Resident Evil Village review (spoiler-free): It's almost perfect

Our Verdict

Resident Evil Village is a wonderfully creepy ride through multiple kinds of horror.

For

• Scares you silly
• Memorable boss fights
• An exquisite tribute to horror
• 3D audio is amazingly helpful
• Perfect length

Against

• A trivial short on Lady Dimitrescu
• Penultimate scene felt unnecessary
• Visual pop-in

Tom's Guide Verdict

Resident Evil Village is a wonderfully creepy ride through multiple kinds of horror.

Pros

• +

  Scares yous silly

• +

  Memorable boss fights

• +

  An exquisite tribute to horror

• +

  3D audio is amazingly helpful

• +

  Perfect length

Cons

• -

  A fiddling brusque on Lady Dimitrescu

• -

  Penultimate scene felt unnecessary

• -

  Visual pop-in

EDITOR'Due south Notation: Resident Evil Village won a "highly recommended" honor for best characters in the Tom'south Guide Awards 2021 for gaming.

Resident Evil Village is a perfect fashion to spend a weekend — provided y'all desire to be scared out of your pants. I learned this myself over the concluding few days, equally I walked Ethan Winters through the latest traumatic experiences in his life, as fate conspired to bring him and his family dorsum into danger.

And while the chat around Resident Evil Hamlet has been focused on the towering Lady Alcina Dimitrescu, curious fans should know RE8 is more than just her. In fact, if you were buying the game just for her, yous might wind upwardly disappointed. Just this Resident Evil Village review volition prove why the game is great beyond her long, unsafe achieve.

• Where to buy PS5: All the latest stock updates
• Which console wins? PS5 vs Xbox Serial Ten
• Plus: PS5 and Xbox Series Ten'southward about underrated feature

And a couple of pieces of housekeeping up front. First, this Resident Evil Village review will be as spoiler-costless every bit possible. The experience of playing this game was i I enjoyed tremendously, and that came (in part) from being unaware of what I was about to see. The one matter that I was spoiled about, and the scenes that hewed closely to the demos, didn't hit as hard, and so I wrote this review wanting to make your experience better than mine.

Also, I played Resident Evil Hamlet on a PS5, where it played pretty smoothly, with one notable oddity I'll mention beneath. I bought the PS5 with Resident Evil Village in mind.

Resident Evil Hamlet review: Game length

Earlier this year, I worried as to whether or non Resident Evil Village would be too long. Discussion came out that the game was going for much grander ambitions, after Peter Fabiano, producer and founder of Global Production at Capcom, told Official PlayStation Mag that Village is "much larger than what players experienced in Resident Evil VII: Biohazard."

And then I got my hands on Resident Evil Village, and pleasantly discovered the game is just-long-enough. Friends finished the game before I could, catastrophe it in viii or 9 hours. Which was but as long every bit RE7 is rated for on How Long To Beat.

(Image credit: Capcom)

And I wound upward spending more time in it, finishing it in 12 hours and 20 minutes, and still loving it. Dissimilar how I played Resident Evil vii, I found myself obsessed with treasure hunting in the village and castles, for making the most of my trips to the shop and getting upgrades for weapons.

Resident Evil Village never wore out its welcome throughout that unabridged fourth dimension, and I really plant myself going back to replay bosses, for loot-hunting related ideas.

Resident Evil Village review: Earth blueprint

I won't spoil the events of the start of the game, but it'south safe to say that Ethan, his wife Mia, and their babe child Rose are besieged by a group of rude houseguests. And their arrival quickly brings you to the titular village in Resident Evil Village, a broad-ranging plot of acreage in an un-named European country — where everything is wrong.

Lycans, aka werewolves, litter the alleys like drunks on Santacon week. Puzzles dare you to unlock their secrets. And then, a giant with a massive weapon shows upward, in instance you lot oasis't screamed aloud still. All this, you lot endure, to endeavour and piece Ethan's family unit back together.

(Image credit: Capcom)

And the city is so lovingly laid out and designed that I couldn't help but enjoy myself, fifty-fifty when I had problem navigating things. I blame myself for that, by and large, equally I rarely tend to use the in-game maps every bit much equally I should, something I later learned navigating Castle Dimitrescu. Covered in golden opulence, with all sorts of secrets to discover, this level is so well-designed (it may exist the best of the bunch) that you lot may never desire to get out.

Resident Evil Hamlet review: Characters

Every bit mentioned above, Lady Dimitrescu has been the talk of the town when it comes to Resident Evil Village, simply she's far from the only memorable effigy in the game. Near notably, the 2d castle of Resident Evil Hamlet has possibly the about shocking moment in the entire game. I had information technology slightly spoiled for me, so I won't dare fifty-fifty suggest what frights await you.

What I can say, though, is that multiple people I know verbally exclaimed "Nope!" at the TV, upon kickoff sight of a sure monstrosity. You'll see vampires, werewolves, mechanically-enhanced weirdos, mutations and more. It all snaps together as a dear-letter to monster movies, and i that you probably won't play just one time.

(Image credit: Capcom)

And that'south not even the final boss of that castle, only a mid-boss who killed me at least twice. Those moments highlight to me why Resident Evil Village is such a success: the game has such a range of diverseness that it always keeps you on your toes. It's arguable that there is too much of the chases that are synonymous with the Resident Evil series, simply each villain's attacks are varied enough that I didn't find myself bored at the slightest.

Village also seems to be a bit more than finely-tuned for its frights than Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was. While that game was all about the haunted firm jump-scares, and hitting you as often as possible with them, Village spreads its horrors out a bit more evenly, and so that everything has more time to breathe (and for you lot to accept a deep breath or two).

Resident Evil Hamlet review: Sound and 3D Audio

(Image credit: Capcom)

While we used to spotter Ten-Files with the lights off, for a sense of dread and immersion, many will probably play Resident Evil Village similarly. Instead, I recommend yous play Resident Evil Village with headphones on — and on the PS5 — for a unlike reason.

The sound design of the game is so well washed, that I found it essential to my survival. This is mostly because of the PS5's 3D Audio, which helped me hear where the lycans and other threats to Ethan Winters' life were coming from. And that's a big deal considering the attacks are coming from all around you, and I establish my access to medical supplies dwindling belatedly in the game.

Resident Evil Village review: Shortcomings

My biggest gripe with Resident Evil Village is that the tertiary human action of the game doesn't feel nearly as clever as the rest of the action. The gameplay moves over to shooting, shooting and more than shooting, especially in the penultimate section. And too much of that feels a lot less engaging.

I also found it weird that one of the large PlayStation 5 titles had so much popular-in — the weird visual glitch where items in your point of view just 'pop' into the scene. This may exist a hazard of games that are designed for multiple consoles, as Resident Evil Village isn't a PS5 exclusive.

Resident Evil Village review: Verdict

I try and stick to a strong sleep schedule, with bedtimes and such, merely Resident Evil Village shattered my power to stop put downwards the controller and stop playing. One night I stayed up belatedly watching a friend streaming it on Twitch, howling at his shocked reactions to the game'due south events.

(Image credit: Capcom)

Resident Evil Village is the most engrossing game I've played in forever, with a twisted labyrinthine story that hooks you in and pulls you downward rabbit pigsty after rabbit hole. Somehow, its crazy, weird plot virtually makes sense by the stop, and whatsoever failings to that regard don't really feel that frustrating. The real beauty of the game, as this Resident Evil Village review shows, are the monsters we met along the style.

Henry is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past vi-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild globe of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other manufacture veterans.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/resident-evil-village-review-its-almost-perfect

Posted by: coleforetump.blogspot.com

Share this post