4/5 ★ – Em_SG97's review of Resident Evil: Village.

Resident Evil Village is an interesting game for me, I had a great time during my playthrough, but it still feels like it’s missing something. I think i end up comparing it to RE4 and when i do that RE8 suffers a bit. To start with story, it’s pretty stock just like most other Resident Evil games but the setting is unique for sure. You play as Ethan again as he returns from RE7, and I definitely have to say that he is far improved as a character. Previously he was pretty mellow and didn’t seem to react too much to the crazy shit going on around him. He now feels more like a real person with genuine emotion behind his lines and reactions. The story starts off pretty strong too, as Chris, from the previous games in the series, shoots Ethan’s wife in cold blood and takes his baby. It’s incredibly jarring and gets you invested pretty easily. The game gets wackier from there as Ethan embarks on a quest to save his daughter and find out what’s going on in the mysterious village he finds himself in. The villains you meet are all very unique and have a lot of personality, but sadly you don’t really get a lot of time with each of them. Lady Dimitrescu, the vampire giantess, is a great villain and is a lot of fun to go up against, but is severely underused just like the rest of the villains and it definitely hurts the game. I found the true villain to be pretty boring compared to her underlings, and especially compared to villains from other games like Wesker, Jack, and Eveline. It doesn’t help that she’s barely in the game too so you don’t really get a lot of time to develop her. All the revelations you learn about the story weren’t bad, but I found myself noticeably less interested as the game went on. Even though the story is nothing special, I’m willing to cut it some slack since the Resident Evil series has never been known for good stories and the gameplay and atmosphere are what I’m really here for. Gameplay is a lot of fun and feels a lot like if RE4 was in first person, which is a double edged sword. It borrows a lot of strengths from RE4, but doesn’t really do anything particularly better than it. RE4 was great because you had several mechanics to balance. You had to pick the best weapon for the moment while fighting multiple enemies and know when to close distance for a melee attack or prepare for a quick time event. RE8 follows this formula but brings less depth. It’s still loads of fun but RE4’s superiority hung over me the whole time. The one segment that really stood out to me as more unique was the stealth puzzle section that stripped you of all your weapons. The first person perspective really added to the tension here and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall RE8 is really good. It’s got solid action with a great atmosphere and a story that is serviceable enough to keep you invested. 8/10