It takes a village. Resident Evil Village.

Usually, I don’t recommend playing games out of order. Whether it’s chronological order or release order, I try to play games as they come out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that with Resident Evil. I skipped RE6 because there were other things I wanted to play at the time. With RE7, I immediately wrote it off because it was only playable in first person. As someone that gets motion sickness very easily, I had no choice but to skip it. Seriously, I can’t play games like Doom, Dishonored, Borderlands, and a slew of others because the wibbly-wobbly camera will make me sick. Thankfully, Resident Evil Village (often called REVIII or RE8) offered a third-person view which made it playable for me. To add, they had a recap of RE7. So, you can ignore my usual recommendation and play RE8 without any knowledge of RE7.

Taking place in a small European town after the events of RE7, Resident Evil Village stars Ethan Winters. Ethan and his wife are still traumatized by the events in Louisiana, but they’re doing their best to move on and raise their daughter, Rose. One evening before the two of them sit down for a meal, troops storm the Winters’ home and massacre Ethan’s wife and kidnap Rose. The troops are led by Chris Redfield, which just adds to the chaos and confusion. Ethan gets hauled away in an armored car. But, the car gets assaulted by unknown forces and ejects Ethan into a small, old-timey village. Alone and in an unknown town, Ethan must figure out why Chris turned on his family and retrieve his daughter. The game begins with a bang, and then rollercoasters you to an eerie quiet. The titular village the game takes place in is filled with secrets and terrors. Ethan is essentially by himself from the beginning. And as he gets further into the nightmare, things start to reveal themselves in ways that tie Village together with earlier Resident Evils. I really enjoyed this game’s story. We never see Ethan’s face but feel for him and his plights. To say he goes through it would be an understatement. I kept saying, “Sheesh. Poor Ethan” each time another unfortunate event happened to him.

Prior to Village, I played the remake of Resident Evil 4. (A review for that will be posted someday.) The same modernization of the series is in full effect for Village, and the game plays all the better for it. The village and the architecture around are packed with discoveries and horrors. A color-coded map shows your location and indicates any missing items to pick up. Weapons can have shortcut hotkeys that makes switching easier. Aiming is easy. Moving is easy. You can craft ammo and restorative items from raw materials. Finally, there’s a merchant simply named The Duke that will provide you with new weapons, items, upgrades, and more. The odds are stacked against Ethan, but the tools provided and seamless controls help.

Note that it takes a minute to get said tools. The “survival” aspect in this survival-horror title is in full bloom during the game’s beginning sections. At first, you’ll need to move carefully and stealthily. You have limited items that should only be used in emergencies. Ethan, like other RE protagonists, will take damage quickly and be at a disadvantage at critical health. Overtime, Ethan will acquire more tools and weapons. After acquiring a shotgun, I ignored the idea of subtlety and hunted down any enemy I came across. I never worried about running out of ammo or supplies, either. RE8 is a challenging game, especially during a couple of the boss fights, but the challenge never felt unfair on the standard difficulty. Truthfully, I only saw the game over screen twice. Once was when I wasn’t paying attention during a boss. The second was when I was in an enemy layer and decided to act like a daredevil.

RE8 has some unnerving locations and set pieces. The series has always looked great in its grotesqueness, but RE8 has haunting atmosphere that is the epitome of nightmare fuel. There’s one area in which Ethan loses all his belongings and must slowly pull pieces of a key out of a mannequin that scarily resembles his wife. There’s no music. There’s no outside noise. The lighting is just dim enough. It’s a memorable area that I’ll keep with me. The action and combat are fun and frantic, but when things come to a halt and require you to solve a puzzle or methodically get out of the equivalent of an escape room, the atmosphere really shines. For me, survival horror is always the spookiest when there’s nothing going on except slow exploration. That’s why the most terrifying parts of Ethan’s quest were when he was isolated and navigating an unconventional way to his next goal without an enemy around.

RE8 is a lengthy game for the genre. It took me (and my poor sense of direction AKA lots of backtracking) about 15 hours to finish. Seeing the ending doesn’t mean that the game is over. There’re bonus content and varying levels of difficulties to try. Plus, there’s a ton of extras to unlock. I’m not sure how long it would take to “do it all” but it’d be far greater than the 15 hours I spent playing. Resident Evil Village has its hiccups here and there, but it still combines horror and fun in a way only Capcom knows how. Like I said in the introduction, you can hop into it without playing a second of Resident Evil 7. For those that enjoy the series but don’t enjoy a first-person POV, this is a great choice.

Overall, 7.5/10: Resident Evil Village. Resident Evil 8. REVIII. RE8. Village. No matter what you call it, this is yet another great entry in Capcom’s flagship horror franchise.