Life has normalised. Infact it’s almost idyllic.

The events of a the recent past still haunt Ethan Winters and his wife Mia are still prevalent in their memories, but with a newborn bay called Rose to take care of the family of three have begun to make a life for themselves in a fresh restart.

Resident Evil 8 – The Village carries on from the previous game and although it is clear that some time has passed the game does not let you forget the events of Resident Evil 7.

Resident Evil 8 - The Village (1)

As Ethan and Mia settle in for the night, with baby Rose asleep upstairs – that past that they wish to forget comes back by way of a surprise attack from the Hound Wolf Squad, headed by Chris Redfield.

Normality is blown away, literally, and with Mia seemingly dead Ethan is taken and wakes up in a isolated snow covered village where the struggle to make it out alive and rescue his child from ‘Mother Miranda’ gets you into the horror fueled gameplay.

Resident Evil 8 – The Village has a large focus on player exploration.

The village itself is not all that big – but you can spend hours upon hours looking in every corner, every field for items.

Paths are not linear either. More often than not you’ll need to figure out how to get somewhere with gates that are blocked, doors that wont unlock and areas blocked by obstacles.

You do have a map and like any decent RPG-like title you will have your primary goals.

Resident Evil 8 – The Village is exactly this. From your current mission to your inventory and the ability to craft items.

As with prior Resident Evil games, your Inventory can end up being of too smaller capacity relatively quickly.

Especially if you’re a gamer like myself who loves to take your time and explore around collecting EVERYTHING.

Weaponry is diverse, from a default knife, which may aswell be a toothpick against most of the enemies you’ll come across to a pistol, shotgun, mines and more.

Your bullet cache is something of a scarcity. Resident Evil 8 – The Village is not a ‘bullet-hell-fest’ title, you’ll need to conserve, collect and craft as many as you can.

This can end up being a game breaker of sorts if you completely run out of ammo then are faced with a Boss – you’re dead before the fight begins.

Amongst the items that you will find are collectables that are valuable items.

These can be sold to an in-game merchant. A rather large chap called Duke who pops up in random places and is more than happy to sell you anything you need, at a price and snap up those items of value.

On the topic of items – health vials throughout the game are rare – as are herbs. So again, be a conservative player.

Vampires and Lycan run rampant in the Village.

Some easier to take down than others – but none are easy. Ethan can take a bit of punishment but depending on your Resident Evil playing experience expect to die, alot.

Capcom have also added in a fair amount of puzzles. More often than not you’ll need to collect items that are a solution to a puzzle and yourself progressing forward. However others may reap rewards or bonuses.

True to it’s lore and it’s horror foundations Resident Evil 8 – The Village has enough gore, terror and creepiness to satiate even the hard-core horror fans out there. This said, it is also reliant on many cliché jump-scares.

Playing on PlayStation 5 in 4K the graphics for the most part are glorious. I say the most part, as there some questionable character renders at times. But the environments… well would be fair to say they are within close proximity to real-world.

Resident Evil 8 – The Village also sets the tone with it’s foreboding yet atmospherically disturbing audio. I do recommend playing with an at least 5.1 surround set up or high quality headphones.

Resident Evil 8 – The Village is exactly what we hoped for in this newest chapter in the series.

A storyline that begins just as unexpectedly as it is cryptic to begin with.

A progression model that literally compels you to keep playing and pushing onwards, no matter how difficult gameplay gets.

Resident Evil 8 – The Village is the next iteration in the series that we had been waiting for. It does not disappoint, it exceeds expectations.

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Resident Evil 8 – The Village (PlayStation 5) Review
Game details

Released: May 2021
Rating: R18+
Platform reviewed: PlayStation 5
Genre: Horror
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Gameplay
Graphics
Audio
Replayability
Reader Rating0 Votes
4.9
Final verdict
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