Resident Evil Village

First-person horror with survival and shooter elements, Resident Evil: Village continues the story started in Biohazard but moves the action to Eastern Europe. Players received more dynamic gameplay, more weapons and action, as well as the opportunity to learn about the backstory of the Umbrella Corporation. Locations have become larger, requiring exploration for secrets and puzzles, which increased the playtime to 20 hours. Among the pleasant bonuses are an updated inventory and detailed levels.

The protagonist of the seventh part, Ethan Winters, is back in the lead role; moreover, Ethan's personality has become a key element of the narrative. While he was silent before, in Village he has become much more talkative, showing his mood and character, expressing his motivations and feelings, which allows the writers to develop him as a character.

The tall lady who has captured players' attention, Alcina Dimitrescu — a new Tyrant. Her enormous height, large claws, and wings make her a dangerous opponent, but only in her family castle, where she lives with three daughter sub-bosses. She won't be hunting the player most of the time; the task of terrorizing him is shared among all enemies and sub-bosses.

The main antagonist is a woman named Miranda. The locals worship her as a goddess, and the main bosses refer to her as mother. Miranda possesses supernatural strength and resilience, transforming into different people and creatures. It is with her that Ethan has the toughest confrontation and the climactic boss fight at the end.

Chris Redfield is a full participant in the events, and he even has part of the gameplay dedicated to him. The famous Resident Evil hero has left the B.S.A.A. and formed a squad called "Hunting Dogs" to eliminate Miranda, but after several years, he has achieved no results. The passing years have changed Chris's character, which will become clear almost immediately.

Throughout Village, players will encounter various characters, both main and secondary. Most of them are clearly enemies, but some can be interacted with. For example, a neutral merchant named the Duke sells health kits, ammunition, weapons, modifications for them, and other useful items for the local currency (lei).

The events of Village begin three years after the ending of the seventh part. Ethan, along with his wife Mia and daughter Rosemary, has moved to Eastern Europe. Their quiet family life unexpectedly ends after the invasion of Chris Redfield, who kills his wife and kidnaps his daughter.

In pursuit of him, Ethan finds himself in a terrifying place, where he must defend himself against the locals, fight creatures from myths and legends, and overcome the supernatural. Meanwhile, the local inhabitants, under the guidance of Mother Miranda, are preparing to conduct an occult ritual involving Rosemary. Stopping it and saving his daughter is the main motivation for the protagonist.

The plot is not without unexpected twists and is generally capable of engaging, but it turned out to be somewhat simplistic, far from the canons of the series, and not particularly frightening. The narrative is overly focused on Ethan, his suffering and emotions. Everything happening is seen by the player just like the protagonist, so there is no development of other characters and their growth by the end. Yet they are memorable and colorful in their own way.

The writers carelessly interpret the appearance of vampires and werewolves, levitation and paranormal phenomena, the origins of Miranda and other bosses, and the roots of the Umbrella corporation, in relation to the lore of "Resident Evil".

However, the first-person view has raised the presentation to a new level for the series, quickly and seamlessly immersing players into the thick of events with well-crafted scenes, an atmosphere felt through the screen, dialogues, and chatter. The most complex and spectacular scenes will delight with hallucinations and induced psychosis, where not everything that seems is actually real.

The action of RE8 takes place in an alternative reality, somewhere in the mountainous and snowy southeastern Europe, which Capcom has turned into a gothic Transylvania. The world map is divided into regions, corresponding to noble families: the Dimitrescu castle, the Beneviento mansion, the Heisenberg factory, and the Moro reservoir. And in the center lies the very Village.

Each area has a unique, noticeably different art design, enemies, mini-bosses, and a main boss. There is no open world, but the levels of The Village are larger and more branched, and some places will require multiple returns. For variety, there is a location without shooting, where everything is built on building fear and horror, and a location filled with shooting and explosions.

The levels are meticulously crafted and filled with numerous details, especially "The Village". Inside the sprawling huts, there are many decorative elements characteristic of Eastern Europe. Kitchen utensils and pots on the stove, shelves with food and preserves, scattered clothes and bedding, carpets, paintings, and photographs hang on the walls. And everything, from small to large, is arranged by the designers' hands.

The RE Engine has been updated for next-generation consoles, which is evident in the natural lighting of rooms, surfaces, HDR support, and the quality of light and shadow play. Enemy models have received several sets of animations, and characters also have natural facial animations. Cutscenes match the quality of CGI videos, although they run on the engine.

The bestiary of The Village has been redesigned and expanded, with the black mold removed. Instead of primitive zombies, there are slow but more deadly ghouls. For dynamic battles, beast-men reminiscent of werewolves are introduced. Additionally, members of the local cult are eager to hunt the main character.

To fend off pesky minor enemies, rapid-fire pistols, shotguns, and a couple of submachine guns will help, while thick-skinned foes can be dealt with using a revolver, sniper rifle, and a handheld grenade launcher. There are also homemade mines and bombs. For money, the merchant will install upgrades for damage, fire rate, reload speed, and ammunition capacity on any weapon.

In hand-to-hand combat, a new mechanic for blocking and parrying attacks has come to help — by executing it at the right moment, the hero deflects the attack and pushes the enemy away. Ethan has also learned to pick up weapons dropped by enemies — a sword or an axe is better than nothing. All opponents in the eighth installment have their own set of behavior patterns — to break through them, you will need to change both weapons and combat tactics.

The inventory has changed, now it is a finite grid of slots, and all items take up different amounts of space — you can't take a six-slot pistol if only five are free. Story items, treasures, and crafting components do not take up space in the inventory and are located in a separate menu. Ammunition and consumables can be crafted from resources scattered throughout the game world. Health and armor upgrades come from hunting wildlife.

The hero moves faster, reacts to commands better and sharper, shooting is enjoyable, although an accurate shot will require time for aiming. As a result, Village has become similar to a linear horror with shooting.