After a long wait, Resident Evil Village has opened the doors of its village to visitors. Already from the first trailers it seemed to present itself with certainty,
with the maturity of those who, after the excellent test of Resident Evil 7, have nothing more to prove. After all, that seventh chapter marked the beginning of a real new course for Capcom and its flagship horror brand, chasing away the discontent that the sixth chapter brought with it. Being a Resident Evil fan until then was something for strong stomachs, a swing of enthusiasm and perplexity that saw its darkest years right in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era.
Having dismissed the pretense of wanting to be an action horror blockbuster, Resident Evil has found its best form in the suffocating corridors of the Baker house , in Louisiana. He did it through an “empty” character, that Ethan Winters who, desperate for his wife Mia, underwent terrible tests and nightmares. But it did so also thanks to a clever graphic engine, the RE Engine, which gave Capcom the means to create solid and extremely functional stories and games. Resident Evil Village therefore finds itself retracing the furrows traced by its predecessor, but who knows if the road will be the same.
Our protagonist is for sure: Ethan Winters, who three years after the events of the Baker house has settled on a permanent basis in Europe, together with his wife Mia and newborn daughter Rose. This newfound family dimension is soon interrupted by a tragic event, which sees Ethan and his daughter taken by a Chris Redfield who is decidedly unwilling to dialogue. It will be here that our journey will begin, after a road accident that will mark our entry into the Village in search of our missing daughter. A turbulent and intense entrance, which allows us to take our first steps in the village and get to know some of its inhabitants.
Bloody creatures move angrily among the wooden houses of this rural village, and the simple people who inhabit it seem to fear them in an almost reverential way. Resident Evil Village wastes no time in giving the player the reference narrative context, presenting immediately the elements that will characterize the adventure. Like the Lycans, men with animal features move and incessantly attack the village in a crescendo that will bring us in the presence of the lords of this place. Some of them we have already learned about them, such as the giant Mrs. Alcina Dimitrescu, who has already won the favor of fans. We will have the opportunity to meet the others in due course, in a narrative structure that partly traces that of the Baker family, but applying it to a decidedly more structured and complex setting.
The Village is one of the true protagonists of the story : it is incredibly detailed and full of atmosphere, thanks to a skilful level design that accurately dictates every nook and cranny. If your fear is that Village might apply an open world formula, watering down the horror atmosphere, you are a long way from reality. The streets of the Village are cleverly positioned to create claustrophobic paths and passages through the houses , with the noises that keep the tension high in view of some dangerous encounter. The Village acts as a connecting bridge between the four main settings, macro areas that host the four gentlemen within them, each time adopting different atmospheres and gameplay solutions.
Exploring the village and discovering its secrets or optional passages therefore becomes the prerogative of the player, who will have to dose the ammunition and his equipment to face the ambushes of the Lycans . The latter are not the only enemies present, but they are certainly the most interesting. Fast and aggressive, Lycans almost always attack in packs, moving and moving across rooftops to catch you off guard. Their territorial and animalistic nature gives life to some of the most beautiful and tense scenes in Resident Evil Village, with the Lycans watching you motionless on the rooftops waiting for your move.
Will you try to go your own way, or will you be the first to attack and risk everything and everything? Resident Evil Village does not give up its horror component for the whole adventure. Exploration becomes a source of continuous tension in a risk / reward logic that seems to come out of any soulslike . The idea of finding treasures or following clues to a particular map requires the player to retrace his steps, to move through those snowy streets or corridors without knowing what he will find.
Resident Evil Village in this sense is incredibly satisfying , thanks to a structured level design (with very beautiful puzzles) but never dull and frustrating, and to a gameplay that improves the bad gunplay of its predecessor. Shooting here is a pleasure, also thanks to the excellent support of DualSense on PS5. The latter supports haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, which make resistance when aiming and firing any weapon.
On a purely mechanical level, Village recalls the unforgettable first chapter , with a meticulous inventory management (returns to the RE4) and the need to weigh one’s ammunition and care. The merchant also returns, this time introducing himself as a big chubby man called the Duke. He will sell us resources and ammunition, upgrade our weapons and even cook for us using the animal ingredients that we could collect throughout the village, increasing some of our stats (life, defense on guard, etc).
But Village does not improve the gameplay following the canons of action, leading Ethan to become a war machine that moves with weapons at the ready. Even on Normal difficulty it will be necessary to weigh every shot, since Lycans and company will prove to be more tough than expected, but above all more reactive and fast. Missing a shot, so to speak, will happen more often than you think. The balance between horror and action remains fairly balanced throughout the 10-12 hours required to complete it , with some sections in the second half tipping the scales towards action. This we could define a defect of form of the saga, which has always increased the pace towards the finale and does not present itself here as a defect, unlike the soporific second part of the seventh chapter.
As mentioned before, however, the Village is a sort of large area that acts as a bridge to other settings: those of the Lords. Each of them is unique and peculiar, and if we want to explore a different characteristic of the “legacy” of the saga. The Dimitrescu Castle is only one of the settings in which Ethan will set foot , but certainly also the one that most of all characterizes the following ones. Each of them is extremely peculiar in terms of artistic direction and basic idea, but they all share a similar level design. Several puzzles, backtracking and a lot of cramped spaces that will test your survival. Each then hosts characters who are characterized on several occasions through scattered notes and dialogues.
The meeting with Alcina Dimitrescu and her daughters is beautiful and anxious, especially when that gigantic and elegant woman decides to chase us through the halls of her beautiful castle. The one with Beneviento is simply stellar and terrifying. The only one to sin in terms of quality is Moreau, who presents himself as the weakest section of the game (somewhat in line with his figure and personality within the narrative). Gameplay at the service of narration, in short, characterizing the game areas according to their masters.
In this sense, the RE Engine plays a lot in favor , offering remarkable visual fidelity. The fluid and expressive facial animations add depth, also thanks to the excellent English dubbing, to these peculiar interpretations of some gothic horror canons. The 60 frames per second with active ray tracing on PS5 (and Series X) are feast for the eyes, especially in tight spaces. A few distant pop-ins might betray its cross-generational nature, but the truth is that Resident Evil Village is beautiful to look at and very artistically inspired.
Conclusion
Resident Evil Village is a huge step up from its predecessor , taking that first-person horror formula to new heights. The Village is beautiful, meticulously designed and full of great moments of exploration. The risk / reward logic borrowed from other genres goes well with the horror nature of the saga, which finds here new heights of tension and fear.
The new varieties of enemies are functional and sufficiently tough even at lower difficulty levels, never diminishing the survival horror nature. Indeed, this finds new forms thanks to the renewed and more functional gameplay. Village is the perfect child of the old and new Resident Evil course. It manages to combine the great survival horror of the original and 2 with the tension and concept of 4.
The narrative takes what was seen in the seventh chapter by inserting it into a larger canon , finally deepening Ethan Winters and showing new glimpses of Chris Redfield. Something left open betrays the possibility of a sequel, leaving Village to connect the dots and tell the story of this terrifying European village. Resident Evil Village is Capcom’s big new horror blockbuster. Thinking back with a cool head, after hours and hours spent exploring every corner, Resident Evil Village is already a classic .
