Can a change in perspective bring a return to from for one of gaming's longest-running franchises?
Resident Evil has become one of the most famous game franchises out there. Chances are, most people will have at least heard of it, whether it be from the games, the film series, or just from hearing about it. Resident Evil, the first game in the series, was released in 1996, and is largely credited with popularizing the survival horror genre. But, as time went on, and influenced by the success of the more action-oriented Resident Evil 4, and the shooter genre in general, developer Capcom took the series into an increasingly action-focused lane, while slowly decreasing the horror elements.
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| NOPE |
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was shown as a return to the series' horror roots, with one big change. For the first time, the series was presented in a first-person perspective, similar to indie horror hits Slender, Outlast, and Alien: Isolation. There was a general consensus that Resident Evil 7 was highly influenced by these titles, which put you in control of a virtually powerless protagonist, and all you could do in most situations was either run or hide from your enemy, with no option to fight back. People began to wonder if Resident Evil 7 would truly return the series to its roots, or if the series would be taken in yet another direction, albeit one closer to the first games in the series. Thankfully, the change in perspective aside, this a a true Resident Evil game, one that very much harkens back to the original entry.
Resident Evil 7 puts you in the shoes of Ethan Winters, who after receiving a message from his long-missing wife, Mia, decides to head out to an abandoned (or so they think) Louisiana mansion, and it goes about as well as you would think. Soon enough, Ethan finds himself hunted not only by a crazed family of cannibals, but also Mia (yeah, great plan, Ethan), and strange monsters known only as "Molded". Ethan now has to escape the Baker family property and find a way to cure his wife, who seems to be infected by something.
First off, a stealth game this isn't. Thankfully, the similarity to stealth-focused horror games was only given off by the game's marketing. There's only one truly stealth-focused moment in the game, and that is when you have no other items or weapons to aid you. Most of the time, you don't have to worry about hiding from enemies while they scout an area. There are points like that in the game, but the goal is more to progress to the next area without getting caught, instead of hiding and waiting for them to leave.
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| In case you haven't realized, the Baker family is completely deranged |
This is classic Resident Evil in that it's very much like an adventure game. You've got an inventory to manage, obtuse puzzles that shouldn't make any sense, and the game is very much focused on exploration. But despite this, Resident Evil 7 is still a horror game, and there's always an underlying feeling of tension, not quite sure what's going to be around the corner. In a sense, the first-person perspective is the evolution of the fixed, close-up camera angles of the PlayStation games. The first-person perspective really limits what you see, which makes the tension ramp up even more.
This is also classic Resident Evil in the sense that you are constantly worrying about your inventory. You have very limited space at the beginning, and while you do acquire upgrades periodically that increase your space, you still will never have enough open space to feel comfortable. Add to that the fact that some items take up two slots, and items that can stack, like ammo and first aid meds, can only have a certain amount per slot, before taking up another one, inventory management is crucial. Item storage boxes are helpful, but those are only located in safe rooms, so if there's an item you know you'll need to solve a puzzle later, it's a better idea to bring it along with you, sacrificing an open item slot. Even by the end of the game, when I had countless ammo and some of the strongest weapons in the game, I never felt too powerful, as I had to leave some ammo in storage so I could have room to find more items.
When it comes to enemies, Resident Evil 7 is a mixed bag. The Bakers, the crazed, canibalistic, possibly inhuman Louisiana family that capture and continue to hunt you, are great. Each chapter of the game (until a certain point) is dominated by a certain member of the family, each with their own unique (and scary) abilities. When they try to find you by scouting an area, it would be wise not to try to attack them, as the worst you can do is temporarily knock them down, which means you would be wasting your bullets. Each crazed member of the family is bursting with personality, but the standout for me was son Lucas, an inventor type who you never directly confront, but uses various contraptions to torture you.
The other set of enemies are the Molded, who are decidedly less interesting than the Bakers. These are essentially 7's answer to the original games' zombies. They're literally just walking hunks of mold, that you can either run away from, or try to put down (headshots are the quickest way, but those still take three or four shots). The Molded aren't nearly as scary as the zombies of Resident Evil games of old. Most of the time you can tell when some are near, as you can not only hear them in the distance, but the room will be covered in a black mold as well. There were a few moments that I was caught off-guard, but for most of the time, the Molded were just simply a nuisance.
Which leads me to my next negative, the boss fights. Well, to be clear, most of the boss fights. With the exception of one, maybe two bosses in the game, they were just very underwhelming. Most of them simply involved unloading as much ammo as you can until the boss drops. Sometimes these fights involving traversing a wide area, but mostly the boss fights were just unexciting. This is especially apparent in the last boss, which was literally you shooting anything you have at the boss. This is made even easier considering that it is, well, the final boss, meaning that you don't have to worry about conserving ammo for later.
The whole last act is pretty much a mess, with the game going off the rails, and not in a good way. For some reason, the developers decided to save all story information for the final third of the game, and dump it all on you at once, instead of layering it throughout the game. Which is a shame, because it has some fascinating details, including why the Baker family act the way they do. But since it all hits you within a relatively short period of time, you never truly have time to take all of this information in.
All in all, I do have to say that Resident Evil 7 had me hooked. I kept thinking about the game during my time playing it, and I just wanted to get back into that world and keep progressing. The small, insular world that Capcom created is great, as the Dulvey plantation is as much of a character as the Baker's themselves. You get the real sense of humanity that has been lost, as among all the destruction that fills the Baker's home, you see things like family portraits and science trophies, giving these characters depth and allowing you to learn that these were once normal people. Not since the Spencer Mansion has a Resident Evil setting have so much personality. The puzzles, were pretty clever and kept me scratching my head until I figured out a solution, and not once did I feel comfortable while exploring the property. The lack of load screen definitely doesn't help, as you are not given any chance to collect yourself. Better start learning to close doors yourself, because safe rooms can only be so much help when you've got a killer family right outside.
Resident Evil 7 isn't perfect, but it's a damn fine return to form for the series. Hopefully future titles in the series (which are definitely teased here) will be similar to what 7 has done. Uninspiring boss battles and a third act that drops the ball are two notable missteps for this game, but 7 has so much else going for it. A great setting, villains that make you laugh and terrify you at the same time, and a similarity to great adventure games help make Resident Evil 7 one of the series' top entries.
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