Critic's Score:

Metacritic: 86/100

Famitsu: 36/40

Gamespot: 8/10

IGN: 7.7/10

Polygon: 9/10

I am a scaredy-cat, especially when it comes to horror games. I began to play Biohazard back in August 2021, I finished it a couple of weeks ago… It only took 11H. The delay was due to the visceral horror experience that it delivers, in most instances, such a severe stop from the game would have broken my immersion, but there are few games that have offered such experience that it lived rent-free in my mind. When I picked the controller again, not only I remembered with clear detail everything from the story but I was totally back into The Baker State in Dulvey, Louisiana; every crevice in the house, branded by fire -and horror- into my brain. Seems that I’d never escaped from it, probably I never will.

Biohazard is a brilliant orchestration of atmospheric and survival horror. The jump scares usually work, but they serve as release of the constant tension created by your surroundings. Both Jack and Marguerite Baker, are without a doubt, some of the scariest enemies in any game, the under-reliance of zombies/molded (until the last act of the story) makes this truly special, as the main focus of survival isn't much about shooting monsters to escape, but as a constant cat-and-mouse game with the main antagonists. A great merging from the old-style ‘survival horror’ that characterized the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill entries, and the new immersive -and highly atmospheric- form of horror gameplay that was popularized by Hideo Kojima’s P.T. The fixed camera angle is replaced by a first-person viewed, which not only further immerses the player into the story by making Ethan Winters an avatar for themselves, but by an extremely closed Field of View, which makes each hall and turn as equally terrifying and claustrophobic as it was on the older games.

That being said, what ultimately sets the game as something to behold, is to analyze it as a compendium of the history of the horror genre, crammed into 10+ hours of gameplay. The setting itself is clearly reminiscent of Tobe Hooper’s films, the Louisiana swamps would bring to mind his 1976 film Eaten Alive!, whilst the distortion of the Baker nuclear family is certainly inspired by the 1974 (and to some degree the 2003 remake) masterpiece Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yet, what makes this truly engaging to play, is the difference offered during gameplay, by taking its antagonists as archetypes of villains of horror, ach encounter is renderedunique. The patriarchal figure of the family, Jake Baker, an unstoppable and unkillable force of nature, does bring to mind Carpenter’s The Shape (from 1978 Halloween), it embodies the slasher-murderer; the matriarchal figure Marguerite, offers glimpses of body horror, specially reminiscent of Japanese body horror a la Ito Junji; their sociopathic son, Lucas, represents the Splat-Pack ‘torture porn’ in James Wan's SAW series; whilst ultimately, Mia Winters and the youngest from the Baker Family Eveline, would be categorized as figures of ‘possession’ horror that could be traced to films like Evil Dead and in some way, The Exorcist. In the game, the player can find and play through a series of videotapes, which make for the ‘found footage’ horror aspects of the experience. I was impressed by how much of the genre’s history had been expertly weaved together, almost seamlessly to further expand the gameplay possibilities.

The result is perhaps the scariest game that I have ever played. Got me on the edge of my seat throughout, and with a scream anxiously waiting to jump out of the edge of my tongue, yet the horror kept me silent. A true masterpiece of the genre in the gaming medium.

EXTRAS:

I’d consider every DLC worth it. The first volume, titled Banned Footage, does contain some interesting pieces that do bring some other possibilities to the gameplay, take for instance the chapters of Bedroom and 21. It does contain a prequel chapter, Daughters, that is perhaps the most reminiscent to the base game of them all, yet to obtain its canonical ending, the player must understand the whole chapter as one big and complex puzzle to solve, oftentimes, having to replay it to finally get there. Not a Hero, takes place exactly where the base game ends, while still highly thrilling with moments of tension, is mostly action-FPS focused. End ofZoe, is perhaps the rarity of them all, in many instances it makes meta commentaries of the game and the genre (This is some horror movie bullshit!), whilst also subverting most of the player's expectations, formalized as a brawler game, the volume brings much needed catharsis to the player, as it does not only make the player feel overpowered with their fists, but also renders much of the monstrosities that haunted them as puny, silly creatures readied to be exterminated by a strong upper-cut. Not to mention, that it also serves as a somewhat good homage to Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson’s horror monster creation for DC: the Swamp Thing!

Score: 99/100

Resident Evil 7 has always been one of my favorite games in the series not only for its own merits, but also for its place in the progression of the series itself. This was the first real outstanding title coming out of a sort of "dark ages" in the Resident Evil series starting around the late '00s and lasting basically until this game released in 2017. There were a few decent games to come out in that time, but it was a rather bumpy time to be an RE fan. But even more surprisingly, RE7 is a genius blend of familiar and strange that ties back to the series' roots while also taking it in totally new directions. While there are some few things I—and many others—can take some issue with, the game has a been a knockout hit for fans old and new for a number of good reasons.

