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Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release Date: May 7, 2021
Reviewed on: PC Also available on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

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If there was a way to start this review with a roller coaster-esque beginning like the way Resident Evil Village begins, then it is beyond me to imagine. So in our Resident Evil Village review for PC, we are going to discuss BLOOD! HALF MANGLED HANDS! GIANT VAMPIRE LADY! BLLLAAARRGGG! 

Did that cut it? No, ok let’s try something more functional then. 

As you may have noticed, we here at G FUEL love horror games, especially Resident Evil games. Resident Evil Village is no exception. While the game has some cons (like every game does), we wanted to be fair and honest with our love and expectations.

And with that, here's our Resident Evil Village review!

 

Table of Contents:
Story
Art, Music, and Sound
Vibe
Puzzles
Overall
Pros and Cons
Score
FAQs
G FUEL Maiden's Blood

Tell Me A Horror Story, Ethan Winters

The aforementioned roller coaster-esque beginning starts this game off with a bang. Literally. We open on a scene of mostly domestic bliss. Ethan Winters (returning from Resident Evil 7) and his wife, Mia, prepare dinner and are cooing over their newborn baby, Rose. Mia is reading a weird book about monsters and wishes that looks like Tim Burton wrote it.

Then something crazy happens — I won't say what, because it's pretty shocking and I’m trying to do this mostly spoiler-free. However, Chris Redfield does make an appearance. Then Ethan finds himself lost in Eastern Europe, somewhere near the isolated titular Village, in a snowstorm, searching for his kidnapped child.

While the buzz about the internet has been centered around Lady Dimitrescu and her creepy af daughters, they are just the tip of the iceberg as far as the story goes in Ethan's nightmare. In fact, the illustrious, tall, sultry vampire lady is a part of a small council of horrific monsters, including Mother Miranda, that have been experimenting on the villagers — for reasons (no spoilers).

Image credit: Capcom

Art, Music, and Sound

The entire town in Village is just viciously pretty. The environments on most of the map are richly detailed and stunningly lit. The details in the homes are full of grime, and the texture given to every object and surface makes everything look super gross. It was someone's job to say, "How can we make these houses as nasty as possible?" And they did the best they could. It's gorgeously trashed. My stomach turned while I looked at some of these houses. Yet, other parts were beautiful. Some were a mix of both.

Image credit: Capcom

The game's graphics run smoothly, even at high resolutions, and raytracing makes for some gorgeous lighting. The character models are also excellent. There's a good variety of creepy monsters. Sometimes the Lycans ran a bit cartoony. But most of the main adversaries were expressive, with convincing animation bringing the encounters to life.

The tone set by the music for this game is where the horror stuff really stands out. The danger and fear I felt throughout the game had more to do with the sound effects and music than the Lycans (and even sometimes boss fights) themselves. It made gameplay feel tenser when they got a hold of you. The wet ripping sound and swelling music made my heart beat faster.

Just the Whole Vibe of Things

While I said that Resident Evil: Village throws all this horror, violence, good enough scares, tension builders, and some wonderfully crafted, creepy bits, Resident Evil Village is more of a big, shooty, action game.

Village features a few different savage creatures called Lycans. These feral horrors, while creepy, are not powerful. Menacing and agile, yes, but their attacks are easily blocked and pushed out of the way. A lot of the threats I felt came mainly from my own mistakes while in combat. Shooting early on in the game doesn't do much, and the knife is your best bet.

RE7 felt more restricted in its combat (at least until the final chapter). There is a lot of shooting this time around. There’s no denying you’ll be using your ammo easily. Don't worry, though. Village offers plenty of weapons for you to find or buy. The option to upgrade weapons, which you can do with Duke, is even more beneficial.

Image Credit: Capcom

Making use of Duke, the flabby and rather pale merchant that pops up everywhere, will make him your best friend. You can gradually improve a weapon’s power, ammo capacity, recoil, and more by collecting the currency Lei from dead enemies or selling valuable items. Not only can you create ammo on the go, but you can also buy ammo and new parts that improve the weapons' performance on top of the upgrades.

You can be stacked to the nines with a little effort. Duke always has new stuff to buy, and there’s even an option to get food recipes by killing chickens, pigs, and fish. That’s what takes the Survival-Horror Game genre into the Survival-Hunter Games genre. If you make good use of Duke as an ally, you'll feel more like you're playing Resident Evil: Doom. This didn’t have a negative impact on my playing whatsoever.

The ability to guard against attacks and follow up with a kick to push back enemies adds an interesting dimension to combat and means it's not just about deciding between “shooting, turning around, backing off, turning around, and shooting again.” It was a breath of fresh air for Resident Evil, but I can also see how that could be a bad thing to some fans. If you really want the survival-horror feel, then I suggest you pump up the difficulty and ignore Duke whenever you cross paths. There is something to be said about the way that Resident Evil Village horrified me. The game gave me overwhelming firepower and still found ways to keep me scared and engaged.

Just Another Piece of the Puzzle

Resident Evil titles usually hold one thing in common: puzzles. While there is more combat in Resident Evil Village, it has its fair share of puzzles. Some of the puzzles are great and made me think more than I was expecting. Others were pretty straightforward and easy.

