Resident Evil Village (the 8 is hidden in the letters there, pretty cute!) is the newest entry of my favorite Horror Franchise and is a direct sequel to one of my favorites - RE7. Normally numbered entries are not such sequels, Jill is the main character of 1 and 3, Leon is the main of 2 and 4, etc. So this time we continue following cardboard cutout Ethan Winters, this time in the search of his daughter rather than his wife (who was shot at the beginning of the game.. by Chris Redfield?!). The story is actually pretty respectable in this one I thought, you're in this strange village with four obvious "bosses" you're introduced to and then slowly work your way through their fiefdoms to find your daughter and put your family back together. It's not Shakespeare and kind of two-notes that Ethan has - I'm here for my daughter and being flabbergasted by the spooky supernatural shit - get a bit flat but it certainly works. There's even some revelations about the events of 7 that are pretty cool too, I liked it!
Gameplay wise it is a mash up of 7 and 4 which is a surprisingly good combo... It remains first person (like 7) but has more of an action focus and a weapon upgrade system where you spent money from fallen foes and items you find while exploring. It's a neat way to encourage replayability as you get more guns and can upgrade them (even to having infinite ammo! Neat). This does lead to a fundamental difference between 7 and 8 - horror. 7 was frickin' terrifying from the word Go and basically never let up outside the safe rooms. 8 definitely has some spooky moments (and one sequence in the B House in particular is very well done) but tries to aim more for cool and creative "horror" set pieces rather than genuine dread. I don't think that's inherently worse or anything since it actually remembers to be properly scary unlike 4-5-6 but I certainly did miss it.
There are two parts of the game that I unreservedly love - its art and level design. Every area in the village and the major places around it have such incredible density to them that speaks to what this place is and who lives here. All of the homes in the village are decorated and filled to the brim with the owners "stuff" and this helps ground it as a real place that has undergone tragedy. The castle is a beautiful but sterile place at sharp odds to its monstrous owners, the reservoir is a gross and damp hellhole, the foundry is a dense place of metal and corpses. Each place rarely wears out its welcome (the foundry a BIT, just because it is so much longer than the others) and is stunning every corner you turn. If PCs had "generations" this is truly next gen!
Resident Evil 8 may not be my favorite of the franchise due to its scaling back of the horror elements to make it more action but I do believe they managed to keep one intact while dialing up the other.
Gameplay wise it is a mash up of 7 and 4 which is a surprisingly good combo... It remains first person (like 7) but has more of an action focus and a weapon upgrade system where you spent money from fallen foes and items you find while exploring. It's a neat way to encourage replayability as you get more guns and can upgrade them (even to having infinite ammo! Neat). This does lead to a fundamental difference between 7 and 8 - horror. 7 was frickin' terrifying from the word Go and basically never let up outside the safe rooms. 8 definitely has some spooky moments (and one sequence in the B House in particular is very well done) but tries to aim more for cool and creative "horror" set pieces rather than genuine dread. I don't think that's inherently worse or anything since it actually remembers to be properly scary unlike 4-5-6 but I certainly did miss it.
There are two parts of the game that I unreservedly love - its art and level design. Every area in the village and the major places around it have such incredible density to them that speaks to what this place is and who lives here. All of the homes in the village are decorated and filled to the brim with the owners "stuff" and this helps ground it as a real place that has undergone tragedy. The castle is a beautiful but sterile place at sharp odds to its monstrous owners, the reservoir is a gross and damp hellhole, the foundry is a dense place of metal and corpses. Each place rarely wears out its welcome (the foundry a BIT, just because it is so much longer than the others) and is stunning every corner you turn. If PCs had "generations" this is truly next gen!
Resident Evil 8 may not be my favorite of the franchise due to its scaling back of the horror elements to make it more action but I do believe they managed to keep one intact while dialing up the other.