The ways in which this particular title differ from its predecessors are pretty apparent from the beginning. For one, this is the first mainline title in the series to shift to a first-person perspective. Though the Survivor and Chronicles implemented something similar to an extent, RE7 takes this format to a whole new level. Further, the story hook of a backwater old house in the swamps of Louisiana was a rather big departure from the suburban haunts, sprawling metropolises, and a variety of planes, trains, and boats of other RE titles. There's a clear nod to various non-zombie horror films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and any number of found footage horror movies that were so numerous in the decade leading up to this game's release. While the monsters of Resident Evil had already taken many different forms, RE7 seemed to be dispensing with the groaning zombies the series was known for in favor of a family of outlandish superhuman sadistic rednecks. While this is only partially true and RE7 features its own variety of new staple enemy type in the form of the mold monsters, the focus is still primarily on the monstrous Baker family who will taunt, threaten, terrify, and torture our hero throughout the game's events. Which brings us to the last major departure of note: we are introduced to our faceless protagonist Ethan Winters, who is a totally new character to the Resident Evil universe and—unlike protagonists in basically every prior mainline game since the first one—has no ties to any other characters or events in prior games in the series. Ethan is simply here trying to find his wife Mia after receiving a cryptic disturbing video message warning him to stay away with all the strength of reverse psychology.

However, while these differences were striking and numerous, leading to much skepticism as the game was on its way, it ended up being a return to form in some important ways that call back to the roots of the series, from a time before it strayed rather far following the great success of Resident Evil 4. The most important callback to me is the focus on the kind of gameplay loop present in the original PS1 titles. Capcom finally brought us back to the concept of a creepy haunted house full of secrets, puzzles, traps, and terrors that elicits a thrilling paradox of dread and curiosity, pushing the player to want to explore while also making such exploration a frightening thought. This is achieved through various locks and keys, several puzzles, minimal resources, a few jumpscares, and a winding but thoughtful map for each of the areas. Further, enemies are much more scarce but also more threatening than they have been in the more action-based titles. The game definitely at times leans into the bombast of the more recent games preceding it, but for the most part, it relies much more on the classic tension that I fell for with the series origins and it delivered for me in a way I really didn't expect.

The story of the game can be a bit hit-or-miss but I often find it much stronger than it may appear on its face. Though there are almost no ties to the lore of previous games at least until the end, though even that bit is often criticized for feeling a little forced, I personally find the story at the very least engaging. In this game, Ethan is seemingly personified to be a "blank slate" type character, one who intentionally doesn't have a lot of defining characteristics or personality; he's mostly just an average Joe trapped in a terrifying position with a tie to a loved one keeping him going. With the shift to first-person, the aim here is to immerse you more in the story and feel a touch more like you are experiencing the story rather than merely witnessing a distinct, fleshed-out character's journey. While I generally would prefer more characterization, given the outlandish and over-the-top cast otherwise, I actually don't mind this format too much and feel like it works at least reasonably well. I sympathize for Ethan and Mia and want to see him succeed, even if I couldn't really tell you much about who he is as a person. The Baker family is also central to the story as the game's mystery plot suggests that something must have gone wrong to make this rural family become such evil residents™. The story throughout the game is fairly simple as Ethan attempts to fight or circumvent the various members of the twisted Baker family while also uncovering the mystery behind their apparent transformation and his wife's disappearance. I do agree with the general consensus that the story (and gameplay) gets kind of weak near the end of the game, but on the whole I think it's actually pretty strong with some ridiculous but enthralling characters and set pieces throughout.

The gameplay excels in several ways. As I've already discussed, RE7's move back to a slower-paced tension-driven gameplay loop I found really satisfying and I felt right at home constantly managing resources, getting down the map layouts, and bouncing between keys and locked doors to progress. Despite the first-person shift, the game still manages to feel very Survival Horror. Ammo is scarce, enemies are tough and unpredictable, making expending what little you have all the more a tough choice. Though as is usually the case in these games, you do eventually obtain a reliable loadout, for a good while, there's a healthy balance of helplessness that ups the horror element generally without ever feeling too frustrating. As well, the areas feel thoughtfully-designed, varied, intricate, and are a real disturbing pleasure to explore. Some of the later segments I do agree are weaker than the opening, though for the most part, I never find any part of the game "bad." There are well-paced and iconic boss fights that do well to blend gimmicks like weak points with the established game mechanics to still feel like your general abilities are being tested while also incorporating what's fun about a boss with unique mechanics.

