Preamble [Also, MASSIVE SPOILERS CAN BE FOUND IN THIS BLOG; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!]
It is not every day I take up the challenge of picking a fight with the internet, but here we are. In the lead-up to Resident Evil Village, the internet's horniness ended up making Lady Dimitrescu a bit of a mascot. This happened through sheer brute force of the internet as the vampiric mother only appeared in the first trailer for a scant few seconds. Nonetheless, the internet's "thirstiness" is unquestionable, and Capcom, seeing an opportunity to make money, emblazoned her across their promotional materials for the game. Cardboard cut-outs, posters, and concept art featured her widely on various social media circles. Now, I want to clarify that I do not seek to kink shame or scold anyone who might have joined the Lady Dimitrescu bandwagon. Her character design is impeccable and hopefully serves as a reminder that you can get people excited about a female character that isn't as thin as a rail. However, the unfortunate downside of Lady Dimitrescu's memic popularity is that the game's other antagonists fell to the wayside during the lead-up to the release of Village.
Which, there's something to be said about Capcom's role in this situation. I am of the mind that Capcom knew exactly what they were doing when they had Lady Dimitrescu featured prominently in the game's initial trailers and gameplay footage. And yes, getting the internet hot and bothered, which again I wish to emphasize I am not shaming anyone who might fall in that category, was part of their plan. Nonetheless, I think there's a more "pragmatic" reason for Capcom featuring everyone's favorite nine-foot-tall vampire baroness. Lady Dimitrescu's level is the one that most closely mimics the format of Resident Evil Remake 1 and 2. She functions similarly to a highly modified version of Mr. X or Tyrant. I think this allowed Capcom to onboard people who were critical of Resident Evil 7 but liked the first two remake games. When you look at how the entire first environment is structured and compare that to the rest of the game, I think Capcom's intent becomes nakedly transparent. And before anyone accuses me of being a "Negative Nancy," I don't believe this decision was a bad one. The mechanical diversity between each of Village's set pieces is one of my favorite aspects of the game. However, that's dancing around the issue of Dimitrescu not getting her due.
The reality is, despite the early hype, Lady Dimitrescu is just Resident Evil Village's "tutorial" boss with the expected limitations as such. She's "fine" but incredibly limited in what she adds to the story and mechanically hampered in how effective she can meddle with the player. Sure, one could argue her "daughters" are the game's first "true" boss encounter. However, even the story doesn't frame them as the lords of the realm they inhabit. That makes Lady Dimitrescu the first rallying point of the game's ensemble of antagonists. Beneviento, Moreau, and Heisenberg follow her upon her defeat at the player's hands, and Village culminates with the oft-mentioned "Mother Miranda." Speaking of which, if I were to "rank" the internet's favorite vampire mommy, I would rank her as the second-worst boss in the game. Beneviento, Moreau, and Heisenberg are, as we will discuss shortly, far more memorable characters with better culminating environments than Dimitrescu. There's a warped part of my brain willing to go so far as to say she's worse than Mother Miranda. However, once I shake away the lizard portion of my brain, I willingly accept the overall consensus that the last hour of Village is a complete tire fire. So, why do I rank Lady Dimitrescu lower than most people who have played Resident Evil Village?
Donna Beneviento Is The Best Themed Boss In The Game
I'm going to be honest; I'm amazed Donna Beneviento didn't factor more into the promotional materials for Village's release. The "cursed doll" gimmick is one of the most ubiquitous tropes in the horror genre. Nonetheless, the manner in which the game goes about inverting your expectations with a well-worn horror trope is simply magnificent. The constrained level in which you confront the mutant dollmaker provides the best pure horror experiences in the entire game—culminating with a P.T.-inspired journey through a dollhouse-based nightmare. Stripped of your weapons, your attempt to keep Ethan alive while ducking Beneviento's horrors, including her mutant fetus, strike far more effectively than anything the game does with Lady Dimitrescu. Again, part of this is due to the game using Lady Dimitrescu's environment to tutorial the player. So much of her environment is meant to doll out tokens and other collectibles, so the player knows to search every nook and cranny for goodies. Likewise, she's never a challenging encounter, given she's the first real antagonist you confront.