For example, one of the “puzzles” literally has the solution next to it. I would have loved to cross the stage and pick up a piece of paper with a riddle written on it. Then solve the riddle by placing two colored jewels and two pieces of a statue into a certain spot and rotating them. But no. I got the answer, next to the buttons I needed to press. I understand it interrupts the action-pace tone that Village is setting, but fans know the puzzles are what made it worth those interruptions.

Image Credit: Capcom

Of course, there were also doors and gates that I couldn't open right away. I had to find a key or ruby eyes in a drawer or on a body. No big deal. Every area in the game, be it the village or beyond, are always ripe for exploration.

Older fans will complain that the Key Items (items you need to find to further your progress) are no longer tied to your storage. There’s no need to shuffle your inventory around like you're playing Tetris to make the items fit. So, while part of that puzzle is inventory management (which is now gone), it didn't really bother me as much by the end. I felt like it was worth mentioning because I did miss that mechanic. It built the tension of “Can I fit everything? And if not, what can I leave behind that I don't desperately need?!”

On a positive note, these little alterations to the mechanics make the game more new player-friendly than the series' games. This is a good thing. We can’t all be “Old Person Yells at Cloud” memes all the time.

Overall

With Resident Evil Village, Capcom has managed to keep the 25-year-old Resident Evil series feel new in both perspective and form. Almost every step of Village was enjoyable. Ethan Winters isn't an unlikeable character. He's not much of a hero, but he's alright in my book.

The combat is satisfying. Some of the puzzles are well-orchestrated, and the game looks incredible. As a long-time fan of the Resi games, I had fun with Village. It encompasses everything the series is known for — and evolves in a fresh and exciting way. It's commendable of Capcom to keep the first-person view while preserving what makes the series so special.

If you were excited about Village originally, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. It's a great sequel to Resident Evil 7 and a good addition to the series.

Yes, despite some aforementioned issues, I enjoyed Resident Evil Village. It feels like a fun and modern but minorly flawed mix between the series' older games. The Village feels like the police station from Resident Evil 2. The showcase of callbacks was a nice touch. Also, Duke is great.

I enjoyed the action scenes as much as the horror ones. Eventually, the major swings between horror and action became so common that it's no longer a negative for the game. The hesitation, anticipation, and payoff make the action and horror such powerful draws. They get your blood pumping. And it's why you should stay away from Castle Dimitrescu.

Image credit: Capcom

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Amazing detail in scenery and sound
• Overall atmosphere
• Interesting villains
• 100% Duke

Cons:

• Passable enemy types
• Not enough intriguing puzzles

Score: 3.5 out of 5

I give Resident Evil Village a score of 3.5 out of 5. The Game is fun. I'm in my second playthrough now waiting for RE:Verse. The puzzles are where the game falls flat, though. I wish the game was a bit scarier, but developer and publisher Capcom continues to hold up the creep factor that most of the other Resident Evil games are known for. Which I'm a fan of. Lady Dimitrescu is a great villain, as are the other "people" in the family. This is a solid RE game for the new generation.

FAQs

Is Resident Evil Village good?

While this answer is subjective, John Donadio — long-time PC gamer, Resident Evil fan, and this article's author — says "Yes."

Is Resident Evil Village scary?

Resident Evil Village has its moments of action and a few jump-scares, but on a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being the scariest, I would give the game a score of 5 or 6. It's more of an action game than a horror game.

Is Resident Evil Village open world?

Yes and no. The story is linear in design, but after the first quarter of the game, Resident Evil Village opens up quite a bit. Players are encouraged to explore before going to a boss fight.

Is Resident Evil Village worth it?

Yes.

How big is Resident Evil Village PC?

Resident Evil Village is as big as it needs to be. Definitely bigger in map size compared to RE7. It's not as claustrophobic as its predecessors, and the openness makes those killer horror set pieces even better and feel scarier when you come to them.

How many gigabytes is Resident Evil Village?

It depends on what you download. The full file size is a bundle that includes Village + Re: Verse. Separately, Resident Evil Village is 35 GB while Re: Verse is 15 GB.

Will Resident Evil Village have VR?

Unfortunately, as of this writing, Resident Evil Village is not VR. There haven't been any announcements to bring it to VR headsets, including PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest 2, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive. However, since Resident Evil 7 was made into a VR game, there is still some hope for Resi and VR fans.

Is Resident Evil Village coming to PC?

Yes, currently Resident Evil Village is on PC. Capcom also released it on Playstation 5 and 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Is Resident Evil free on PC?

No. There is no free version of any Resident Evil game free on PC. However, Resident Evil 2 (Remake), Resident Evil 4 and 5, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard are among the least expensive.

Can my computer run Resident Evil Village?

At a bare minimum, Resident Evil Village's minimum requirements demand:

• Intel Core i5-7500 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 560
• 8 GB of RAM

For a better experience, Capcom recommends:

• Core i7-8700 or Ryzen 5 3600
• GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX 5700
• 16 GB of RAM

G FUEL Maiden's Blood

That's right! We just launched our G FUEL Maiden's Blood tub, inspired by, you guessed it, Resident Evil Village!

Now it's your turn. Did you play RE Village? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Read more: 18 Best Resident Evil Games Ranked

 

Hero image via Capcom

This article was written by John D. AKA SomeBeardy2Love. John has been gaming for over 30 years, has a podcast, and watches nothing but anime and Bob’s Burgers. He has a sponsored beard and a modest book collection.