The presentation of the game is fantastic. This wasn't the first test run of the RE Engine, but it was the first RE game to employ it and it is unsurprisingly a great fit. While the engine works well in its third-person instantiations, it really brings this game alive in first-person quite nicely and I expect the game wouldn't be nearly as effective had it been built otherwise. Environments are gruesomely detailed and evocative. Combat is smooth despite the built-in friction of horror-style shooting gameplay. Optimization and just overall experience are really seamless, making it all the more easy to get wrapped up in the game’s tale. Beyond that, the actual art and atmosphere for the game are great for illustrating the rather gross and disturbing environments.

RE7 eventually released a huge variety of DLC. Not only are there quite a few of them, but they are all extremely different from each other. Some are essentially mini-games both silly and grim, others fill in some lore gaps and side stories to the Baker incident or just plain expand on the Baker family antics. It's hard to even summarize or speak broadly about all the different additions. However, I can say, on the whole, while the base game is the main attraction, these DLCs definitely add something of value to the game. Few feel like an immediate extension of the core gameplay, but they each add interesting elements and change up the gameplay enough that you're never bored. Plus, if some of them aren’t your thing, the rest are likely to be different enough you might still enjoy them.

My most recent playthrough of the game was during the intersection of my annual Spooktober horror gaming challenge and my 2024 RE series playthrough. While I hadn't played this particular title in a good while, there was a time I knew it like the back of my hand and by this point, I've probably completed the game at least a good 8 times, playing well beyond beating Madhouse mode and obtaining the platinum trophy. So I figured to change things up, I'd play it in VR, using the mod for the PC version to play it on my Quest 2. And well, this really delivered perfectly on the fresh experience I was looking for. Though it was partially because I hadn't played it in a while, the VR experience really took this title to another level. It's undoubtedly one of the scariest games I've played in VR and was a really cool way to experience this particular game. I did have a couple qualms with it. For one, this was probably the most motion sickness-inducing game I've played to date in VR and even with bonine, I couldn't play for very long stretches at a time. The other issue was that at least for me, I had some difficulties with the controls in the modded version. For instance, I could never figure out how to get the map to work, which added an immersive challenge to the game I mostly didn’t mind, but also meant that by the third act, I ditched the VR and switched to keyboard and mouse at the monitor given the complexity of the later areas' map layouts. Still, I highly recommend giving the VR mode a try if you're able, whether you're new to the game or not. It's extremely satisfying as a horror experience and as a VR experience.

As I said at the beginning, while I do love this game, I partially love it for its importance to this beloved series. It's such an interesting entry in that it really feels like Capcom listened to its core audience in a way that's actually rather surprising given that Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 were still very commercially successful games. I don't want to repeat too much of what I said in my review of RE6, but it is simply really cool to see a developer willing to go back to its roots that I personally was really craving even when financials might have favored something more like the previous mainline game. What we got was something really special with RE7 that ultimately paid off as I believe this is now one of the top couple best-selling games in this massive series.

My other Resident Evil reviews:

• Resident Evil (1996) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 2 (1998) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 (1999) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Code Veronica - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor 2 – Code Veronica - ★★
• Resident Evil Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Gaiden - ★★
• Resident Evil 0 - ★★★
• Resident Evil Dead Aim - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Outbreak - ★★★
• Resident Evil 4 - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 - ★★★
• Resident Evil Deadly Silence - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles - ★★★
• Resident Evil 5 - ★★
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D - ★★
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City - ★★
• Resident Evil 6 - ★★
• Resident Evil Revelations - ★★★
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - ★★★★
• Umbrella Corps - ★
• Resident Evil 2 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 VR - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 Remake - ★★★★★

The first time I played Resident Evil 7, it was probably one of the scariest games I'd ever played. Granted, I didn't play many horror games at the time, but I remember adoring just about everything until the ship. Strong atmosphere, great sound design, memorable boss fights, and good amounts of tension with some pretty fun puzzle design. The first person camera added heavily to all of this for me, I just find it easier to get immersed in fpp.

Replaying this game was probably a mistake for me (I had done it so I could play RE8). It had been about 3 years since I played it last, but I don't think you can get the same experience in this game twice. Many of my previous views were contradicted by the sobriety of a second playthrough, and not being a big Resident Evil fan (just preferred SH by a long shot) probably didn't do it any favors.

