Resident Evil Village successfully strikes out in new, unforgettable directions
★★★★★ (5/5)
Based on a completed playthrough on Standard difficulty

Resident Evil Village is a fantastic evolution of its predecessor, a remarkable feat for a follow-up to one of the best horror games in recent memory. It trades Resident Evil 7’s slower-paced haunted house crawl for a more action-oriented romp through a European village steeped in Gothic horror and snowy vistas. While significantly less frightening than the Baker home, Resident Evil Village’s titular locale and its mesmerizing cast of characters are absolutely unforgettable. Many of the events that unfold over the roughly 10-hour adventure need to be seen to be believed; this is a game operating at an abnormally high level of confidence, and its best tricks are better left unspoiled if you can manage it.

Set three years after the torturous events of the previous game, Village sees protagonist Ethan Winters thrust into another nightmare after witnessing Resident Evil long-timer Chris Redfield murder Ethan's wife Mia and kidnap his newborn daughter Rose. Ethan is knocked unconscious and taken too, only for the entire operation to be sidelined by a mysterious attack that leaves a truck overturned and Ethan alone in a forest. It’s not long before Ethan discovers the village and meets its larger-than-life cast of villains, at which point he sets out to take down each of the four village “lords” and their enigmatic leader, Mother Miranda, with the hope of rescuing his daughter. Village's story isn't particularly thick with lore, but its made all the more compelling by its villains and the rather twisted process Ethan must complete to rescue Rose. It also ends spectacularly well; the finale kicks off with one of the most awesome sequences in the history of this genre.

These lords have their own sections of the world carved out for them, each one pulling from an impressive array of horror tropes. Where RE7 had dingy basements, escape rooms, and ghost ships, Village has towering castles, monstrous creatures, and muddy pathways that wind their way through trees. The game takes a more fantastical direction than RE7's more grounded, almost True Detective-inspired approach. Each “level” of Village presents new challenges, new enemies, and new ways to murder Ethan’s hands. The game only has maybe one or two sections that could be deemed frightening in a vein similar to RE7, and it’s not due to the rest of the game failing to scare. Rather, Village takes inspiration from new sources, choosing to impress with its enemy and environmental design rather than lay out a terrifying experience the entire way through. And these spaces are always rewarding to explore; everywhere you go there are resources to grab and secrets to uncover.

The most significant departure from RE7 is in Village’s focus on action, which will undoubtedly disappoint a few. The combat in Village isn’t amazing--Ethan moves pretty slowly, and there’s still no true aim-down-sights which can leave the shooting feeling a bit dated. But every enemy encounter feels designed around these limitations. There’s a much larger variety of enemies this time around, and each one feels fair to fight. There’s also a larger arsenal of weapons, and they all can be upgraded with attachments that enhance their stopping power, recoil, and magazine size.

Village also sees the return of an omnipresent merchant, a comically large man by the name of Duke. Duke sells items and weapon upgrades and will buy treasures off of Ethan for rather large sums of money. During my playthrough on the Standard difficulty I almost always seemed to have a surplus of cash on hand, which made every encounter with Duke feel like a splendid shopping trip. Duke can also cook for Ethan using meat and fish that can be gathered out in the world. Yes, there’s a mild hunting mechanic in Village, though it really just involves shooting pigs and stabbing fish with a knife. These meals grant permanent bonuses to Ethan’s health and damage resistance, replacing the steroids from RE7.

Unsurprisingly, Village also looks amazing. The environment and character artists absolutely outdid themselves here. Everything and everyone you see just looks so good, with the game’s lighting and texture work being particular highlights. I don’t know that I’ve ever played a game that better fits the “I feel like I can touch and smell the things in this room” cliche better than this. Notably, Village takes place almost entirely during the day; unlike RE7, where most of your visual understanding of your surroundings came from a flashlight or dimly lit table lamps, Village discovers sunlight. It peeks through cracked windows and silhouettes spindly, gnarled branches. The ability to actually see your surroundings, and in turn the things attacking you, necessarily makes Village a less scary game than RE7, but certainly no less an amazing one to look at.

There is a spoiler-filled list I could make of all the things I’ll remember most from Resident Evil Village, but suffice it to say that this game unquestionably lives up to the high bar set by its predecessor. It is equally impressive in its ability to surprise as it is in its boldness to immediately break out of the creepy mold of RE7 into something new. Many have compared this game to Resident Evil 4 for its similarities in setting and action. Though Village necessarily can’t be as groundbreaking as RE4, it matches the classic forebear by just being a startlingly good horror game.