Resident Evil Village is a Survival-Horror game was released in 2021 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, and PC, and then it got later ported to Switch in 2022 as cloud service version.
It was both developed and published by Capcom, and it is a sequel to the 2017's previous title such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
Previously, I've already covered my review on Resident Evil 7: Biohazard for PS4 which I described it as the return of the Survivor Horror roots since after the previous entry such as RE 6 which was absolute nothing but a dog shit, so thankfully the RE 7: Biohazard just got everything right to create what makes the franchise quite successful back in the old days of gaming.
I had a blast of playing RE 7 which delivers many great stuffs in the game such as showdown with Jack Baker breaking through the walls, and that crazy bitch surprises you with unexpected jumpscares just adds up the overall scare-fest level.
The darker tone setting of presentation borrows the influence from 70s horror film like Texas Chainsaw Massacre in terms of crooked-looking house and the insane villains.
The gameplay mixes with the survival and puzzles that keeps you busy with the game to progress throughout the story campaign is what makes RE 7 just stepping in the right direction.
As I previously enjoyed the RE 7, I was hoping to look forward with the another RE games which is why I've bought a copy of RE Village for PS5.
Yes everyone, I've already talked earlier about that I've finally got a PS5 Slim last week ago which is why I am here to make my very first PS5 review that I'll be covering today.
So what is my thoughts on RE Village? well it's all depends on how are these story, gameplay, and presentation went, so is it another good RE games out there or is it not just what I've expecting from the title.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game sets in 3 years after the events of RE 7, so it started with Ethan Winters, an main protagonist who survived from the Baker's house incident from RE 7, had been settled living with his wife Mia and 6 month daughter Rosemary until the house invasion had happened when Chris Redfield and his team came breaking in and kills Mia in cold blooded, and kidnaps Ethan and his baby daughter being transported in a van.
After the collision crash, Ethan wakes up on the outside of the village and began his journey to search his baby daughter, as well as uncovering the truth from Chris's action behind the house invasion incident.
The opening scene in the beginning of the campaign is quite unexpected with brutally of teams starts breaking in Ethan's home and showered the f**k out of his wife with multiples of bullets, and knocks Ethan down unconsciously when he's trying to protect his baby from Chris and the teams.
This turns out to be sounds shocking to you fans which you did not expect your all-time favourite hero from the previous RE games had turned out to be bad guy in the game...well there's no explanation what was the main reason he did all that reckless shoot-out which remained mystery, so that's really getting very interesting stuff going on in the game.
First of all, I never been a fan of Ethan Winters as a faceless main protagonist, but in this game his character's development seems to be more of the same with no significant changes whatsoever meaning it's still has the same less emotions characteristics and lacks strong personally just like from the previous game.
Then you have the returning character such as Chris Redfield, as you may know him as the major important character from the previous entries of RE series.
His appearance in the game are described as much darker and more sinister in contrast to his previous heroic portrayal in the series which I really liked the new changes on his character's role in RE Village a lot better than he was previously appeared in RE 7: Biohazard.
The game also shares with many great villains that are quite just as likable, so stuff like you have Hammer-wielding asshole Karl Heisenberg, haunting ghost-like Donna Beneviento and her creepy doll Angie, supreme leader figure Mother Miranda, three crazy witches Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela, and of course everyone had talked about the tall-gigantic woman that breaks the internet after watching the trailer such as Lady Alcina Dimitrescu which I got to say it's clearly the best and most recognisable female villain in RE series...seriously no joke, I swear to you guys may going to agree with my view on this 9 foot-tall madam with big-long claws and the scary expression on her face.
I also liked several of the monstrous creatures like warewolf-like mutants, mold-infected human with mechanical modifications wield with scraped-metal axe, fungy-like zombie with claws and teeth, slow vampiric creature wield with melee sword, giant old-brute wield with large war-hammer, bat-like creature flying everywhere outside, mutated soldier wield with arm-mounted drills, and of course mechanically-modified creature with huge propeller stuck on the head, which I considered these concept design looking quite remarkable that fits really well in the game's settings.
The presentation in this game is actually does gives me sorts of Resident Evil 4 vibes to it in regards of these locations and environments are looking quite similar in both.
You have outside of the villages that are looking so abandoned and completely wrecked which really shows that there are many of poorly conditioned houses, churches, and graveyards just really adds up the game's creepiness.
I also liked three of these locations such as Castle Dimitrescu which are cloudy and gloomy at outside of the castle, and I really liked how they designed the castle at outside view just looks like it came from the Bram Stoker's Dracula, where as inside of the castle are described as dark and medieval with old-looking fashioned rooms and halls.
