Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)

Just finished and honestly? Its the first time since playing RE4 remake that I felt I played an actual RE game.

This one really showed to me just how disappointing RE5, 6 and both Revelations actually were. But on Revelations 2 case,they at least tried a little but it just wasn't enough.

Another thing RE7 helped me notice was just how freaking good both RE2 and 4 remakes are. I already knew that, of course, but just wow, man. Capcom REALLY got it right with these three.

Anyway, onto RE8 ! My last game of this series ! One more and I'll finally be free ! FREE !

Spooktober 2024 Game #5 Complete!

The VR mod was super good for the most part. I ended up playing the ship through the finale outside VR because I couldn't get the map to work on the Quest 2 and the ship is confusing enough without it. I certainly didn't want to wander around the ship motion sick for hours to compensate. But still, a great way to re-experience the bulk of this game; it was fantastic throughout. That's the last of my replays for the month but I thoroughly enjoyed this and it was a nice reminder of how great this game is.

Meh. The Resi story felt really tacked on and didn't have any significance until the last bits that nobody seemed to like. They even had to put out free DLC to try and tie it to the rest of the lore. I don't want to play the DLC but I'll probably find a story synopsis somewhere or watch someone play it on YT.

Anyway, decent game, terrible Resi game. Took me just over 6 hours playtime to beat on Easy.

Ya know, I always say endings never ruin things, and I still stand by that. That being said, this went from a solid ten to a hard 3 in about an hour, and that's...wow.

When I first started reading about peoples reactions and even reviews to the game, there seemed to be a general consensus that the "boat" section is where it begins to fall apart. I don't agree with that. At least not mechanically. In fact, it was a nice change of scenery and pace, but I'm also a sucker for ghost ship stuff. The problem is that, narratively, it falls apart. In fact, it wasn't even the same story. It was almost like they had an entirely separate story that they stapled onto the first 7 hours, and then tenuously connected in ways that don't really make sense.

There's also no closure or answers for anything whatsoever, but not in a vague way that would've worked. Had you gotten on the little boat with Mia and driven off, and the game ended, that would've been fine. It would've kept in line with the whole mysteriousness of what the hell happened here. How did things get this way. Leaving it up to the imagination in that sense would've been not only far more preferable but also practical. But instead - and granted I'm sure some of the DLC elaborates on this but I've said this before and I'll say this again, if something is so crucial to the understanding of your narrative, it shouldn't be supplemental content (lookin' at you, Halo 4 story) - you get no answers for things you probably should have answers for.

Instead, once you hit the SS Exposition Dump, you're starting to have questions like what organization was Mia working for? Why was she transporting this random child weapon that's also somehow the grandmother in the house (which will never make sense, that was a complete bullshit thing that someone on the team thought would be cool). How did they even GET to the house from the boat? Was it through the mines? What happens to Zoe after you leave (again, likely answered in DLC). What happens to Lucas? You just leave him there. In the end, what started out as a mysterious, kind of acceptably unanswered narrative becomes a complete fucking trainwreck.

And then, to top it all off, you're rescued by the single worst character in the franchise, who somehow happens to be tracking what's going on in this exact place in this exact moment. Chris is a fucking embarrassment.

In the end, what you're left with is an excellent tense 7 hours that then plods on for 2 extra hours, and instead of giving you even somewhat viable answers for things, only convolutes the plot even further into absolute incomprehensiveness. What started as a neat, spooky little story about rescuing your wife from an almost Texas Chainsaw like family devolves into the worst fucking excuse for "plot" I've ever seen. I've never, in all my years of playing a game, seen it bomb so hard midgame to go from something I loved to something I struggled to give a shit about right at the end. I'm kind of in awe. Then again, this is Resident Evil, the franchise so up its own ass that it can't be bothered to tell a remotely coherent story even when it's laid bare in front of them.

What a fucking disappointment.