A lot of fun and definitely the scariest in the franchise. The opening few hours are genuinely freaky and later areas like the greenhouse and child's room are tense and unsettling.
Despite dialling up the horror, RE7 still manages to get most of the key aspects of a great RE game down well. The exploration is great, especially in the first part of the mansion where you have no weapons and are avoiding Jack. The mansion as a whole is great. Later areas get a bit more linear and the action ramps up whilst the scares get fewer and fewer (which is pretty standard for RE). The atmosphere is great throughout and, whilst it's not my favourite setting, the Baker estate earns its place as an iconic location for the franchise.
There was obviously a lot of love put into rebooting the franchise and I was thoroughly impressed how this game still feels like RE despite all the changes such as the first-person mode. Despite what critics say, there are a lot of level design quirks that remain in line with earlier games. It's a fresh coat of paint, but sticks to the franchise's key gameplay loops and for that I think it's one of the best soft reboots we've ever had.
The DLCs are also a lot of fun. They play differently to the main game and are more action heavy but the change of pace is exciting and they don't last long enough to detract from the main experience. Both Not a Hero and End of Zoe add some interesting worldbuilding to the main story and twist the mechanics enough to stand out as unique.
The only real problem is the combat. There's not really enough variation in the main campaign and sometimes the molded just feel placed there for the sake of it. Compared to games like REmake and the RE2 remake the default enemies aren't really threatening and the focus on killing them takes away from some of the fight-or-flight mechanics of earlier games.
Overall though, this was a solid 8.5/10 and I'd recommend to anyone looking for a great first-person survival horror.
Despite dialling up the horror, RE7 still manages to get most of the key aspects of a great RE game down well. The exploration is great, especially in the first part of the mansion where you have no weapons and are avoiding Jack. The mansion as a whole is great. Later areas get a bit more linear and the action ramps up whilst the scares get fewer and fewer (which is pretty standard for RE). The atmosphere is great throughout and, whilst it's not my favourite setting, the Baker estate earns its place as an iconic location for the franchise.
There was obviously a lot of love put into rebooting the franchise and I was thoroughly impressed how this game still feels like RE despite all the changes such as the first-person mode. Despite what critics say, there are a lot of level design quirks that remain in line with earlier games. It's a fresh coat of paint, but sticks to the franchise's key gameplay loops and for that I think it's one of the best soft reboots we've ever had.
The DLCs are also a lot of fun. They play differently to the main game and are more action heavy but the change of pace is exciting and they don't last long enough to detract from the main experience. Both Not a Hero and End of Zoe add some interesting worldbuilding to the main story and twist the mechanics enough to stand out as unique.
The only real problem is the combat. There's not really enough variation in the main campaign and sometimes the molded just feel placed there for the sake of it. Compared to games like REmake and the RE2 remake the default enemies aren't really threatening and the focus on killing them takes away from some of the fight-or-flight mechanics of earlier games.
Overall though, this was a solid 8.5/10 and I'd recommend to anyone looking for a great first-person survival horror.