Resident Evil is one of those gaming franchises where I joined in on the fun later on. I do remember playing Resident Evil 2 on a cousin’s PC and giving up on it since both of us couldn’t figure out the controls — we were novice gamer kids. It was only when Resident Evil 4 was the rage everywhere that I properly jumped on the Biohazard train. I played through it several times and would still maintain that it’s one of the best games ever. Resident Evil 5 was a letdown, though, but strictly from a gameplay perspective, I still enjoyed it. I’m also one of those who didn’t hate Resident Evil 6 although the main reasoning behind it was Leon’s Campaign that held it up like Atlas while the other parts bogged it down by being too action-oriented losing that mix of action and survival horror that I was accustomed to from the franchise, as well as, teetering far too much on ridiculousness. Capcom took heed of the criticisms similar to how they took notice of the DMC reboot and its lack of resonance with the established player base. In comes Sony E3 2016 with a creepy reveal of a new entry in the franchise seemingly going back to its Survival Horror roots. I was certainly intrigued and although I didn’t give it a try when it came out, it was on my list and since I do eventually get around to things on my lists however long it may take, here I am, several years later, finishing the game and putting down my thoughts — The Evil Within playthroughs I did recently verily motivated me too.
Story:
Surprisingly well-told and far more mature than what I had expected. While I have enjoyed the stories in some of the previous games — mainly Resident Evil 4 —, they are by no means masterpieces and are often campy and schlocky which, ironically, gives the franchise its charm. However, after several sequels, it was a nice change of pace to have a story that sparingly used those elements and opted for a relatively serious and darker tone. Apart from the premise, I didn’t know what I was getting into and when everything came together by the end, I was thoroughly entertained.
Getting in the shoes of Ethan — a new protagonist in the franchise — who is on the search for his missing girlfriend after a cryptic message she sends that leads him to a swampy and eerie estate of The Baker Family was a great way to jump into the revitalized sequel. What happened to the Umbrella Corporation? What are the classic characters doing? What’s the state of the world? The game chucks all of that out and narrows the story down where the metanarrative renewal of the franchise goes hand in hand with the character in your hands. Things go awry quickly and you’re now fighting, or rather running for your life from an insane family of undying members while trying to piece together what the actual fuck is going on — I loved that.
One of my favourite things narratively was the character development, whether given to you directly or as you uncover tidbits via exploration. It enhanced the encounters with the different members of the family and added to the tragic nature of their predicament. However, Ethan, although not a blank slate, was relatively underdeveloped which could have been done intentionally to let the player immerse in the shoes of the hero themselves but I would have preferred deeper characterization.
Gameplay:
Instead of the third-person mode that the franchise has stuck to, Resident Evil 7 goes first-person which added to the ominous atmosphere and the survival element. A cliché but a true one; the game puts you in the shoes of the protagonist.
The gameplay is both familiar and distinct coming off as a mashup of elements from several previous games being balanced in the first-person playstyle with a few new additions and subtractions. The risk/reward of managing your inventory from Re4; the real-time danger of not being able to pause when using the inventory from Re5; the basic crafting of certain items from several previous entries such as first aid with the new addition of ammo; the nerve-wracking stinginess of conserving your ammo for a tougher situation later on from older titles up to Re4; gun stats replaced with unlocking weapons via currency and stronger ammo; all of it helped give the game an air of familiarity while also feeling fresh but I would be remiss if I didn’t say I sure did miss weapon stat upgrades.
Apart from the final boss fight which was a thorough disappointment, I enjoyed every other one even if some of them were frustrating because of the awkward restraints put on the player (the second Jack fight comes to mind). The level design restraints did become annoying as the game’s idea of difficulty often was just throwing more enemies at you in tight spaces. It was particularly exacerbated in the last hour or so. The lack of balance was frustrating as the game all of a sudden was throwing enemies at you at a much faster and numerous pace giving the feeling that it is prepping you up for the big finale which resulted in me saving as much ammo and health as I can only for it to end in a final boss fight where I barely needed it. All of that ammo and first aid went to waste.
It was also disappointing to have a lack of variations in the average grunt black goo enemy types. The gunplay itself was solid, though, and encouraged headshots which often made encounters tense.
Graphics:
Rendered in the RE Engine, the game can be a looker. A plethora of indoor spaces with detailed objects and surroundings, claustrophobia and a dense atmosphere truly helped with the immersion. The black goo and vines design for the typical enemy was cool and did its job to unsettle you. The boss fights upped it in the creepy and monstrosity department.
Where the graphical fidelity faltered was in the facial detail and animation. There was wonkiness associated with how the characters talked and expressed themselves often coming off as rigid and unappealing. Sometimes it did work in favour of the game as the insane characters had stiff maniacal expressions.
It was an overall optimized game as I was able to get a mostly steady 60 FPS experience with a mixture of high and highest settings with only a couple set at medium or low on an old 4th Core i5 and a GTX 970 at 1080p.
Sound:
What is Horror without effective sound utilization? Even sheer lack of it can become creepy simply by virtue of it feeling unnaturally quiet. I’m glad this game boasted a strong and solid sound design. Playing it on a surround sound system, hearing cracks and creaks, footsteps and thuds, moans and groans, hisses and screams, and all other environmental effects had a strong hand in subjecting me to the tension of the experience. The voice acting was decent for a lot of the characters and did the job of making you feel both anxious and amused but in the case of the latter, it is hard for me to discern between the intentional and unintentional bits.
DLCs:
The dissatisfying final boss fight and the lack of closure on certain plot points getting rectified by DLC reminded me of The Evil Within. While Resident Evil 7 boasts a plethora of them from a silly birthday dinner to card games mimicking jigsaw from SAW, there are some story-centric ones that are paramount to getting the whole picture. Two in particular: One focuses on Chris Redfield and his hunt for Lucas from The Baker Family; the other focuses on Zoe and Jack’s brother Joe who comes to her rescue. Both had enough story elements to satisfactorily wrap up big loose ends and were entertaining to play with Zoe’s one being particularly amusing as after all the time spent surviving and dishing damage with a variety of weapons and ammo, you get to take control of a hardened country beast with a boxing background using only his fists to destroy his enemies.
Overall:
The feeling of contentment and respect is always present heavily when a franchise course corrects effectively and Resident Evil with this entry did just that. It may not have been nearly as scary or creepy as I thought going in (The Evil Within playthroughs probably had something to do with that too) but I still got enough tense moments and spooks and ultimately enjoyed the focus on revitalized survival-horror roots. Anyone who gave up on the franchise after Re6 and hasn’t revisited it since would be pleasantly surprised by giving it a shot. I’m certainly looking forward to playing Re8: Village. And if I were to rate my experience with this game, I’d give it an 8/10.
