Ethan AGAIN?
I played Resident Evil 7: Biohazard when it released in January of 2017. It was my freshman year of college in NYC. I had never played a Resident Evil game before, the series had previously intimidated me. I loved horror films, but horror games are a different genre of scary. The only other horror game I had played was The Last of Us, which took me years to build up the courage to get through. I was really into gaming YouTubers at the time though, and their videos convinced me to try Biohazard myself.
Resident Evil 7 is thrilling, disgusting, and terrifying. I was in awe of it’s beauty. The experience of playing it for the first time is something I tried to recapture in later playthroughs, but nothing compared to the first few weeks I spent with it.
I wanted to play Resident Evil 8: Village as a couch co-op game with a friend of mine when it came out, as we’d recently come to enjoy playing horror games together that way. I wanted her to see and understand Biohazard first, though, since I knew Ethan would be returning as the protagonist in Village. We spent a few months playing through Biohazard on the weekends, and I was overjoyed that she enjoyed it as much as I had freshman year.
We started Village a few weeks after finishing Biohazard, and played it on a similar time schedule. We’d have 3 or 4 hour sessions every weekend or so, sometimes not getting to play for longer stretches due to life getting in the way.
Village is true camp. It’s Resident Evil at it’s absolute silliest. The plot? Thrown out the window. I’ve played both Biohazard and the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake, and while both have their ridiculous moments, Village takes the cake by a landslide.
Village is a video game-ass-video game. It has big bosses, varied environments, and lots of fun combat. Lady Dimitrescu’s mansion was beyond lavish. I wanted to bathe in her pool of blood, and charm all of her daughters. Hearing her stomping down the hall towards me was genuinely terrifying. Village definitely had the most visually striking sequences in the series so far. Every time I put down the game, that’s what made me want to come back. The spectacle of it.
The plot, however, left something to be desired. I don’t think they should have continued with Ethan’s story after Biohazard. Things got a little too weird and wild in this game. Ethan is made of mold? He can’t die? Rose has been cut into pieces? Who the hell is this Chris Redfield guy? Why am I expected to care about him? All of that nonsense made it hard to care about the ending. As someone who really enjoyed the plot twists of the 7th game, and was invested in the characters, I’m disappointed by how little weight the plot held.
I can accept the shortcomings of the plot, though, and still fully recommend the game to all fans of the series, or general horror game enjoyers. The game feel is fantastic. The combat is fast, punchy and satisfying. All the guns felt great.
Something I will note though, is that I hated the character of the shopkeeper. His entire design is incredibly fatphobic. The folds of his skin are spilling out from under his clothes, and he makes awful mouth sounds. You can make him food for special upgrades. It was disgusting seeing the only fat character portrayed that way. Not surprising, but disappointing. It definitely took away from my enjoyment of the game.
I recommend sitting down and marathoning Resident Evil: Village in a weekend. Playing it over a large quantity of time, especially with how light the plot is, didn’t feel great. It’s the kind of game I’d like to play fast, loose, and get through quickly to enjoy it to the fullest. I’m excited to see where they take the series next!
