Resident Evil Village

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Resident Evil Village
So we finally meet.
Protagonist(s): Ethan Winters Genre(s): Survival horror Platform(s): Microsoft Windows MacOS iOS PlayStation 5 PlayStation 4 Nintendo Switch Xbox One Xbox Series X/S Stadia Developer(s): Capcom Publisher(s): Capcom Country: Japan Series: Resident Evil Predecessor: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Successor: Resident Evil RE:Verse

Resident Evil Village is a survival horror video game released by Capcom in 2021. It follows Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and is the tenth installment in the series. Ethan Winters navigates a village overrun by mutant creatures to find his kidnapped daughter. While maintaining classic survival horror elements, the game introduces more action-oriented gameplay, including increased enemy encounters and a focus on combat, alongside traditional scavenging and resource management.

Why You Should Come, Child

1. Ethan Winters is a much better and improved protagonist than how he was shown in Resident Evil 7; in the previous title, he was a somewhat bland protagonist who lacked character development and emotional range, but he wasn't downright terrible. This time, he is more of a relatable and sympathetic protagonist and father who loses his daughter Rose and his wife Mia (because Mother Miranda disguised herself as Mia), which was the reason why Chris Redfield shot Mia in the prologue because he knew that Mother Miranda was pretending to be Mia and wanted to do everything they can to keep Miranda away from the Winters' family; after that, Ethan does whatever he can to save his kidnapped daughter.
2. Regarding that last statement, the plot is relatable and emotional because Ethan Winters has to save his daughter after he is separated from her and his wife and ends up in the village area. He has to get the four flasks from the four lords to save his daughter.
3. Chris Redfield looks much better compared to how he was in the previous title; he looked like a completely different person (to the point of being utterly unrecognizable) in that game; in this game, Capcom realized this and completely fixed that problem by how he looks in this game.
4. The way the game gives flashbacks and recaps what happened in its predecessor is excellent because it explains what happened in the events of that game before the days of the events in this game happened, showing that both games are connected.
5. The graphics are fantastic, pushing the game to its dark potential. They look awesome on the next-gen consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X), and even then, the way it's depicted wants to show just how dark the game can be.
   • It is one of the few AAA games released for mobile phones (iOS only) to take advantage of its power.
6. Thanks to the RE Engine, the visuals are great, which is an addition to the game's dark tone, and it's not just the graphics; the visuals on how it displays what the village and lords look like are also impressive.
7. The voice acting is still great, like in the previous title; in this game, Ethan and Mia's actors/actresses reprise their voices (their voices in this game are great as well), and other great examples of the characters' voices are Karl Heisenberg, Alcina Dimitrescu, Mother Miranda, and Rose Winters are well-done.
8. Compared to the previous title, instead of molded enemies you would fight (because, well, it takes headshots to kill them pretty quickly because body shots on them are weak), you would fight Lycans (werewolf-like creatures). Each lycan is different, depending on its size and behavior. The Varcolac is similar to the other Lycans in their designs, but it's even more of a werewolf-type and behaves that way.
9. Unlike the previous title's antagonists, this game has a different take on antagonists/villains, with Mother Miranda being the ruler of the village with four houses that serve under her; to quote what the Duke said on explaining to Ethan who they are: "Mother Miranda is the cold, calculating ruler of this village. Four lords serve under her."
   • Alcina Dimitrescu (or Lady Dimitrescu) is a fun antagonist in the Dimitrescu's castle; she and her daughters capture Ethan and do whatever they can to screw Ethan over; her daughters have the swarm bugs powers, which does give the vibe and feel of what Resident Evil 7 was like due to the old house and Marguerite segment of that game.
   • Donna Beneviento is a scary dollmaker with her doll, Angie, being terrifying as hell, but well done enough to be well-written as in the house Beneviento (despite the puzzles that can take a while to get through; more on that later).
   • Salavtor Moreau, while seemingly disgusting at first, is an emotional and sympathetic antagonist lord compared to the other because of how he looks and that he wants his mother to love her truly.
   • Karl Heisenberg is incredibly badass; his wielding hammer proves this even more, and his design and voice add to him being badass. Aside from that, his soldats are so well-designed that it takes a lot of shots to kill them (unless you have a gun like the M1851 Wolfsbane, significantly if it's fully upgraded with parts). Also, he wanted to team up with Ethan to stop Mother Miranda together (with an offer he gave him), but Ethan didn't accept his offer because he wanted to use Rose as a weapon. By the way, his mutated form is exceptionally well-done and unique compared to the other two lords.
10. It has many great weapons; for example, there is the M1851 Wolfsbane magnum (it's especially powerful when fully upgraded with parts and is strongly effective against werewolves), the full-auto M1911 handgun, and the GM-79 Grenade Launcher (where you can toggle between Explosive Rounds or Flashbangs).
11. The blocking mechanic returns from the previous title, but unlike in the last title, you can now push enemies away. Doing this for the first time gives the player the Push Comes to Shove trophy/achievement and is a great way to get enemies (like the Lycans) off of you. What's even better about this is that you even shoot while guarding.
12. Like the previous game, this game maintains the first-person view to heighten the stress because adversaries are not as visible as they would be in the third-person view. Also, this game does have a third-person view, and you can enable it (like in the main story), but that's only if you have the Winters' Expansion DLC.
13. Unlike Resident Evil 7, Mercenaries mode returns and has quite an interesting take on it compared to other Resident Evil games; in this game specifically, you kill all the enemies first (this is optional, though you just have to kill enough enemies for the goal to be unlocked), and then after that, you can make it to the goal, which is recommended for getting high scores, and especially on getting the Legendary Cowboy trophy/achievement (because you have to do it on all stages, which includes the easy and challenging stages, but the DLC doesn't count for this), because that trophy is required for the platinum trophy on PS5/PS4.
    • Also, not only can you play as Ethan Winters, but you can also play as three other characters as well (if you have said expansion): Chris Redfield, Karl Heisenberg, and Alcina Dimitrescu, which shows that you can play as antagonist characters of the game.
14. Speaking of which, the Winters' Expansion is fantastic because it has Mercenaries Additional Orders (which, all of that is covered on the last reason) and Shadows of Rose; the latter is an excellent DLC that further explores Rose Winters, a likable character, and gets proper character development. Also, at first, she wanted to get rid of her powers because of what people would call her. Still, her mutamycete powers help her get rid of mold and make her so strong that she can beat Mother Miranda (who tried to use her as a vessel).
    • In addition to Rose on the Shadows of Rose, you can also toggle between her outfit, where she wears her dad's jacket, or the street wolf outfit, which is an excellent design for her because of the wolf symbol on the back.
15. This game's VR mode (PSVR2; only available on the PS5 version) is enjoyable and brings a scarier experience. It feels incredibly realistic and feels like one is in the game's actual world, even though they're not. It also makes using guns, picking up knives, and shooting realistic.
16. Speaking of the PS5 port (besides the aforementioned PSVR2 support for the game), it is arguably the best port for this game because it does not have to worry about the loading time, like on the PS4 port. The former's loading time is extremely quick because it barely takes any seconds to get through said time.
17. Unlike Resident Evil 7 where you have to pull out the knife to open crate boxes, this is an improvement over its predecessor because you don't have to do that in this game. After all, you must press whatever button you use to open the crates (X/cross on PlayStation and A on Xbox). Then Ethan opens the crates with his knife.
18. To point out the game's ending; Ethan sacrificing his life to blow up the Berzerk, Mother Miranda was a sad yet good choice because his body was crumbling into mold, and realized that he couldn't move for much longer; also, what makes it even more sad is that he gave Rose his jacket and told her to be strong. After the credits, we see Rose as a grown person.
19. The Duke is like The Merchant (from Resident Evil 4, and its remake) of this game, and it is really nice to see the Merchant in this game where not only can you sell treasure, buy and upgrade weapons (like in Resident Evil 4), but you can also cook ingredients in The Duke's Kitchen, which can really help Ethan out, such as increasing his health, and decreasing damage he takes when guarding.
20. The treasures are also excellent and are even worth getting to get more lei; what makes the treasures interesting is that there are treasures where you can combine both parts together to get an even more valuable treasure; for example, upon combining the Azure Eye and Silver Ring together, you will get the Azure Eye Ring.
21. The Baby Fetus monster. Enough said.

