This review contains spoilers
Through my replaying of this game I've found that I like it more than I originally did but also had a lot more problems with it that go further than just nitpick in my mind.
On the positive side I still love the atmosphere the game has. The devs did an outstanding job at capturing the different genres with each section of the game. The use of the more Americanized style of Hillbilly Horror and Slashers works so well with its Louisiana setting and everything flows so well I honestly wish more RE games would try this concept again outside of RE8.
The actual maps and the open Metoridvania-like gameplay is pure RE goodness but it feels a little muted outside of the very first area. After the section with Jack it starts going in the more linear direction that past RE games like RE3 and RE5 would go with, and by the time you get to the boat the game had pretty much shown all of its cards and feels like they just sorta gave up, it starts relaying on its gunplay more and more but unlike past RE games, this game's gunplay is less engaging and more annoying. Bullets feel so soft they don't have the same impactful feel a gun should have; even the bigger and more powerful guns lack that sense of impact to really make them feel good to use.
It also probably doesn't help that the only enemies you can use with said guns are quite possibly the lamest enemies in all of RE. I mean this in the most meanest way possible; The Molded are not fun to fight, they are not fun to run away from, and they are not scary. When you first encounter them in the basement of the Baker's house I honestly thought they were a neat enemy to fight, and in retrospect I'd honestly wish they'd just say in that area; because once they started showing up everywhere else in the game they got tiresome REALLLLL quickly.
Even when they had the 2 other types of Molded that slightly shake up the encounters they still never posed much of a real threat to me. In contrast, RE4's enemies are pretty basic at times; but they have so much more variety in enemies with a lot more interesting aspects that make each encounter feel more engaging than the last. Here it's just the same shit for like 5 hours until you get to the Ship where the game takes a general nosedive in overall quality.
That brings me to a big blank spot on the whole game, the Ship section of the game just sucks ass. It's not very long if you know what you're doing but the way it's introduced makes it drag on for way too long, and it's nowhere near as visually interesting as the Baker House, the Boathouse, or Lucas's weird Saw-like basement area. It's dark, grimy, and extremely dull with each corridor looking almost the same making backtracking through the area a pain in the ass, and at this point The Molded had completely overstayed their welcome along with the game taking all of your items away making you start again from scratch with just an hour left in the game, mix that with more forces on fighting the Molded, and traversing the ship, makes what is possibly the least fun I've had with an RE game in recent memory.
The lead-up to the final boss is pretty meh; mostly because I don't like how the guns feel and the Molded are not fun to fight against. BUT THEN WE GET TO THE FINAL BOSS. I don't even really think you can call it a boss since it's mostly an on-rails shooting gallery where you have to shoot the Evil Mold Wall Grandma a few times, then she slams you out of the house and grows into a new Giant Tentacle Face Grandma where you then shoot her a few more times until she dies. The spectacle is pretty campy and very RE, but the actual fight itself is stupidly easy and anti-climatic, I'd rather they do all out and do with RE4 did rather than try to make a horrifying final boss with a stupid-fun spectacle, because trying to do both just bounce off each other to where I can't take the events a little bit seriously, and as a fight it fuckin blows.
Now I may have ragged on this game WAY more than sung its praises but I don't hate this game, for the first few hours it's honestly some of the best RE gameplay in its purest form and it's honestly a great time, until the last hour where it shits the bed. A little part of me is sad that RE8 did jump right from classic RE to basically copying 4, but RE8 works so well and has all the right parts moving together that I can honestly say it's a pretty good sequel, I just hope Capcom will look back at RE7 and take notes on what works and what didn't.
On the positive side I still love the atmosphere the game has. The devs did an outstanding job at capturing the different genres with each section of the game. The use of the more Americanized style of Hillbilly Horror and Slashers works so well with its Louisiana setting and everything flows so well I honestly wish more RE games would try this concept again outside of RE8.
The actual maps and the open Metoridvania-like gameplay is pure RE goodness but it feels a little muted outside of the very first area. After the section with Jack it starts going in the more linear direction that past RE games like RE3 and RE5 would go with, and by the time you get to the boat the game had pretty much shown all of its cards and feels like they just sorta gave up, it starts relaying on its gunplay more and more but unlike past RE games, this game's gunplay is less engaging and more annoying. Bullets feel so soft they don't have the same impactful feel a gun should have; even the bigger and more powerful guns lack that sense of impact to really make them feel good to use.
It also probably doesn't help that the only enemies you can use with said guns are quite possibly the lamest enemies in all of RE. I mean this in the most meanest way possible; The Molded are not fun to fight, they are not fun to run away from, and they are not scary. When you first encounter them in the basement of the Baker's house I honestly thought they were a neat enemy to fight, and in retrospect I'd honestly wish they'd just say in that area; because once they started showing up everywhere else in the game they got tiresome REALLLLL quickly.
Even when they had the 2 other types of Molded that slightly shake up the encounters they still never posed much of a real threat to me. In contrast, RE4's enemies are pretty basic at times; but they have so much more variety in enemies with a lot more interesting aspects that make each encounter feel more engaging than the last. Here it's just the same shit for like 5 hours until you get to the Ship where the game takes a general nosedive in overall quality.
That brings me to a big blank spot on the whole game, the Ship section of the game just sucks ass. It's not very long if you know what you're doing but the way it's introduced makes it drag on for way too long, and it's nowhere near as visually interesting as the Baker House, the Boathouse, or Lucas's weird Saw-like basement area. It's dark, grimy, and extremely dull with each corridor looking almost the same making backtracking through the area a pain in the ass, and at this point The Molded had completely overstayed their welcome along with the game taking all of your items away making you start again from scratch with just an hour left in the game, mix that with more forces on fighting the Molded, and traversing the ship, makes what is possibly the least fun I've had with an RE game in recent memory.
The lead-up to the final boss is pretty meh; mostly because I don't like how the guns feel and the Molded are not fun to fight against. BUT THEN WE GET TO THE FINAL BOSS. I don't even really think you can call it a boss since it's mostly an on-rails shooting gallery where you have to shoot the Evil Mold Wall Grandma a few times, then she slams you out of the house and grows into a new Giant Tentacle Face Grandma where you then shoot her a few more times until she dies. The spectacle is pretty campy and very RE, but the actual fight itself is stupidly easy and anti-climatic, I'd rather they do all out and do with RE4 did rather than try to make a horrifying final boss with a stupid-fun spectacle, because trying to do both just bounce off each other to where I can't take the events a little bit seriously, and as a fight it fuckin blows.
Now I may have ragged on this game WAY more than sung its praises but I don't hate this game, for the first few hours it's honestly some of the best RE gameplay in its purest form and it's honestly a great time, until the last hour where it shits the bed. A little part of me is sad that RE8 did jump right from classic RE to basically copying 4, but RE8 works so well and has all the right parts moving together that I can honestly say it's a pretty good sequel, I just hope Capcom will look back at RE7 and take notes on what works and what didn't.