Then you have crooked-looking Beneviento house which appears to be unsettling and has disturbing stuff going on which I considered this ugly looking house as nothing but a most haunted places in this particular location.
Finally you have Heisenberg's factory filled with dark industrial room and has gritty environments all over the places.
Overall, it has brilliant story, incredible presentation settings, and terrifying villains and creatures.
Gameplay
In single-player campaign, you take control of Ethan Winters in 1st-person or 3rd-person perspective depending on which are these two options suits your playstyle in the game, as your main goal is to rescue his kidnapped baby daughter but in order to do that you must complete several of objectives to progress throughout the game such as puzzle-solving, gathering info from documents and diary, collecting keys and items to gain access to new area, and of course defeating many bosses.
Pushing the left stick to move player around, while the right stick are used as camera movement.
Pressing the left thumbstick to make player run, and pressing the right thumbstick is to make player crouch down can be used for stealth play.
You can interact and pick-up the objects by pressing the cross button, when the cross button symbol appears on the screen.
You can also go on the inventory screen by pressing the triangle button which takes you to the inventory stuff which allows you to equip and examine weapons and items, as well as re-organising stuff to fit in space for many weapons and items that you've picked up recently from.
You can set 4 each of your weapons by highlighting them with short-cuts which allowing you to quickly cycle your weapons by hitting the d-pad buttons, so that you don't have to go back to inventory screen to equip others.
Holding the left trigger to make steady aim while moving around the targeting cursor with the right stick control, then shoot it with the right trigger to shoot down these enemies, but you can also reload the weapon by hitting the square button just in case if your ammunition rounds is quite bit low.
You can avoid enemy's melee attack by hitting the left shoulder button to defend yourself from taking damage, and you can use your first aid bottle by hitting the right shoulder button to increase your health when your health is been lowered down.
You can gain access to your map screen by pressing the touchpad button will display full maps of the locations which helps you navigating the stuff like where you supposed to go and finding a way get to the new area.
You can also save progress by going to the safe room which can be located on your maps, so pay closely attention to the map which also has icons displayed. Once you're in the safe room, you can use the typewriter object which allowing you to save the game which you can always continue the game where you left off for later play, so thankfully you don't really need the ink item in order to save progress because you can save anytime you want in the game.
So far, the controls in this game works really smoothly because I had no issues with the character's movement and camera system, as you can always change the control settings on the pause option menu such as your look sensitivity control and button layouts preferences to suit your play-ability.
The best things about the PS5 controller is that your adaptive triggers actually uses for the pressure sensitivity which means it's designed for the specific parts in the gameplay element that really adds up a new ways of experiencing to play PS5 games.
For example: when equipping the pocket knife which are lighter melee weapon made your adaptive triggers quite loose, while changing it to other weapons like pistols, shotguns, and rifles that made your adaptive triggers quite tighter to press, so it's like you're pulling the trigger from the gun on your hand just adds up the realism to the combat gameplay which worked really amazing for most of the part.
It made really good rattling noises on the right trigger when using the machine-guns, and of course pushing the right trigger half-way hard with the pistols just seems to be very responsive which is why I'm amazed with the innovation that's being included on the 9th gen controller.
The gameplay as a whole are just plays great in terms of survival, combat, exploration, and of course the game's difficulty challenge.
Having to play on casual mode are acceptable for beginners who aren't to keen with the challenge but rather focusing mostly on the story sequences, where as the standard mode delivers a decent challenge without being too difficult to complete, and lastly the hardcore mode is more of the full-on survival root which reduces the amount of resources and making the most of the enemies much tougher and difficult to fight are the best recommendation for most experienced players who loves to participate a bigger challenge.
The mix of combat and survival are nicely balanced as you may need to use some of the survival tool in order to survive in the game such as your weapons and ammunitions which you'll need these to fight off against these monsters when they get too close to you, but don't try to waste many ammunition otherwise you're screwed unless you can only use these when it's necessary, if left no other choice but to fight instead.
Same goes with the health items which you can only use it once if you think you really need to increase your health, so do it wisely or else you'll have no left to use it.
The stealth is the best way to avoid contacting with the monsters or other threats because sometime you don't really want to waste your time fighting with the enemies so much, as you're trying to get to the new areas, so you can hide inside the long furniture, under the beds, and behind the objects like boxes and walls are the best way to prevent getting caught in action.
You can meet up with the big fat Duke which can be found mostly in safe room and places, so you can able to trade stuffs like upgradable weapons which improves upon your weapon performance such as firing rate, power, and reload speed, and then you have attachable items that attached onto your weapon like keeping your aiming steady and adding scope to increase zoom-in distance, and lastly some resources like health and ammo items may come in handy.