Contrasting Beneviento with Dimitrescu also underscores a lot of the limitations with the latter. While Dimitrescu's ornate castle is fun to look at and explore, it lacks the foreboding sense of dread you have when scrambling around Beneviento's cursed dollhouse. There are a ton of open balconies and atriums in Lady Dimitrescu's castle, which provide the player with breathing room or opportunities to relax and spelunk for collectibles. Beneviento's environment, on the other hand, strings you across a series of rapid-fire survival horror sequences and forces you to not worry about skill points until you're done with her shit. And the culminating battles? Lady Dimitrescu's final form is a ho-hum action set piece that doesn't fully take advantage of the environment. Despite some scenes in which you see her fling you across different portions of the castle, the damage is mainly cosmetic. Also, the way you go about beating her devolves into your ability to act out an action hero power fantasy in which you unload rifle rounds and ballistics without a single care in the world.
Now, compare that to Donna Beneviento and her dollhouse. Again, the level is constrained, and this provides a better horror scaffold. Even if the level's overall difficulty is on par with Dimitrescu's, you don't feel that way as Beneviento's environment has far fewer opportunities for you to catch your breath. Likewise, exploring the level with no inventory allows the game to subject you to the best atmospheric and environmental design the game has to offer. The fetus baby monster is far more frightening and intimidating by itself than any time Dimitrescu chases after you in her enormous castle. Finally, you don't see a ridiculous mutation when you reach Beneviento's final battle. Chasing after the cursed doll, so you can stab it and watch it gush blood, claps way more than when you blow up the expected Eldritch abomination Dimitrescu transforms into during her boss fight.
Moreau's Level Does A Better Job At Worldbuilding And Storytelling Than Lady Dimitrescu's Castle
For whatever reason, Moreau seems to have become what the internet has called "the worst boss" in Resident Evil Village. And you know what? I'm not buying it. Moreau's environment, especially the final part, addresses one of the most significant failings of Dimitrescu's citadel. Unlike the castle, the reservoir feels tailor-made for Moreau's final form. Additionally, you can tell Moreau has impacted his domain, whereas Dimitrescu's abode feels like a preserved relic removed from the chaos surrounding it. In Moreau's case, each sequence feels distinct from one another, which ramps up when Moreau mutates. When he transforms into a monstrous aquatic creature, the game becomes a puzzle in which you dodge his attacks while hopping from platform to platform. The way you play the game fundamentally changes to mimic that you are facing something, unlike anything you have seen before. Again, the big flaw of Lady Dimitrescu's final encounter is that you shoot her in the face a bunch and watch one scripted cutscene after another until she goes down for the count. It's undoubtedly epic to watch, but not nearly as dynamic as it should be.
Another small touch I especially enjoyed during the final stage of the reservoir is how it cuts the bullshit and doesn't throw a bunch of lycans or bats at you while you deal with Moreau. Instead, you can give him all the attention he deserves, which allows you to enjoy the developers' effort to make him a genuinely horrific abomination. Likewise, both he and Heisenberg have motivations that are clearly communicated to the player and which are further expanded upon as you explore their environments. The downfall of Moreau and his pitiful attempts to court the favor of Mother Miranda differentiate him from the rest of the game's antagonists. While Heisenberg and Dimitrescu are able to maintain a mostly human form, Moreau cannot, and you always suspect he's moments away from falling apart at the seams. Ethan's immediate capture of Moreau's portion of Rose's body further underscores his pitiful state, and I like him being one of the few villains to express more than one or two emotional states.
Speaking of "the little things" that go the distance in Resident Evil Village, let's talk about the journals and diaries. The difference in the quality of collectible-based writing between Dimitrescu and Moreau is massive. Again, a lot of this is due to Dimitrescu's set-piece scaffolding concepts in the scope of a tutorial level and front-loading vocabulary that is expanded upon later. There are many diaries and journals in the starting castle, but they lack an overall theme and, worse, rarely do anything to contextualize Dimitrescu as an actual character. Sure, Moreau's journals are limited in scope and depict a predictable descent into madness without any form of nuance, but they are there. It is, once again, another reminder of how Moreau is a reflection of his environment and vice versa. Which helps connect all of the dots of his level as you approach its conclusion. The puzzles you completed leading up to his final confrontation sufficiently prepare you for the "genre break" during his boss battle, and that's something that cannot be said about the rest of the game's antagonists.
