(Image credit: Capcom)

Lights, Camera, Gore, and More

The Load Screen Team has enjoyed playing the Resident Evil franchise, so we were eager to get into Resident Evil Village, not just for the 9-foot-tall female antagonist. The game is a mix of parts from the series going back to Resident Evil 4, but it has enough moments and memorable enemies to stand out from the rest, including its own Mercenaries mode. There are some fundamental issues with the new title, but some of those issues are intentional to keep the gameplay moving forward. While story completion time is usually under ten hours, the designers never intended for a single playthrough. The incredible visual and audio effects mixed with some tense battle sequences will have most gamers gladly replaying this first-person action-adventure survivor horror title.

The game’s story follows the protagonist from Resident Evil 7, Ethan Winters, as he gets begrudgingly dragged back into action when Chris Redfield storms through his happy life with Mia Winters and their baby Rose. Ethan finds himself lost in a small Eastern European village and local creepy castle, searching for his missing daughter. The basic mechanics and gameplay follow Resident Evil 7 with some added features, including moving furniture as blockades. The difficulty settings will look familiar to most RE fans with Casual, Standard, Hardcore, and an added extreme difficulty called Village of Shadows.

Early on, the central cast of enemies makes their entrance similar to the family dinner Ethan attended in the previous game, but it felt a little less natural. It seemed to give them a comic book villain aspect and diminished a little of what could have been revealed later in a much scarier setting. The developers lowered the scariness factor on purpose to make the game more accessible to a broader audience who may not have enjoyed Resident Evil 7, according to an Axios interview with Resident Evil Village producer Tsuyoshi Kanda. By leaving little of the enemy character’s personality and best assets on full display, they are far less scary since they lose the psychological unnerving of an unknown threat.

If all the concept art for the game is gone through, it is apparent that certain parts of the game were made less scary or cut entirely. Keeping the game to a standard title length may have been the issue, but some options counter the Resident Evil 7 scariness backlash, especially with the villain presentation. One of the scenes wholly axed would have involved male villagers turning into the Lycans in a mass ritual, a pretty terrifying level but was understandably let go during development. Even the extras included with the title are worth digging through for anyone looking for more of what could have been in the game, including the Duke’s wild ride.

(Image credit: Capcom)

So, if the title mixes action and psychological trauma, does a game considered for the horror genre need to be always scary? For Resident Evil Village, it does have terrifying moments of true survival horror beyond just little jump scares, but it is not frightening overall. The added block mechanism diminishes the fear of constant death, especially on Standard difficulty. In contrast, the crafting system made me less worried about survival supplies by creating ammo and health potions on the fly. Several traumatic limb injuries happen to Ethan throughout his journey, but they are pure gore, torment, and a call back to Resident Evil 7. Somehow the tragic hero shrugs off everything despite never grasping why anything is happening to him again. However, if some familiar horror tropes are triggering to the gamer, such as creepy anthropomorphic dolls, then there are portions of this game that may have them needing a moment to breathe before playing onward. Anyone who grew up watching Dolly Dearest may have some childhood nightmares come back to life.

If a gamer is playing Resident Evil Village on either the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, or a decent PC, they will get a more extensive depth of graphical options, but at a cost. PS5 or Xbox Series X/S users will have the option to turn on ray tracing. With it off the game performances at 4k with 60 FPS, while turning on ray tracing reduces the framerate to 45. The framerates and graphics options get lower on the other consoles like PS4 and Xbox One. On PC, the issues involve dialing up the graphics without overwhelming the GPU, which can take some time to get right even on an RTX 3080.

The beauty of the visual detailing is seen everywhere throughout the game. The masterwork of each set piece makes every section have a unique look and feel, down to the individual houses in the village. None appear to be cookie-cutter, and each shows different levels of how long villagers survive into the nightmare situation. One shack looked as if it fortified heavily against attack, but the blood splattered on the wall suggested it did not work well. Inside the castle, the detailing would take hours to appreciate every wood panel section, sculpture, high vaulted ceiling, intricate fireplaces, scattered medieval torture devices, and anything a centuries-old castle would require.

