Resident Evil’s eighth game, Village, offers unmatched horror variety

2017’s Resident Evil BiohazardResident Evil was transformed by its switch to first-person. The change made an old video game franchise, that was out of control with its third-person entry, fresh again. This year’s Resident Evil Village“The eighth Resident Evil” builds on Biohazard’s success, but without the benefit of a fresh perspective. Instead, Village builds on the series’ formula while using a new setting and structure to give players a tour through the greatest hits of horror.

Village starts with a similarly linear opening to its predecessor, albeit with a gorgeous, animated version of a gothic children’s story preceding player control. Ethan Winters is the hero of BiohazardHe is currently living with Mia and Rose in an unknown European country. Because it’s Resident Evil, things go horribly wrong within the first 10 minutes. Mia’s death, Rose’s kidnapping by Chris Redfield is normal, and Ethan is placed back in a mystery van.

Ethan is able to wake up in the town’s outskirts after a crash and begin the game. Ethan has to navigate this village multiple times as it evolves. Rose is hidden around the village in four square jars — labeled “legs,” “head,” “arms,” and “torso” — and thus begins the most disgusting Zelda game ever made, as Ethan attempts to collect the jars from four distinct dungeons so he can face the final boss. It’s in these unique dungeons that Capcom revels in the vagueness of Village’s European setting, connecting five unique areas to a single hub in a way that ensures everyone can find an area they love.

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The classic is Lady Dimitrescu’s castle, the tall, vampire-like woman who sent the internet reeling throughout much of the year. Resident Evil 2The police station has gone gothic. The police station is transformed into a gothic dungeon. It contains rotting bodies and torture devices. A man wearing a trench coat to the Big Lady. Resident Evil fans will be familiar with the act of walking through the castle to find special keys that unlock mysterious doors. But the change in setting and the giant matriarch make it more memorable.

Resident Evil Village doesn’t pull the same trick twice, and as soon as you’ve felled Lady D, you’re on to the next dungeon. Instead of another castle full of keys, Village takes players’ weapons away and throws them into a doll-filled puzzle box. Castle Dimitrescu is adventure horror. Village’s doll house is atmospheric horror, playing with lighting and changing the scenery when the lights flicker off, while forcing you to run from a disgusting baby monster that you cannot damage.

After spending some time killing vamp ladies and slaying gargoyles for a while, Village This slows down combat and makes it impossible to use the option of fighting. I much prefer Lady D’s castle to the horror baby show, but I know other players who felt the opposite. Is there anything better? Village It is remarkable that genre shifts don’t feel confusing. It’s all a cohesive vision — one that’s odd and disturbing in the way Resident Evil games always are — that satisfies each player’s horror appetites without ever isolating those who prefer a different approach. The game’s speed allows me to explore new areas and it is easy enough for me to choose which ones appeal to my tastes.

Its second half is VillageIt becomes an action game with platforms through the flooded town and a chase against a huge fish monster. The following area sends waves and waves of werewolf villagers into an elaborate Stronghold — testing how disciplined I’ve been with my ammo conservation. The action is culminated in an exciting dungeon in a massive factory filled with mechanized, bizarre enemies.

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An insecure game could crumble beneath such a list of horror experience. Village They can be flipped through with ease. It’s still a monster-filled game where you shoot disgusting creatures until they crust up and blow away in the breeze. For such an important game in a legendary series, it’s hard to beat. Village The system is very mobile. It’s quick to be weird funny, genuinely horrifying and silly. A normal game couldn’t tell a touching story about a man attempting to fight hordes of monsters to find his daughter andThis is the same man, gluing his whole forearm together with jacket and all. However Resident Evil isn’t normal, and it never has been; it’s outlandish, now more than ever.

Village could’ve played it safe. We could’ve seen Ethan continue his adventure through America, into secret laboratories and through another family infected by the mold. And with the Resident Evil team’s adept skill, that game still probably would’ve cracked our top 50 list. But Village gets weird instead, and whisks players away from the series’ usual world of zombies and secret labs into one with giant vampire women, werewolves, killer dolls, and ritual sacrifice.

Resident Evil VillageIt’s like going to a carnival with different types of horror. You can go in any direction that you want, and it will take you to the Ferris wheel-like Grand Show or Hall of Mirrors. This is how a carnival makes a field seem like many worlds. I’ve played scarier games than Resident Evil Village, but I’ve never played one with such varied dungeons. Village’s success isn’t in how scary it can be, but in all of the different ways it tries to scare you.