Resident Evil 7 carries on the strong legacy of the series at the forefront of the survival horror genre, flaunting both its greatest strengths and flaws.
The primary loop of RE7 has you looking to navigate small spaces while avoiding unkillable enemies as you unlock secrets to move forward and collect resources for your ultimate showdowns with the individual members of the Baker family.
In the first half, the game masterfully sets up a thrilling cat and mouse game where every step you take is a gamble between finding what you need to move forward or initiating a chase that will leave you running for your life.
The game achieves this tension by establishing clear rules in the stalkers' AI that allows you to know when you are safe and when you run the risk of danger. This is bolstered by strong sound and visual design that serves both to alert you of an oncoming enemy and occasionally make you jump at the sight of a shadow cast by a coat rack or a branch tapping on a window.
The new first-person perspective also adds to the tension as turning corners becomes especially terrifying and the game cleverly picks moments to send enemies and other surprises in from your blindside.
On normal difficulty (the highest available on an initial playthrough) combat encounters are pretty sparse and can be pretty easily dealt with if you manage your ammunition well, especially as you gain more powerful weapons.
Ammunition and other resources are ample enough that if you can temper your nerves to work your way around the roaming Bakers and make efficient use of your knife in the early going you're unlikely to find yourself in a tough situation.
Boss battles generally have enough of a gimmick to present interesting puzzles to solve but the stakes don't feel particularly high at any point.
The game also sheds the stalker mechanic about midway through and while a late-game puzzle sequence and another where you're left unarmed do shine but the game loses a lot of its charm as more of your time is spent emptying clips into walking piles of goop.
From a narrative standpoint, the game gets points for neither taking too much time to explain itself or relying to heavily on knowledge of previous games and the setting does a lot to contribute to the tense atmosphere but the actual beat-by-beat story being told is not particularly compelling.
Ultimately, the game starts off on an incredibly strong foot with a well-developed atmosphere and a white knuckle gameplay loop taking lessons from the gams the series itself has inspired but it unfortunately loses some of its steam as the lackluster story starts to ramp up.
The primary loop of RE7 has you looking to navigate small spaces while avoiding unkillable enemies as you unlock secrets to move forward and collect resources for your ultimate showdowns with the individual members of the Baker family.
In the first half, the game masterfully sets up a thrilling cat and mouse game where every step you take is a gamble between finding what you need to move forward or initiating a chase that will leave you running for your life.
The game achieves this tension by establishing clear rules in the stalkers' AI that allows you to know when you are safe and when you run the risk of danger. This is bolstered by strong sound and visual design that serves both to alert you of an oncoming enemy and occasionally make you jump at the sight of a shadow cast by a coat rack or a branch tapping on a window.
The new first-person perspective also adds to the tension as turning corners becomes especially terrifying and the game cleverly picks moments to send enemies and other surprises in from your blindside.
On normal difficulty (the highest available on an initial playthrough) combat encounters are pretty sparse and can be pretty easily dealt with if you manage your ammunition well, especially as you gain more powerful weapons.
Ammunition and other resources are ample enough that if you can temper your nerves to work your way around the roaming Bakers and make efficient use of your knife in the early going you're unlikely to find yourself in a tough situation.
Boss battles generally have enough of a gimmick to present interesting puzzles to solve but the stakes don't feel particularly high at any point.
The game also sheds the stalker mechanic about midway through and while a late-game puzzle sequence and another where you're left unarmed do shine but the game loses a lot of its charm as more of your time is spent emptying clips into walking piles of goop.
From a narrative standpoint, the game gets points for neither taking too much time to explain itself or relying to heavily on knowledge of previous games and the setting does a lot to contribute to the tense atmosphere but the actual beat-by-beat story being told is not particularly compelling.
Ultimately, the game starts off on an incredibly strong foot with a well-developed atmosphere and a white knuckle gameplay loop taking lessons from the gams the series itself has inspired but it unfortunately loses some of its steam as the lackluster story starts to ramp up.