Most of those poignant sets are made more impactful by the atmospherics. The off-putting ambient music that creeps in and out answer the game’s impressive use of layered shadows. Atmospheric fog and lighting add depth and dimension to each area, especially in the village. The mist itself became a fear factor on my playthrough since it could hide Lycans or worse. The ambient sounds always seemed to hint at a lurking evil that the fog would cover. The mix of debris particle effects with well-timed controller rumbles led to some fantastic moments of imminent death lurking nearby. The psychological drama is turned all the way up with the unnerving mix of subtle graphical effects. However, the dynamic use of audio and light may lead to some gamers not getting the whole immersion experience if they have auditory or visual impairments. There is a subtitle function, but it lacks the speaker’s name and translation of nonverbal communication, making it hard to follow and serious animations seem silly.

(Image credit: Capcom)

While the subtitles are not as polished, using the highly functional in-game camera leaves no question why Capcom watermarks the images it makes. The characters and the sets look photo-realistic that the developers deserve all the credit for their terrifyingly excellent work. The main limitation of the camera comes from the lack of free roam when entering the photo state. Other titles have a similar function that offers a full floating camera with filter options, such as The Witcher 3 on PC. The photo mode in Resident Evil Village will delight any photographer with the number of actual camera values adjustable during regular play. The entire game pauses other than flame and lighting effects, so it is OK to snap a pic of a Lycan who is about to have his lunch.

The gameplay is rewarding despite the lowered fear factors from parts of the game. Combat with the full range of weapons felt appropriate for each category, and the aim focus widely varied as Ethan moved or fired. The action made for intense close-quarter gun battles with multiple enemies breathing down your neck or trying to line up a quick sniper shot before running away. The combat knife felt more reminiscent of the last resort only but was effective on downed enemies.

Ethan is helped in his endeavors by a portly merchant who answers to the Duke. He offers guiding wisdom and beneficial gear for the right price. The loot and upgrade systems are similar to Resident Evil 4, but the Duke also offers a section of cooked meals that permanently boost Ethan’s stats. Upon replaying the game, he becomes the in-game source of the extra weapon content added when bought through the bonus point system. Repeating the story multiple times is a feature emphasized since the early days of Resident Evil, and the Duke provides an excellent way to maintain cohesion while adding powerful gear.

Players can enjoy a new Mercenaries mode after finishing the main story. It is different from past versions where other characters are unlockable, and it rewards only bonuses that stack or new levels. Each section has its own set of rounds, spawns a specific number of enemies, merchant resting room, and set score list for acquiring ratings up to the coveted S, SS, and SSS level. Since the scoring takes precision and chaining enemy deaths together for a higher multiplier, I found issues with the way enemies spawned in some sections. There is a flow to follow for each level, or enemies will not always spawn. When this happened, I would have to run back through a section to trigger the sequence correctly. I had as much enjoyment playing through the new Mercenaries mode as I did with the regular game, even though the second versions of the Mercenaries maps are significantly more complex with limited options at the merchant.

My most significant issues for Resident Evil Village are that the physical puzzles of the game and boss fights were generally too easy even on Hardcore difficulty, except for the final boss fight. I did find that Standard was the best mode for my first playthrough, though. When I attempted Hardcore, I noticed my ammo gone after the introductory Lycan fight and decided that it felt more tedious than gratifying or challenging. Also, I knew I was bound to play the title repeated times with better gear reminiscent of earlier franchise installments. However, I was even more disappointed with the lackluster puzzle and solution combinations. Often puzzle explanations lived in the same room, and I never had to guess since constantly being spoon-fed answers.

Resident Evil Village may not have the most dynamic story or be considered the best Resident Evil, but the level design and visual effects are outstanding. It has moments that are indeed unique despite parts of the game feeling lifted entirely from other games within the franchise. I saw this as an attempt at narrative cohesion and unification of the horror lines weirdly through game mechanics. There were some rampant issues with graphics, simple puzzles, and easier boss fights. Also, the guided trip provided in the game can occasionally feel forced while at other times hard to follow. Overall, Resident Evil Village is a title worth playing for most players, even if only for the graphics alone. The game is completable in under ten hours, but the developers never intended for a single playthrough, and Mercenaries mode adds hours more of playtime.

Resident Evil Village

• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia

• Developer: Capcom

• Publisher: Capcom

• Release Date: 5/7/2021