Resident Evil 8 Village

I am absolutely loving this game again.  This is probably like the sixth time or so that I played it and I just keep wondering why I haven't played it more.  For me this game is the perfectly balanced Resident Evil game and it feels like that balance was what they were going for from the process of going between horror and action to going between linear and open world sections to it's exploration of classic horror genres of classic monster horror, psychological horror, mythical creature / body horror, and sci-fi horror.  This is more than a great Resident Evil game, it feels like a love letter to fans of the horror genre in general regardless of the medium.

This game feels more like a movie with its story than a game or at least a Resident Evil game as it is the only game that starts with a moment of stasis.  Most Resident Evil games start after the mission has started for the characters you're playing or after they begin their journey.  This one starts with a bedtime story being read to Rose and then playing Ethan as he puts her to bed before he has dinner.  It's a very interesting choice to start the game this way but it certainly has its purpose as things from this beginning are used to build tension later in the game.  And then when you play in the village and the fight with the lycans happen until they disperse, calling back to the first big fight in RE4, this was just chef's kiss.  It set the tone for the game showing that as opposed to RE7 being like a soft reboot of RE1, this would be more similar to RE4 and have more action but at the same time this serves as a set up for later events in the game.

The castle with its gothic horror aesthetic, is one of my favorite set pieces and areas to play in the series.  It's like a perfect mix of the Spencer Mansion from RE1, the palace and mansion from Code Veronica and the castle from RE4.  But as much as I love the vibe of the castle, nothing is as good as House Beneviento.  From what I've seen online, I definitely appear to be in the minority with this opinion but Donna Beneviento's section of the game is my favorite part of the game.  It is the part I always look forward to playing the most.  Yes it is scripted horror but it is done so well, it captures a feeling that I loved in playing PT and Layers of Fear where even though I know how to play the games and have the easiest time playing them, they're still fun to me because it's done so well, it's like a video game version of walking through a haunted house at an amusement park.  With that said, obviously my favorite attraction as a kid was the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.  So maybe playing games that bring that kind of vibe to a more immersive experience are a soft spot for me.

Now for me the part that I'm usually the least excited to play is when going to the quarry to face Moreau but I found I was enjoying it more this time around.  I knew a guy who told me how Moreau was his favorite of the lords because he found him so sad and pathetic and couldn't help but sympathize with him, especially because of his undying loyalty to Mother Miranda where in the end it seems like he's the best child of hers but is treated the worst.  Thinking of that when playing the game again definitely has me see him in a better light but still his area got annoying in previous playthroughs because of how janky the mechanics of the elevator bridges can be and how they would slip seemingly at any time but I didn't have any issue this time with them and more so I enjoyed the fight with Moreau.  On previous new game plus playthroughs, I'd just use a weapon with infinite ammo to end the fight as soon as possible but this time I played with weapons that I was upgrading while playing so there was more of a challenge but it was more fun this time.  This is still the low point in the game for me but when it comes to low points in games in this series, it definitely shines more which adds to the overall game experience for me.

Speaking of parts that I enjoyed playing more this time around, the one that had the biggest improvement was definitely Heisenberg's factory.  The Sci-Fi horror aesthetic with a modernized Frankenstein kind of twist, this definitely had me immersed with the game more than I remember on previous times I played.  Not that I ever disliked it but I feel I was enjoying it more this time.  The one thing that was a little more of a drag for me was the fight with Heisenberg.  The silly jokes and campiness being ramped up still made me laugh but the actual fight is pretty lackluster but thankfully it's one of the shortest in the game.  

Speaking of the game's campiness, the "Fuck you you crazy bitch" line is the best campy line delivery in this game and one of the best in the series, rivaling that of the first game's campy lines.  Other aspects I really enjoy with this one is the sound design, especially with the lycan jump scares.  I also really like how the story is almost Lovecraftian with how Mother Miranda finds the megamycete which is the catalyst for the entire series essentially, giving this bigger than us vibe to it, of course the Lovecraftian themes of sanity also play into my favorite part mentioned above with House Beneviento.  

Overall, there’s not a single point in this game I wasn’t having fun. The least part to me is heisenberg’s fight but it goes so quick that before you know it it’s done and then you go into one of the most fun parts of the game when playing as Chris. Doing nostalgia for action packed RE games like RE6.  Playing RE6 not too long before this one made the ending hit so much harder. Chris’ darkest point in life was due to losing his whole squad and coping with not being able to save everyone is his biggest struggle and seeing now he lost another person with Ethan and having the impact of telling the family he left behind was handled so well. On the surface you think Chris is just being a random dick to Ethan for always telling him to not get involved but in reality, Chris was trying to protect Ethan and so since all that failed and he let Ethan get involved which ended up being the wrong decision for Chris since Ethan died, it actually made me teary eyed seeing chris struggle to talk to Mia at the end and honestly when it comes to RE games I love them but they never bring out that emotion in me. This just makes the ending so much more impactful for me as it has this Empire Strikes Back kind of vibe. This one is definitely my favorite story in the series. I feel like this game has come the closest to perfecting the balance they try to achieve in the series. I would say it could use a little more horror so I’m excited to see how they do with RE9 with tweaking the balance again.