I also loved the exploration in the game is because I really liked how they designed the level environment to be larger than the previous games, so you can use exploration to discover collectable treasures and valuables, uncovering different discoveries, and some interesting stuff going on in these villages and other locations.
What makes the game quite enjoyable is the several of fantastic segments that doing the game's justice, so you have some of the decent puzzle-solving aspects such as changing and placing the portraits, re-arranging the statues, swing the flames left and right to light-up candle, play the notes correctly shown on the paper, shoot 5 bells in room, and many more puzzle stuffs that unlocks the un-reveal paths, as well as obtaining the key items that lead you to the new rooms.
My favourite part of the game is the creepy doll house event that kinda gives me sort of the Konami's cancelled P.T Demo of Silent Hill vibes to it in terms of settings and atmospheres where the whole doll house are fully cursed with disturbing stuffs going on such as the light generator just shuts off loudly, hearing little girl laughing in background noises, the radio shatters up like mad, and of course one f***ed up part in the game that I never forget is the ugly-looking deformed baby start chasing you around the rooms is the moment that I finding it quite terrifying, damn that larged deformed baby is sure one ugly mother-f***er.
I also did enjoy the showdown with the bosses are the best thing in the single-player campaign, so you have Lady Dimitrescu where not only she chases you with her deadly claws, but for later part where she's also turned into the final true form which you had to fight her at the rooftops, and then you have Heisenberg which not only he uses his heavy melee weapon, but also has ability to use his power that gathers his scraps to create his defense shields and armor, and of course the throwing attacking weapons, so these are the boss battles that I finding it quite entertaining to play.
I wanted to point out one of the criticism which is a Chris's mission are rather being too short because as I really liked having him as playable character in this story campaign start kicking all the creatures asses, as you can only as him just for half an hour mission which is not quite enough for those who really liked Chris from the previous RE games are expecting his mission to be bit more lengthy, so I wish his mission in the story campaign could have done a bit longer than the half an hour would have made it quite better in my opinion.
As I did enjoy the single-player campaign, I also had a Gold Edition which Includes the extra Story DLC titled as "Shadow of Rose" where you get to play as Rosemary Winters entering her frightening nightmarish campaign, and you also got the mercenaries mode which is a score attack mini-game where you had to defeat all the enemies to gain more scoring points in time limit, and also I did mentioned the 3rd person perspective mode which are only featured on the gold edition version.
You can also get a VR mode for free from the digital storefront, so you can able to enjoy playing the new VR mode on single-player campaign if you have the PSVR 2 headset which I also heard many good things about having to play the horror title with the VR headset delivers the new ways to gain the VR horror experience.
Overall, it has responsive controls, challenging mix of combat and survival, great puzzle-solving, and of course enjoyable boss battles.
Graphics
The overall visual is surprisingly outstanding for the 9th gen system like the PS5 console makes the use of the ray-tracing technologies.
This will allow the system fully rendering the multiples of real-time techniques such as ray casting, photon mapping, and also capable of simulating a variety of optical effects such as reflection, refraction, soft shadows, and other types of effects are really designed to create the photo-realistic design for 9th gen consoles.
In this game, the environmental design of some buildings like Castle Dimitrescu which shares the great use of sharp and bold textures mapping on the walls, objects, and structures that are sometime shiny and smooth or others can be hard and solid just seems to be very well detailed.
Stuff like you have the shiny floors, wavey puddle of water, smooth looking dinning tables, and those objects like wine glass and bottles are the prime examples of using the ray-tracing technologies that adds up the realism of game's design.
The lighting and shadow effects are quite spot-on where you see bunch of the light candles and chandeliers in some rooms just made it quite brighter where as you can see the dark shadows in corridors that are being reflected by surrounding like windows and objects just makes the good balance of the overall brightness and contrast level.
The character's animation is looking quite top-notch using the quality motion capturing system that made not just only the digitized movement and motions that delivers the great level of body and facial figuring technology, but the details that's been added on the characters are very much more of like a real people is just rather looking impressive throughout the cinematic sequences and real-time in-game playthrough.
The frame-rate on each consoles has different advantages depending on which platform you're playing on, so for the PS5 and XSX/S both of them has two options like performance mode or ray-tracing mode.
The performance mode runs fully on 60fps delivering a smoother gameplay, where as the ray-tracing mode are mainly focused on full graphical power giving a console a full advantage of rendering a visual techniques.
