It's weird. I wasn't really expecting a Resident Evil game of all things to get me teary-eyed.

There's a lot of things about the game in general that are a weird intricate combination though. It's oozing with blood from RE4 despite being nowhere even close to that game with 8's current gameplay of keep-stepping-back-and-shoot. It has Silent Hill vibes that eclipses any scares in every other RE game with the dollhouse. Iconography of the series is embroiled in, culminating in a particular 'hype' scene that while nowhere near earned, directly references the action side of 5 and 6 in one extended sequence. A theme park ride and attractions is what I've constantly had the game called around me, but that's really selling it short. They're practically full on Zelda dungeons that you go to between the overworld, each of them tying neatly to the setting and tension and never missing a beat.

And overall it's just grand! A celebratory but earnest almost standalone piece in its own right. Its heart is so strong that thinking of the game now I can only see it retrospectively as an emotional journey about and surrounding Ethan and about family, despite how really the general structure of the narrative only has that come in less subtly in the last quarter, and how it is extraordinarily goofy and far less grounded than 7 was.

Yet I don't think I would have it any other way. I imagine that in time I might even call it one of my favorite games, despite me not really even being attached much to the RE series in general. I'm excited for what the year will bring when stuff like this manages to land familiar punches with meatier landings than anything else of its ilk.