Resident Evil Village

First-person horror with survival and shooter elements Resident Evil: Village continued the story started in Biohazard, but moved the action to Eastern Europe. Players received more dynamic gameplay, more weapons and action, as well as the opportunity to learn the backstory of the Umbrella corporation. Locations became larger, they need to be explored in search of secrets and puzzles, which increased the playtime to 20 hours. Among the pleasant bonuses are an updated inventory and detailed levels.

The protagonist of the seventh part, Ethan Winters, is again in the lead role, moreover, Ethan's personality has become a key element of the narrative. If he was silent before, in Village he became much more talkative, showing his attitude and character, voicing his motivation and experiences, through which the screenwriters reveal him as a character.

The tall lady who captured the players' attention, Alcina Dimitrescu , is the new Tyrant. Her enormous height, large claws, and wings on her back make her a dangerous opponent, but only in the family castle where she lives with her three daughter sub-bosses. She won't chase the player most of the time; the task of terrorizing is divided among all the enemies and sub-bosses.

The main antagonist is a woman named Miranda. The locals worship her as a goddess, and the main bosses call her mother. Miranda possesses supernatural strength and resilience, transforming into different people and creatures. It is with her that Ethan has the most intense confrontation and the climactic boss fight at the end.

Chris Redfield is a full participant in the events, even having a part of the playthrough dedicated to him. The well-known Resident Evil hero left the B.S.A.A. and founded the "Hound Wolf" squad to destroy Miranda, but achieved no results over several years. The past years have changed Chris's character, which becomes clear almost immediately.

Throughout Village, the player will encounter various characters, both main and secondary. Most of them are unequivocal enemies, but some can be interacted with. For instance, a neutral merchant named Duke sells medkits, ammo, weapons, modifications, and other useful items for the local currency (lei).

The events of Village begin three years after the ending of the seventh part. Ethan, along with his wife Mia and daughter Rosemary, moved to Eastern Europe. Their quiet family life unexpectedly ended after an invasion by Chris Redfield, who killed his wife and kidnapped his daughter.

In pursuit of him, Ethan finds himself in a terrifying place where he must defend himself from the locals, fight creatures from myths and legends, and overcome the supernatural. Meanwhile, the local inhabitants, under the leadership of Mother Miranda, are preparing to conduct an occult ritual involving Rosemary. Disrupting it and saving his daughter is the protagonist's main motivation.

The story did not lack unexpected twists and is generally engaging, but it turned out to be somewhat simplistic, far from the series' canons, and not very frightening. The narrative is overly focused on Ethan, his sufferings, and emotions. Everything that happens is seen by the player as the protagonist does, so there is no development of other characters by the end. Yet they are memorable and colorful in their own way.

The writers carelessly, in relation to the lore of "Resident Evil," explain the appearance of vampires and werewolves, levitation and paranormal phenomena, the origin of Miranda and other bosses, the origins of the Umbrella Corporation.

However, the first-person view has elevated the production to a new level for the series, quickly and imperceptibly immersing players into the thick of events with well-crafted scenes, an atmosphere felt through the screen, dialogues, and chatter. The most complex and spectacular scenes will delight with hallucinations and induced psychosis, where not everything is as it seems.

The action of RE8 takes place in an alternate reality, somewhere in the mountainous and snowy southeastern Europe, which Capcom has turned into a gothic Transylvania. The world map is divided into areas, according to the number of noble families: Dimitrescu Castle, Beneviento Mansion, Heisenberg's Factory, and Moreau's Reservoir. And in the center lies the Village itself.

Each area has a unique, noticeably different art design, enemies, sub-bosses, and a main boss. There is no open world, but the levels in The Village are larger and more branched, and some places will have to be revisited more than once. For variety, there is a location without shooting, where everything is built on the escalation of fear and horror, and a location with continuous shooting and explosions.

The levels are meticulously crafted and filled with numerous details, especially the "Village." Inside the sprawling shacks are many decor elements characteristic of Eastern Europe. Kitchen utensils and pots on a stove, shelves with food and preserves, scattered clothes and bedding, carpets, paintings, and photographs hung on the walls. And everything, from the smallest to the largest, is arranged by the hands of designers.

The RE Engine has been updated for the new generation consoles, evident in the natural lighting of rooms, surfaces, HDR support, and the quality of light and shadow play. Enemy models have received several sets of animations, and characters also have natural facial animations. Cutscenes are catching up in quality to CGI videos, even though they run on the engine.

The bestiary of The Village has been reworked and expanded, with the black mold removed. Instead of primitive zombies, there are slow but more deadly ghouls. For dynamic battles, beast-men, somewhat reminiscent of werewolves, are released "on stage." And the local cult members are also eager to hunt the main character.

Fast-firing pistols, shotguns, and a couple of automatics will help fend off annoying small enemies, while revolvers, sniper rifles, and a handheld grenade launcher will deal with thick-skinned foes. There are also homemade mines and bombs. For money, the merchant will install upgrades on any weapon for damage, fire rate, reload speed, and ammo capacity.

In melee, a new block and parry mechanic comes to the rescue — executing it at the right moment, the hero repels the attack and pushes the enemy away. Ethan has also learned to pick up weapons dropped by enemies — a sword or an axe in hand is better than nothing. All enemies in the eighth part have their own set of behavior patterns — to break through them, you'll have to change both weapons and combat tactics.

The inventory has been changed, now it's a finite field of cells, and all items take up different amounts of space — you can't take a pistol that occupies six cells if only five are free. Сюжетные предметы, сокровища и составляющие для крафта не занимают место в инвентаре и расположены в отдельном меню. Патроны и расходники можно скрафтить из ресурсов, разбросанных в игровом мире. Прокачка здоровья и брони — через охоту на живность.

Герой двигается быстрее, реагирует на команды лучше и острее, стрельба приятная, хотя меткий выстрел потребует время на прицеливание. По итогу Village стала похожа на линейный хоррор со стрельбой.