now do me and finish the job!!!

capcom continues their trend with the game shining in the first half and dipping to sluggish lows in the second. the opening is lackluster but entertaining, and i still stand by my cutscene central argument where it's a movie in the first hour or two and only glimpses of gameplay, and not a good movie at that with this writing. the introduction to the village is quite meh, the uninteresting villagers and whatnot come and go before you even realize they're there. ethan's voice actor is hilarious in the dramatic moments, but he does shine towards the end.

the game really starts to skyrocket in quality once you enter the castle where the game actually begins, again with the most misdirecting marketing in ages the castle section did feel shortlived, but in retrospect it is of the better sections in this game. classic re1 house, graphics are phenomenal, the designs of the vampire ladies stand out as classics, the actress for dimistrescu kills it and deserved the game award. not a ton of complaints, actually doesn't overstay its welcome and the castle has pretty perfect pacing and progression, although dimitrescu's boss battle was a tad wack.

it's quite morbidly hilarious that the writers decided they wanted to cut up a baby to aid the gameplay progression, i'm honestly fine with it at this point. also who doesn't love duke? the game reaches its peak when the village opens itself up for real explaration, where most cutscenes cease and you can just roam and take in the beautiful athmosphere. the graphics are some of the best, art direction is second to none, the color scheme is also really stellar. the gameplay is also smooth, nice difficulty progression, satisfying kills and puzzles that aren't frustrating. didn't get lost a ton here, this is what capcom does best. level design.

it elevates further once you get to benevientos house, a much needed return to just pure surivival horror. your weapons are gone and you solve a morbid dissection puzzle of your wife, mostly silence with only some creaks and a dry yet tense athmosphere. more of this please! often just show and tell, reality bending horror that stems from the character's trauma, gives silent hill vibes. the best section is undoubtably the baby monster chase in the dark, even having been spoiled, it startled me to fucking hell and back. it's actually scary, disgusting and i love it. sound design eats the fuck down. the finding the doll section was a tad tedious, but beyond that this section is some of the best to come out of this series.

the merchant upgrades and weapon progression is great as always. forgot to mention that this is the very much obvious spiritual sequel/remake of re4, down to some of the smallest details. come there by car, find a girl, merchant, more action packed than its predecessor, village section with crazy people, a castle, a factory section that is not as good as the rest, a boat section with a big monster. i guess following in the footsteps of your own magnum opus sometimes works somewhat.

the big fat guy section is still pretty good, love the slimy aesthetics and how the water looks. boss fight was pretty meh though, as are most re boss fights. lasted maybe a wee bit too long. after this section is when the game is actually the prettiest, the drab villaged is now basked in golden sunlight and it looks amazing. exploring and getting upgrades here and fighting through optional bosses was a delight here. loved it. getting to the actual heisenberg factory is when my praise for the game dips.

heisenberg is not nearly as interesting as anyone, and they act like he is interesting. his voice acting is some of theeee worst voice acting in video gaming, they casted him of 4chan. the factory section is disorienting, wayyy too long, too dark, so ugly and muddy, umcomftarable in a bad way, just plain annoying. was waiting for it to be over and it never ended, the only cool section was when you saw the overview of the whole factory in the beginning, the rest was sludge, just like re4. it gave off the sewers section in re2 and ship/cave section in re7 as well, just not enjoyable. i don't even know what they tried to do with that obby section.

the game goes off the rails tonally when you have to fight heisenberg with a tank which is not a great boss battle, but at least something to switch things up after the pisspool i just went through. the miranda section is cool, some of the cutscene work is pretty good in first person. the direction is wayyy off in the third person cutscenes though.

ethan dies, whatever. miranda has a cool design. then you play as chris, and his villain marketing was also just way off i don't understand any of it. anywhoooo, this section is also just plain boring. it goes into full action, gives off the santa barbara section of the last of us 2 mixed with battlefield, but like wayyy worse. the boss fights are laughable, mechanics tacky. blehhhhhh. i don't even care about ethans mold story whatever, explains some things but do we care? whatever he's back now, and the miranda fight is something alright. also just bad game design, no likey and also pretty frustrating. the final cutscene is ridiculous but it's so funny i don't care, goofyyyy.

this game has a ton of lows in its second half, yeah. but can't deny this game was really fun to play, great blend of surival horror and action. great art direction, graphics, interesting world, great progression and exploration. could be a bit shorter though but i recommend! 8/10