'Resident Evil Village' Review

Lords and country

Fewer games more aptly embody the term 'mixed bag' than Resident Evil Village. Contained within Village are instances of the most evocative and effective horror in the series' history, as well as most effective action, but also the least of both. Village boasts some viscerally memorable settings and winning personalities, but also those you'll hasten to forget. Some parts are perfectly paced, some are cut woefully short, others mercilessly prolonged. Truly, every shade of quality is present on Village's palette, making it a decently fun but wildly uneven experience.

Perhaps what's most disappointing about Village is how little of it is truly its own. The game is very blatantly an offspring of the fourth and seventh numbered Resident Evil entries, and as such, wears its dominant traits so blatantly they're impossible to see past. The family-centric story and first-person action of Resident Evil 7 has been mashed together with the gameplay trappings, quixotic characters, and European setting of Resident Evil 4. In stealing from other Resident Evil titles, however, Village often lacks the subtleties that made each piece effective when part of its original work. The inventory system of Village has been lifted straight from that of RE4, but unlike in that game, on normal difficulty I simultaneously never ran tight with inventory space, but also never ran low on supplies. Like in RE7, or even the remake of RE3, I would find myself tailed by an unflappable pursuer type, but in Village I never felt intimidated by their excruciatingly-slow attacks and meandering gait. The bosses feel like particularly unfortunate misfires; striking designs one and all, but their gameplay never seems to carry out commensurate drama, suspense, or even thrills.

Now, naturally, I'm not about to get sniffy about a game cribbing ideas from its own series; if you're gonna steal from any game, by all means, take from your own series, you've earned it. But I can't help but feel disappointed with how much of Village can so easily be shorthanded by referencing other RE games. The opening hours of Resident Evil 7, for example, are perfect: a masterclass in zero rocketing towards one hundred, simultaneously drawing out suspense and wasting no time getting the player in on the action. But more than that, the unique setting and focused pacing make for an utterly unique onset for not itself, but as a Resident Evil title. It is then, disheartening, that Resident Evil Village dusts off an old routine, with the player outlasting a seemingly infinite horde of vicious foes that eventually gets joined by a much more frighteningly powerful miniboss - a dance already done back in Resident Evil 5.... What, did you forget that 5 had already ripped off 4's opening? That's right, it's not even a singular rehash, we're all the way at a *three*hash at this point. It's an example of how, in thinking back on my time with Village, there feels like very little I can point to that feels distinctly, unequivocally its own.

Of course, despite all this negativity, I wasn't lying in my first paragraph - some of what Village does is actually good, even great. The areas within the first half or so of the game are legitimately exciting to explore, and while you can argue for or against various aspects of the narrative, the overall tone is nicely balanced between seriousness and camp. Combat has a lovely kick and the game throws enough curveballs to never be in the same area code as 'boring.' Underlying everything - the consistency in the chaos - is the series' trademark technical and graphical splendor (particularly evinced on PS5 with literally no loading times). The hard truth is that all of Village's pieces are proven successes; the issue comes in the refinement. In many ways, Village feels like an attempt at a 'be-all end-all' Resident Evil title, but ends up spreading itself so unevenly that's what it ultimately feels like: pieces, a thousand fractions of proven goodness cobbling together, and all too often canceling each other out. While the plot remains consistently engaging by its off-the-wall twists and by virtue of its many mysteries, both of which effectively keeping the narrative's trajectory unpredictable, once the intrigue has fallen away, Village is visible for what it is: good intentions and simple substance, not unlike a half-remembered folk tale.