Atmosphere and narrative was what I was focusing on during my second playthrough, and I think the game flubs a lot of this. Ethan's voice acting is honestly terrible, and his reactions to moments that require emotional reaction fall completely off the mark. The scene where he KINDA KILLS HIS WIFE? has awful delivery and awkward writing, but I like his voice in RE8 so there was probably something off somewhere else. I have a suspicion that Ethan being intended to be more of an everyman in RE7 vs him actually having more distinct traits in RE8 is a big factor in this.

On a second playthrough, you begin to realize how scripted RE7 is, and horror vanishes if you know exactly when you are vulnerable and when you aren't. Avoiding the Bakers' usually isn't particularly hard in the few areas they patrol, and there's usually no other enemies to make you concerned in those areas. Searching through the basement should be very tense because of the mold creatures, but they're not fun or scary to fight, they are just tanky with your unimpactful weaponry.

The core narrative of the game is passable, character motivation generally makes sense, and I don't think Ethan going to Louisiana was a stupid decision or something. Mia Winter's being secretive and rude to Ethan isn't implausible, but if they built up Ethan and Mia's relationship more I think she'd be actually likable, I dislike her until RE8. The whole Baker family acting as they are because of Eveline, and her twisted idea of what a family should be due to the torment she has received, as a bioweapon makes a lot of sense, I REALLY LIKE THIS, and it's a shame the game just tells us and doesn't show us. If the game revolved more on this in the second act instead of connecting it to other Resident Evil games and giant house sized monsters, I'd probably really like the narrative. Lucas Baker could use some work, I think he's by far the most interesting character but I dislike the idea that he's just evil, I think it detracts from Eveline's influence seeping through the whole family, though depending on your interpretation Lucas might still be fully infected. His DLC and sections are great.

Some other points: The sound design of this game is excellent, fully top notch and all the SFX and music sells every part of the game. Gameplay has a good amount of issues in terms of weapons feeling unimpactful, but it's tolerable enough. I liked some of the puzzles but many are beyond simple and glorified keys and doors. A lot of scares are really silly and repetitive the second time around, I've seen Jack Baker grab my head about 1000 times.

I don't wanna leave this as super negative, because I really loved this game the first time around and still had some fun the second time, and a lot of that is because of the things this game does right or uniquely. The section with Lucas Baker is the highlight of the game, and using a video tape that you're given to solve the puzzle when you encounter it is genius game design. All of the found footage sections are fun and I love them conceptually, and I really want to play another game that does that. I love the Baker family, and what the bioweapon has done to them, and if someone else took a crack at this concept I'd be instantly interested. Resident Evil 7 is a pretty solid game, but it's flawed enough that a replay can bring those flaws to light.

My opinion of this game is heavily tainted by the fact that I want it to be something it isn't fully trying to be, a psychological horror game, and that I think it would just be more interesting if it was one. On its own merits, I think it is competent and decent, but I think what it could be is a lot more interesting and better.

AAA development is always about trend chasing. When millions of dollars are on the line, it's reasonable to make safe bets. Look at Fortnite and what that did to the industry. Hideo Kojima released a novel, albeit convoluted, trailer teaser for a reboot of the beloved Silent Hill series, PT (released in 2014). It's hard to play since Konami removed it from the PS4 store and has since cancelled the game altogether. This trailer garnered praise and intrigued for good reason. I won't dive into it here, but there is a long and acrimonious history between Kojima and Konami that resulted in Kojima leaving Konami to form his own company.

The PT trailer sparked new games, with this entry in the RE franchise being one example. The RE franchise has been struggling after the release of RE 4. It was a radical departure from it's survival horror roots, but was massively influential resulting in a renaissance of action games and the RE franchise. Capcom leaned hard into the action elements, resulting in a near unrecognizable franchise in terms of tone and atmosphere. After backlash from both RE 5 and 6, it was time to pivot the franchise again.

This is the first FPS entry in the franchise, and overall I would say it was a successful pivot. The game itself is inconsistent in quality. For me, the game is at it's best when you are frantically running away from unhinged sadomasochistic rednecks armed with shovels. The first third of this game was extremely stressful and engaging, selling the survival horror formula. I consider the first third of the game the main house and old house.

I think it's flawed to assume that survival horror needs 3 things: Fixed camera angles, tank controls and resource management. I went into great detail in my RE 2 remake review about the original design of RE and RE2 on the PS1. I break down why the original RE games used fixed camera angles and tank controls. Check it out if you are interested.

What's important for survival horror to work is atmosphere, stress and resource management. Stress is a product of atmosphere, resource management and game play. Without stress, there is no horror. That's what made RE and RE2 work and succeed. The tank controls and fixed camera angles amplified the stress through the jank, but I would argue they aren't necessary to create that same experience.

