While I am in the minority of loving Resident Evil 6, I like everyone else saw that Resident Evil was in desperate need of rebooting. Changing the formula is what the series thrives on, from the larger scope of 2, the new camera in 4, and the emphasis of action in post-5, I welcome change as a Resident Evil fan. That being said, when the trailer dropped for Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, I did not know what to think. Maybe it was TOO different. But I always had a strong curiosity for the direction it took. I'm a huge Tobe Hooper and Sam Raimi fan, and I loved how the game spliced Texas Chainsaw and Evil Dead together. I finally played and beat RE VII this year, and even if I don't think it compares to the franchise's best, it is still a very strong and always captivating video game.
The game takes full advantage of its new camera system just as RE4 did over a decade ago. Even without VR (I almost do not want to imagine how terrifying it would be to use it) this is still an extremely immersive game. That goes beyond just the camera; the attention to detail in level design, graphics, and soundscape really sell this uncomfortable world. Also with is are the vocal performances, which dare I say for a Resident Evil game, are actually really great? Seriously, everyone is fantastic. All the members of the Baker family are so iconic in every way, from their lines, designs, fights, character, everything. They're some of the best group of baddies Capcom ever put out. Ethan is a step down from other RE protagonists simply because he exists more as an avatar for the player, but even then he has his moments ("Who builds this shit?!"). The real star is Clancy, the unseen previous victim of the Bakers explored in videotape flashbacks. Every one of his scenes are among the most revolting and he hardly speaks a word. I really do wish the whole game was around him.
Like every other Resident Evil, it has its fair share of criticisms. My biggest one is that there is practically zero enemy variety, even in the DLC. The design for the grunts, called Molded, are totally uninspired and visually uninteresting, and all of them are practically the same. Like many other RE games, it loses its tone in the finale, becoming a streamlined action game. The difficulty curve is all over the place, beginning really stupidly hard before quickly becoming easy and easily exploitable, until you get to the ship and it once again because hard until you find the big stash of one-hit kill explosives. Everything from then on is a glorified QTE, especially the final boss which, while interesting in design, is one of the most monotonous final bosses of recent memory. While the rest of the bosses are pretty good, one fought in a barn was a real disappointing bait and switch that's easily exploitable. But hey, chainsaw dueling Jack makes up for it.
Everything up until the finale is near perfection, however. The game banks heavily on the first RE in terms of design and atmosphere but still goes out and makes its own thing. It's strange to see a RE game played so straight, but it works amazingly well here, and even then it still is not afraid to show off some camp. The story is a genuinely interesting one full of intrigue while also succeeding at that small scale "anything can go wrong really fast and no one will know" paranoia that makes 70s horror so great to me. Controls are surprisingly good for a first time mainline FPS entry, though leaning mechanics would have helped out a lot in a certain part of the game, and making inventory selection real time feels like a mistake when the interface is still as clunky as ever. Little new things, like the Madhouse difficulty which totally changes things up like making you find secret coins to unlock key items as well as the trademark perfect RE balance of brevity and content make this an extremely replayable game, and I cannot wait for my second and even third playthrough despite its flaws.
RE VII shines in its concept, design, characters, and story, doing a great job at rebooting the series from over the top camp to something more believable while losing nothing that RE is known for. Even if it ultimately doesn't reinvent the wheel, it's a must play for fans, and even a good entry point for newcommers since it's so narratively separated from the others.
4.0