
you have to dispatch a set number of enemies to summon the exit.
Once revealed, you can move ahead
or stay behind to eliminate every enemy for a sizeable bonus.
Between areas you can spend cash on upgrades or items from The Duke,
while reaching goals on each stage unlocks additional starting money,
abilities, and more stages.
Killing foes grants extra time,
and eliminating them in rapid succession contributes to a combo multiplier
which is essential for netting high scores.
Picking up blue orbs lets you choose between powerful abilities
such as increased health, life leech, or decreased enemy speed.
And these effects can be stacked by picking them up multiple times during a run.
There’s enough freedom to tailor Ethan to your preferred playstyle, but
the prospect of random abilities adds unknown excitement to each attempt.
The main downside to Mercenaries is that there are really only four stages.
These are doubled-down on with harder variants, but overall, the mode still feels incomplete.
There’s no guarantee for DLC, but with an excellent foundation,
hopefully Mercenaries will be considered for future additions.
On PlayStation 5, Village looks and sounds exceptional.
Locations are intricately crafted, as each new room you step into
is packed with eye catching details to investigate.
Paranoia easily sets in as you hear enemies lurking in dense foliage
and adjacent rooms.
With ray tracing on, the visuals look marginally better,
but the performance takes frequent, noticeable dips.
Turning it off yields a steady 60 frames-per-second.
Resident Evil Village’s imposing environments lay the groundwork for exhilarating action
and slow, creeping fear.
Exploration and resource management are among the best of the series.
A few story elements miss the mark, and Mercenaries is over too quickly,
but Village is another remarkable entry in the long-running survival horror series.
Final score: 9 out of 10.
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And if you’re a big Resident Evil fan, so is Michael Huber –
be sure to check out Huber Syndrome Thursday mornings
for his takes on things like Resident Evil, Assassin’s Creed, shotguns, and more.