The reason why RE 7 fails after the first 1/3 of the game for me is the lack of stress as you get more powerful and the game pivots into action oriented game play. This flaw is present in both RE and RE2. Once you get a shotgun in any RE game, it becomes significantly easier which ruins the horror. I find the first 1/4-1/3 of each RE game to be it's peak. It's when you have limited resources to deal with threats. This forces you to think tactically during each encounter and weigh the pros/cons of each bullet.

After the first 1/3 of the game, you enter the Test Site. In theory, this area could have been a good switch up but it fell flat for me. I liked the birthday cake sequence, but I did it already via a VHS tape which greatly dampened the experience a second time. I thought the sequence on the freighter was fine, though not as refined as the sequences on the estate. The last stretch of the game is terrible. It's completely linear ending in a lackluster boss fight. The game throws droves of enemies at you, forcing you to mow them down. It's such an inept pivot in game design when the first third of the game was brilliant.

In addition, the enemy variety and design is stale. They are basically just the heartless from Kingdom hearts. IMO if they removed the regular enemies and instead had you avoiding the bosses until their boss fight the game could have maintained it's stress, oppression and horror.

Surprisingly, the story was pretty good this time around. Easily one of the best plots in any RE game. I am a little disappointed they had to shoehorn the RE canon into it, but it still worked and had a nice twist.

Overall worth checking out.

The first half of this game is fucking incredible. Or rather, the first 60-70%. It's some of best the horror I've ever experienced and might be the most gruesome, tense, and scary experience I've ever had with any media. Countless times I've been asking myself: "Why am I doing this to me?", but I just had to keep going. The way this game is paced in the first part is perfect. Sneaking through the house, scavenging ammo, and never knowing what the game will throw at you next, is what Resident Evil is supposed to be like. The encounters with Mia and Jack, who hilariously refuse to die, will be forever etched into my mind.

But then, there's the rest of the game that takes place on a wrecked ship, which is still good, but kinda mediocre. The kind of suspense from before is just gone, and the plain industrial setting just can't compare to the backwoods home of the Baker family. Some part of me wishes the game would have just ended after you leave the house, but then the game would be a bit too short for a full-priced AAA title. This part drags the game down and is the reason why it won't receive a perfect score. But what came before that, was pretty much perfect.

9/10

RE7 is a bit of a different experience compared to older games, since they switched to first person. A welcome change and it really makes it scarier.

The story is confusing. I had no idea who the characters were and what was going on. Even at the end of the game, they do explain a bit, but it's still not clear to me. I heard that RE8 completes the story and explains a lot but I haven't played it. All in all, it's weird in a scary way.

Gameplay is basic. Run around and shoot monsters. The mechanics are pretty "eh". But it all works, so it's not bad or anything, just basic. Enemies respawning gets repetitive and if you keep fighting, you just lose a lot of ammo.

Horror is good. I had moments where I genuinely panicked a bit. It's creepy and disgusting, very visual and brutal. Being constantly chased by the enemy makes you uneasy and it had me running around looking for the way out of that area.

Graphics are good. Both environments and enemies look solid. I recommend to put the brightness as low as you can, it may be harder but it's scarier that way.

Personally I'm not a fan of horror, but I enjoyed Resident Evil 7. The free DLC is also a good addition to the story. People who love a horror will not be disappointed.

Update: 12/30/25

Just did another replay (my 3rd or 4th) finally beating the game on Madhouse difficulty. Still an amazing game and still just as fun and engaging on replay. And still - the last 1/3 of the game in the ship and mines is lackluster compared to the incredible Baker Estate first 2/3. Looking forward to RE 9 and hoping it will break this pattern of having the game lose quality at the very end!

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After playing RE 2 remake and feeling somewhat underwhelmed, I’m happy to say RE 7 still works so well. It’s creepy, grimy, and a blast to explore.

I just love the setting. Backwoods Louisiana is such a departure from the standard fair, and especially the departure from RE 6 - it must be commended.

The house setting work incredibly well. The baker family is menacing and make great antagonists. Solving puzzles while hiding from Jack and Marguerite is such a tense but fun dynamic.

As usual for RE, the game takes a serious nosedive in the final third. The ship and salt mine are devoid of personality, empty, and just feel tacked on. I don’t know why they always do this to extend the length, there’s clearly no passion or vision put into these parts.

But despite that, this is my favorite RE behind 1 remake. It’s bold, daring, and filled with creativity. It still holds up and completely revitalized the franchise.