Resident Evil Village (RE8) is a very good entry in the RE series with some flaws that prevent it from reaching the greatness of RE2, 4, or 7 due in part to a weaker second half.
The first half of the game consisting of the Lady D's Castle and House Beneviento are by far the strongest parts of the game. The castle really nails the signature RE gameplay of dumping you into a location with all sorts of secrets and mysteries to unfold (all the while being pursued by an unstoppable force). The castle is beautiful and a delight to explore and Lady D alongside her 3 daughters serve as excellent antagonists during this section.
House Beneviento, on the other hand, leans much more into psychological horror, hosting one of the most nerve-wracking sequences in the franchise. It's probably the shortest of the sections unfortunately with the least time spent fleshing out its antagonist.
The 3rd section with the reservoir and the half-fish man, Moreau, was my least favorite section due to it being somewhat bland though I will say the boss fight with Moreau himself is my favorite in the game.
From here onward, the game leans heavily into the action elements of past titles such as RE4 or RE5 where it puts you up against gauntlets of enemies. While not my favorite parts of the RE games, this could be overlooked if Heisenberg's factory itself was less linear. The factory's inhabitants and aesthetic are quite creepy, but it just pales in comparison to the openness of Lady D's castle.
The mercenaries mode, like past iterations, is plain old fun and the offerings of the shop along with the blue orb power-ups make for good replay value as you optimize your run.
As with all RE games, there's also a lot of replay value whether through doing a knife-only run or playing on the Village of Shadows difficulty, unlocked only upon beating the game.
In short, I believe Village has some of the highest highs in the series such as that first time exploring Castle Dimitrescu but with some inoffensive lows that bring down the experience a bit. Nothing on offer here is truly awful, luckily, which is why I still place RE8 in the upper echelons of the long-running franchise and thoroughly recommend it to RE and horror fans alike.
The first half of the game consisting of the Lady D's Castle and House Beneviento are by far the strongest parts of the game. The castle really nails the signature RE gameplay of dumping you into a location with all sorts of secrets and mysteries to unfold (all the while being pursued by an unstoppable force). The castle is beautiful and a delight to explore and Lady D alongside her 3 daughters serve as excellent antagonists during this section.
House Beneviento, on the other hand, leans much more into psychological horror, hosting one of the most nerve-wracking sequences in the franchise. It's probably the shortest of the sections unfortunately with the least time spent fleshing out its antagonist.
The 3rd section with the reservoir and the half-fish man, Moreau, was my least favorite section due to it being somewhat bland though I will say the boss fight with Moreau himself is my favorite in the game.
From here onward, the game leans heavily into the action elements of past titles such as RE4 or RE5 where it puts you up against gauntlets of enemies. While not my favorite parts of the RE games, this could be overlooked if Heisenberg's factory itself was less linear. The factory's inhabitants and aesthetic are quite creepy, but it just pales in comparison to the openness of Lady D's castle.
The mercenaries mode, like past iterations, is plain old fun and the offerings of the shop along with the blue orb power-ups make for good replay value as you optimize your run.
As with all RE games, there's also a lot of replay value whether through doing a knife-only run or playing on the Village of Shadows difficulty, unlocked only upon beating the game.
In short, I believe Village has some of the highest highs in the series such as that first time exploring Castle Dimitrescu but with some inoffensive lows that bring down the experience a bit. Nothing on offer here is truly awful, luckily, which is why I still place RE8 in the upper echelons of the long-running franchise and thoroughly recommend it to RE and horror fans alike.