To be quite honest, the performance mode is actually did a good job on both consoles with no slow-downs whatsoever but the visual quality level may not look as crisp, where as the ray-tracing mode are also did good too with the graphical level term but I also heard it ran mostly better on XSX/S (X model) takes the advantage of being able to run on between 55 and 60 fps, where as the PS5 just ran on between 50 and 60 fps, so to be fair it doesn't seem to really affecting on your experience which you may likely to enjoy the game in both ways.
I also wanted to point out that some say the S model of Xbox Series are looking quite bad in comparison with the X model are way better for the frame-rate and graphical level, so it's better off playing on the X model of Xbox Series instead.
Overall, it has outstanding environmental design, amazing character's animation, and stable frame-rate performance.
Music and Sounds
The original soundtrack in the game is stunningly fantastic for most of the part. There are several of the soundtrack that are pretty strange but also quite an interesting choice for this type of horror game like "Village of Shadows" and "The Duke" are kinda gives me sort of Danny Elfman vibes to it, where as the others like "Promensons-nous dans les bois", "A Bad Feeling", and "Crisis" just sounded like it's belongs to other horror games that sounded quite similar like Konami's Silent Hill and Red Barrel's Outlast which really fits well on some chase sequences and in-game action.
It was composed by Shusaku Uchiyama and Nao Sato did a fabulous job of capturing a daunting level of scares throughout the game.
The use of sound effects did a splendid job on ambient sounds and background noises just makes the use of 3D audio technologies which allowing the player being able to hear the surrounding stuffs like the footsteps, dropped objects, and of course the sounds of the screaming and laughing voices coming from the other rooms just adds up the unsettling level which proves the overall sound design is indeed very good for the 9th gen standards.
The voice cast did a excellent job on their character's portrayal especially Maggie Robertson's performance on Lady Dimitrescu are sounds really amazing in the game.
Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack, very good sound design, and excellent voice performance.
Special Features
The gold edition includes Shadows of Rose DLC story, the mercenaries additional orders which includes more new playable characters, 3rd-person perspective mode, and of course online-only game such as RE: Re:Verse.
You can also get the VR mode off from PS Store as free DLCs are recommended to those who had PSVR 2 headset may going to experience the single-player campaign using the VR headset.
Overall, an absolute solid content for gold edition and including the free DLCs VR mode.
Advantages
Incredible story presentation and settings
Terrifying villains and creatures
Challenging mix of combat and survival
Great puzzle-solving and enjoyable boss battles
Fantastic soundtrack and sound design
Disadvantages
Unlikable main protagonist
Chris's mission in story campaign are too short
Final Verdict
Presentation 8.5/10 - brilliant story, incredible presentation settings, and terrifying villains and creatures.
Gameplay 8.5/10 - responsive controls, challenging mix of combat and survival, great puzzle-solving, and enjoyable boss battles.
Graphics 10/10 - outstanding environmental design, amazing character's animation, and stable frame-rate performance.
Music and Sounds 9/10 - fantastic soundtrack, very good sound design, and excellent voice performance.
Special Features 9/10 - Gold Edition includes Shadows of Rose DLC story, the mercenaries additional orders which includes more new playable characters, 3rd-person perspective mode, and online-only game such as RE: Re:Verse.
The free DLCs VR mode are also welcome too.
Overall 8.5/10 - As much I've loved the RE 7: Biohazard back then, the RE Village is another great entry that does the series a justice thanks to story campaign, presentation settings, gameplay design, and of course the overall scare factor just got the whole game right that the fans of the series are likely to enjoy another RE entry.
I am very glad that Capcom has started to improve the franchise since the early 2010s where games like RE 6 and other stuff are going full-on action-oriented which doesn't seem to satisfy many the horror fans who never really liked how the series went onto different direction doesn't seems to work well, so Capcom had decided to make the U-turn by going back to the main horror roots that is what made the franchise quite success back in the 90's era which is why we had RE 7 and this game is the huge step-forward for the franchise.
That being said, RE Village is a very good horror title for 9th gen system which is definite recommendation to buy it especially the Gold Edition in which you can get it physically on PS5, PS4, XSX/S, and XBONE for between £20 to £30 so be sure to get it in brand new condition because you really need the DLCs code voucher for Gold Edition to unlock it all, and you can get it digitally on PCs and Consoles just for between £40 to £45.
For those who owns the Switch console are likely to play it on cloud services using the eShop's launcher application, but sadly I also heard it's quite poorly optimised due to it's running on the cloud services requires heavy use of internet connectivity makes the game ran very buggy, so it's best not to play it on the Switch and stick it to the other platforms like the Playstation, Xbox, and PCs are better ways to play and enjoy the game.
So hopefully, I will look forward to get Resident Evil 4 Remake in sometime future.
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