Resident Evil has been a franchise of many forms whether it was a haunted house of the undead experience or your typical action-packed shooters. The franchise went back to its roots in 2017 with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and four years later, they continue the story with Resident Evil: Village. We follow Ethan Winters as he searches for his kidnapped daughter Rose in an infected village that has become the seed of evil.

The Positives:

Resident Evil 8 delivers a truly horrifying, yet gorgeous scenic experience and completely entraps you in the world the creators put us in. Featuring unique and distinct locations such as The Village, The Castle, A Swamp, and a Doll Maker’s house that all shine in their own ways. Not to mention a boss for each location that gives an extra layer of fear. The Village and Doll Maker house turned out to be truly the most terrifying experiences this game will give you. The Village is a disgusting and disturbing area full of rotting corpses and Lycans (werewolves), while The Doll House has you being stalked while playing hide and seek (I won’t ruin the truly most terrifying part of the game, so you can experience it first hand).

That’s not to put down The Swamp and Factory either, because they each also give us something to love. When it comes to The Swamp I felt the level design was lacking in kinetic playing as you try and figure out how to defeat the boss. Due to those minor issues, I found myself to get stuck in certain sections because the game requires you to have perfect time coordination. The Factory might have been my least favorite of the areas, but it’s design and aesthetic makes up for the lackluster level.

This game is a graphical marvel and deserves to be experienced on a current generation console (Series X/PS5) or PC. From the facial structures to the ambiance of every setting the game totally entraps you in the setting and keeping you totally engaged with discovering secret areas, secret weapon locations, and side games to help you gain more money to spend on weapons, ammo, mods, and blue prints.

The story has a nice runtime that’s roughly eight hours long. I myself took around eight and a half hours to complete the main story.

The Negatives:

I think the first two thirds of the story are truly exceptional, but found the story to deteriorate in the third act. In the final two hours the horror aspect begins to feel abandoned as the story switches gears into an action-adventure, sort of like Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. That game focused heavily on more of the gun play versus the traditional survival horror we’ve been playing for the first two thirds in Resident Evil: Village. This leads into the final area: The Factory. This final level and the stage right before turn into a shooting gallery which takes away that sense of claustrophobia. Now that might not be the worst thing for everybody, but I was really hoping for a truly horrifying ending.

When it comes to the story overall I really loved it, but throughout the game our protagonist Ethan goes through so many life-ending injuries, that by the end I could not find myself emotionally attached to him nor could I really get the sense as if he can “truly” die. The writers try to make sense and explain as to why, but it didn’t add or offer anything as an answer. It might have just been better left as is or maybe change the things that happens to him throughout. If you can put the belief of how much someone can endure as a human, than I can’t imagine this being too much of a problem for you.

Tips:

When approaching what is the correct thing to do when it comes to “loadouts” like what is useful and what isn’t, it might be difficult on some of your choices. What I would suggest is doing the side games, looking for shoot-able crystals in the walls, breaking all the loot boxes, looking for treasure chest, and finding collectibles. Doing all of this will leave you with enough money to buy new guns, ammo, and med kits. I wouldn’t buy blue prints for Pipe bombs, bouncing betties and so forth because you find enough of them to store throughout the game. So just save them and you can use your money for the more necessary items.

When playing through I highly suggest reading the notes left throughout every area, as it gives you plot details, treasure location help, and helps you find where you have to go next in the story.

Conclusion:

Overall Resident Evil: Village (Resident Evil 8) is another great return to form with a whole bunch to love! There’s even something in the negatives to truly like.

Great graphics, fantastic horror, amazing acting, and a truly heartfelt ending. I give it an 8/10!