Resident Evil Village

Some really cool imagery and visual design backed up with solid gameplay, but it jumps the shark by the fourth act and takes a dip. Plot is silly. Gets some bonus points because the missus wants to watch it.

Mostly great with a pesky layer of crap on top. Ethan sucks in every regard. It's most in line with Resident Evil 4 and brings back many elements from that game that I have missed from the subsequent entries in the series, namely the treasure hunting and merchant/upgrade systems. I was excited for the attache case to return too but ended up never running out of space, so it was kind of pointless. It's best early on and devolves into schlock 2/3 through, but so does every game in this series.

It could've been titled 'trees', because those are in there, too. What i'm saying is the titular village isn't all that important, but whatever. The audiovisual experience is once again top notch, with the castle being the absolute standout and way underused for my tastes. The story might well be the schlockiest and nonsensical yet, but building my weaponry while braving the various areas, numerous hordes and big bosses kept me hooked right through to the end. Fun.

It should be a familiar feeling by now, but I'm always impressed by Resident Evil's ability to spawn games that are visually breathtaking, have thrilling moment-to-moment gameplay, and follow a striking thematic through-line (here, a slow build-up from the personal cruelties of the middle-ages to the industrial evil of our own), all arranged around a script that is grade-A dogshit. Why is Chris's plan so nebulous and counterproductive? Why is Miranda's, for that matter? Mysteries for the ages.

The series tries to recapture some of the Resident Evil 4 magic but this return to a village and a castle really isn't scary at all. It's a decent action game for sure, but there are only a handful of opponents that get recycled ad nauseum, limiting that appeal as well.