Karl Heisenberg Is The Single Best "Spectacle" The Game Provides
How can anyone argue Lady Dimitrescu is better than Heisenberg? His voice actor chews up the scenery like Stanley Tucci, and he strikes a better balance between traditional horror and camp. When the man turns into a Michael Bay Transformer, I can't comprehend anyone NOT viewing that as the "high point" of Resident Evil Village. The spectacle of seeing Heisenberg transform into a Tetsuo: The Iron Man homage hits far harder than Dimitrescu's transformation. That is in part because of your previous interactions with him. Even when he taunts Ethan through TV screens, you can pick up his character quirks and traits almost immediately. And that's the key here. While Lady Dimitrescu repeats one of four possible soundbites whenever she encounters Ethan; Heisenberg motions the player into a full-fledged series of missions. He feels like an actual character with motivations, as harebrained as they may be, and is NOT just a stand-in for players to get their feet wet.
Additionally, to repeat my earlier point of the best bosses being a reflection of their environments, Heisenberg is a perfect example of that. The frightful metallic cyberpunk abominations Heisenberg creates complement the mood and tone of his environment. Sure, Dimitrescu has some annoying bat monsters flying around her palace, but there are not enough enemy encounters that feel overtly connected to her or her daughters. Everything you battle or meet in the first environment feels like Resident Evil Village pulling character models from a playbook and dealing with them is even less inspired. I understand the deliberative nature of Dimitrescu's level and the designers not wanting to test the player's mettle too much or otherwise risk players falling off too suddenly. I also appreciate the legitimate criticism that Heisenberg's level goes on a bit too long. However, when the combat ramps up with Heisenberg, you learn more about his deal and why he wants to get one over Mother Miranda.
Many people like to curse Heisenberg as the point when the game errs towards schlock rather than grimdark horror. But you know what? This is Resident Evil; this franchise is based on schlock. I have a real hard time understanding why people are saying Heisenberg's final transformation is "too much" when this franchise at one point had players fighting a nine-foot-tall mutation of Albert Wesker in the center of an active volcano. How does Resident Evil 4 get all of the shiny medals when it has Ramon Salazar, but Village gets excoriated for letting you pilot a tank to kill a robot-man? Resident Evil is not a horror video game; it's a life choice. The original Resident Evil 2 had you fight a giant zombie Mothra bug! And for fuck's sake, the original "Plant 34" (aka Ivy) was a reference to Little Shop of Horrors! What the fuck are we even doing if Resident Evil Village can't be stupid? Heisenberg's final battle is the best an action set piece in this franchise has ever played. The production values seamlessly transition you from one sequence of events to the next, and when Heisenberg taunts you, he's adding more to the game's worldbuilding. Unlike Dimitrescu's final battle, Heisenberg pulls all of the separate threads his environment foreshadows into a single spectacle. And what a rip-roaring spectacle it was when it climaxed. Finally, if you did not laugh when Heisenberg called Chris a "boulder punching bitch" I don't know if we can be friends.
Can we also recognize how Heisenberg is an incel? His long screeds lamenting the loss of his "dignity" because his boss is a woman are fan fucking-tastic. And whenever he goes on one of his long rants about the conspiracy surrounding Mother Miranda, you can't help but think he's one second away from moaning about vaccines turning you into a crocodile. It's not exactly nuanced, but there's more depth to what he says to the player beyond taunts and insults. In a lot of ways, Heisenberg is in a pitiful state similar to Moreau. The difference is that his failings and character flaws are not manifested physically, and you have to go the extra step of locating his journals to know what he's about and why he's always hot and bothered. And in a game like Resident Evil Village, having a villain that is more than the sum of its parts is a minor miracle. I mean, are any of my critics going to contend that Heisenberg is a worse written character than Jake in Resident Evil 6? Do those people exist? Let me know if they do in the comments.
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