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Resident Evil 7 is not an exceptionally deep or complex game but it is great at being what any Resident Evil game should be: fun and scary.
I was so stressed playing this game, especially during the beginning sections, that I had to play with a walkthrough so I would know what was coming. I was also familiar with a lot of the scares in the game since I've watched people play it before. Even with my prior knowledge and the walkthrough I still had to pause frequently to summon the nerve to progress the game.
I loved using all of the weapons and enjoyed managing my resources (I had a massive surplus of ammo at the end of the game so I was probably too conservative with my resource use, but oh well). I didn't find the game to be too difficult on normal mode so I'm curious to try Madhouse difficulty. The story is fine but nothing special. I have a soft spot for Ethan Winters and his lame voicelines, and the Baker family are great villains. I love the exploration in this game where you can go back to previous areas to discover new routes and resources - the map is completely interconnected for most of the game. The game gets a lot weaker when you leave the Baker house; I understand the need for more scale and action set pieces but it doesn't have the same atmosphere and is much more an on-the-rails experience.
I don't think Resident Evil 7 is as strong of an experience as Resident Evil 2 (2019) but I can certainly understand its role in reviving the franchise. I want to play the DLC at some point and will update this review when I do.
I was so stressed playing this game, especially during the beginning sections, that I had to play with a walkthrough so I would know what was coming. I was also familiar with a lot of the scares in the game since I've watched people play it before. Even with my prior knowledge and the walkthrough I still had to pause frequently to summon the nerve to progress the game.
I loved using all of the weapons and enjoyed managing my resources (I had a massive surplus of ammo at the end of the game so I was probably too conservative with my resource use, but oh well). I didn't find the game to be too difficult on normal mode so I'm curious to try Madhouse difficulty. The story is fine but nothing special. I have a soft spot for Ethan Winters and his lame voicelines, and the Baker family are great villains. I love the exploration in this game where you can go back to previous areas to discover new routes and resources - the map is completely interconnected for most of the game. The game gets a lot weaker when you leave the Baker house; I understand the need for more scale and action set pieces but it doesn't have the same atmosphere and is much more an on-the-rails experience.
I don't think Resident Evil 7 is as strong of an experience as Resident Evil 2 (2019) but I can certainly understand its role in reviving the franchise. I want to play the DLC at some point and will update this review when I do.
Silent Hill 3 has an amazing story and some of the best characters, imagery, and symbolism in the series so far but to be honest I can't really talk about it without acknowledging how frustrated I was with the gameplay at times. The difficulty is much higher than the previous games, which is an improvement in itself since it feels a lot more like a survivor horror game where the other games didn't require so much resource management. I have to admit it got a little boring having to run past most enemies, and fighting with the limited camera controls in order to aim was frustrating. I also ran out of healing items for the final boss and after trying to beat it for the better part of two hours I caved and used beginner mode. I would definitely like to play it again and see if the game gets easier with more experience.
I hope that Silent Hill 3 gets an Enhanced Edition style mod someday because I experienced a lot of performance issues and certain areas ran essentially in slow motion. Even with all the stuttering this game is still great to look at; the graphics aged very well.
In terms of the story, I think Heather is a fantastic protagonist and I think the writers did a great job of writing a female character. The use of religious themes in the game was super interesting and better executed than the first game. My main issue with the story is pacing. The game doesn't have much story momentum until about the halfway point so I spent a good chunk of the game wondering when any of the major plot points would be introduced.
Overall I didn't enjoy this game as much as I'd hoped, but at the same time it did so many things so well that I can't justify a lower rating. It is a worthwhile addition to the series and a great followup to the first game.
I hope that Silent Hill 3 gets an Enhanced Edition style mod someday because I experienced a lot of performance issues and certain areas ran essentially in slow motion. Even with all the stuttering this game is still great to look at; the graphics aged very well.
In terms of the story, I think Heather is a fantastic protagonist and I think the writers did a great job of writing a female character. The use of religious themes in the game was super interesting and better executed than the first game. My main issue with the story is pacing. The game doesn't have much story momentum until about the halfway point so I spent a good chunk of the game wondering when any of the major plot points would be introduced.
Overall I didn't enjoy this game as much as I'd hoped, but at the same time it did so many things so well that I can't justify a lower rating. It is a worthwhile addition to the series and a great followup to the first game.
This review contains spoilers
I think this is a beautiful and important game. Its greatest strength is certainly the strong symbolic language it develops; it doesn't feel the need to explain everything to the player and the more I think about the story the more questions I have - to me that is a good thing because I enjoy complex narratives with many possible interpretations.
For me personally, I was really fascinated by the use of tonal dissonance throughout the game. It's saturated with a deep sense of melancholy, and yet there's the wonderfully delivered line "This town is full of monsters! How can you sit there and eat pizza?" and a completely out of place quiz show segment that comes out of nowhere. The intentionally stilted voice work adds to the surreal tone of the game which I really enjoyed. I was also moved emotionally at some points, especially the letter at the ending which was beautifully performed.
Gameplay is never Silent Hill's strong suit from what I've heard, but this game had some particular issues. Even compared to the more dated first game, melee combat in Silent Hill 2 feels sluggish and extremely unsatisfying, and with the exception of the handgun most of the ranged weapons have the same issue to a lesser degree. The boss fights were better than the first game but still objectively boring. I was very disappointed in particular by the combat encounters with Pyramid Head, which I expected to be much more exciting considering the reputation of the character. Enemy variety is also very limited even compared to the first game. Kicking downed enemies is still really fun, though. Also, for a game with a puzzle difficulty setting I expected there to be a lot more puzzles but I was sadly disappointed.
Despite some issues with gameplay this game still has many more strengths than weaknesses, and I can definitely understand how it has become such an icon in regards to storytelling in games.
For me personally, I was really fascinated by the use of tonal dissonance throughout the game. It's saturated with a deep sense of melancholy, and yet there's the wonderfully delivered line "This town is full of monsters! How can you sit there and eat pizza?" and a completely out of place quiz show segment that comes out of nowhere. The intentionally stilted voice work adds to the surreal tone of the game which I really enjoyed. I was also moved emotionally at some points, especially the letter at the ending which was beautifully performed.
Gameplay is never Silent Hill's strong suit from what I've heard, but this game had some particular issues. Even compared to the more dated first game, melee combat in Silent Hill 2 feels sluggish and extremely unsatisfying, and with the exception of the handgun most of the ranged weapons have the same issue to a lesser degree. The boss fights were better than the first game but still objectively boring. I was very disappointed in particular by the combat encounters with Pyramid Head, which I expected to be much more exciting considering the reputation of the character. Enemy variety is also very limited even compared to the first game. Kicking downed enemies is still really fun, though. Also, for a game with a puzzle difficulty setting I expected there to be a lot more puzzles but I was sadly disappointed.
Despite some issues with gameplay this game still has many more strengths than weaknesses, and I can definitely understand how it has become such an icon in regards to storytelling in games.