Bad Qualities

1. The puzzles can be a drag to get through at times, most notably in the House Beneviento segment of the game, because that section requires a lot of puzzles to solve, so much that you may have to do research to know how to get through the Puzzles in that area. If you need help on that section, here's one that can help out.
   • However, the puzzles in Castle Dimitrescu and near Moreau's gate aren't too bad and don't really need research to help out, unlike the aforementioned House Beneviento section. Because the piano puzzle is extremely easy to solve with the former, the same can be said for the bell section of that area and the Dungeon Brazier puzzle.
   • With the latter mentioned, there's only one puzzle to solve; you just have to match the colors on the panel displayed on the picture next to it.
2. While the Windows version is not bad, it was noted to suffer from performance problems, particularly during intense combat.
3. The iOS, while impressive is considered the inferior port due to having low quality texture, downgraded graphics, and having the frame-rate issue even for iPad or MacOS.
   • Not to mentioned, the touch controller is absolutely horrible. This touch control mapping is absolutely a copy-paste to the PlayStation Remote Play, which is irritating to play with touch controls. Thankfully, you can play with gamepad controller if you don't want to play with touch controller.
   • It costs a lot, despite iPhones and iPads relying solely on digital downloads.
   • Also this game only works on devices with M1/A17 Bionic processor, this feature is very recent and only limited amount of newer Apple devices.
   • There is no Android version, although many phones/tablets use Snapdragon 8, which is significantly powerful and capable of running heavier games.
     • These limitations are also the reason why recent AAA iOS games fail to sell.
4. The boss fights can be frustrating to get through at times, especially the last boss fight of the game (Mother Miranda), which gets even harder on the Village of Shadows difficulty because you die earlier in a few hits and enemies are a lot faster.

Reception

The game was well-received by critics and gamers alike, holding an 84/100 on Metacritic.

Angry Joe gave the game a 7/10.

External links

• Resident Evil Village on Metacritic

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