Once upon a time, there was a man and his family living in a beautiful house somewhere in Europe, enjoying their little baby. This is the preview for Resident Evil Village which is about the direct sequel to Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, where Ethan and Mia now married live with their daughter Rosemary, in a house in what appears to be Romania.

Right in the prologue, Ethan's thoughts dictate the narrative, he is happy there after all that happened in the Backers' house. Mia, on the other hand, seems to be fine, after post-traumatic treatment and still taking medication, she seems to be over the terror suffered in captivity at the Baker Farm and Ethan, after what happened, narrates a possible training, which didn't help much because the clumsy way, the slow running and the difficulty in handling weapons are still present in the gameplay, but he himself mentions it in the prologue.

Don't expect a refreshed, skilled, or insightful Ethan, expect a courageous father willing to do anything to defend his family.

With the prologue of Resident Evil Village, you can already see that this is without a doubt an evolution of Resident Evil. Bringing the terror, the structure of the classics, and the strengths of each game in the franchise seem to have been carefully selected for Village. The game scares you, annoys you, intrigues you, makes you want more, and goes on like this throughout the journey.

The Villains and their monsters

At the beginning of the game, without properly understanding what awaits him, Ethan is faced with a village, destroyed and practically empty where in their homes he notices paintings with an image that refers to a saint they name Mother Miranda, who seems to be worshiped by all in the village but soon we realize that it is the real villain in Resident Evil Village.

Mother Miranda, is an enigmatic character that I will detail below and has with her the four Village lords, the four villains dominated by her.

● Dimitrescu family and their matriarch Alcina Dimitrescu
● Donna Beneviento and her house full of dolls
● Salvatore Moreau
● Karl Heisenberg and the factory
 

 

Each lord has his lair, his combat area, separated by a central square (where we find the merchant who also deserves a separate paragraph) determining exactly the limit of each, but not of his monsters. Between lycans and bloodless servants transformed into a mixture of zombies and vampires, machine-experimented monsters meet in the comings and goings of the village throughout the game.

The picturesque air of the village blends with the chaos of destroyed buildings, few "human" characters are found alive, and the action with these survivors is extreme and brutal.

Village has been bringing major revelations that impact the entire Resident Evil series, so if you are a fan of these stories, Village will not disappoint.

Dimitrescu Mansion

Among the scenarios of the game, without a doubt the most admirable, is the architecture, the details are eye-popping.

For fans of the Resident Evil series, a good place to remember Spenser's mansion and the police station, but without the memorable puzzles that took our sleep to solve.

I honestly thought it was a waste to have it so early in the gameplay, both because of the mansion and because of its owner, Lady Dimitrescu, and her half-vampire, half-fly daughters who chase us through the beautiful corridors of this place. The basement is also a place to be feared, the first time you go through it, you have no desire to go back and have your foot pulled by one of her freakish servants.

Lady Dimitrescu's daughters, Daniela, Bela, and Cassandra are mutations of the Cadou injected into their mother and hatched into fly larvae, which made them a swarm of bloodthirsty flies. Hence the relation to vampirism.

As for Lady Dimitrescu, besides her eternal youth through human blood, her height and long claws show us that the experiments performed are unique to each villainous character. Lady Dimitrescu is a unique character, arrogant, snobbish, and debauched, she gives an even extroverted tone to the game. Her final form is an angry, pale, gigantic dragon with aggressive combat on the mansion's terrace.
 

 

Beneviento House

Another little explored location in the game, mainly for its garden where Ethan hallucinates from plant pollens and is lured there by Donna Beneviento. However, the biggest surprise of the game awaits him in the doll factory in the basement of the house, one of the most terrifying moments of the game for me. There, my dread set in.

Donna Beneviento was a shy girl, grieving for her parents who hid from everyone because of a scar on her face, and who now dominated by Mother Miranda controls her doll built by her father, the disgusting and scrawny Angie.

Donna Beneviento, the only survivor of the Beneviento house, dresses all in black and has her face covered, we don't see her in the house during the fight with Angie until the end, but we know that she is the one controlling it.

Moreau and the Reservoir

Another Lord of Mother Miranda used in her experiments is Salvatore Moreau, without the wealth of Dimitrescu and the beautiful Beneviento house, Moreau finds himself in the Village water reservoir. Perhaps because of this proximity to the water his grotesque half-hunchback, half-fish form makes him a disgusting and repulsive villain in Resident Evil Village.

Not much is known about his history, but Moreau is one of Mother Miranda's infected lords and makes Ethan's journey through the reservoir a real horror. Between running and balancing between platforms and bridges in the water and the slimy walls and acid spewed out by Moreau's final form, Ethan has to face this monster that is somewhat lacking for combat.

The Heisenberg Factory

Karl Heisenberg is heir to his family's factory, where his mutation causes him to control metal and manipulate metal in his mutants as well.

Mother Miranda's favorite, as Lady Dimitrescu implies, is not such a servant to his creator. Heisenberg tries to convince Ethan to join him in destroying Miranda, but in return, his daughter will die.

The iron mines are full of lycans and servants who even though transformed continue their work mining for manufacturing and other experiments.

The factory is full of floors and the production there are bionic mutants. Big and strong with drill arms or propellers and motors all over their bodies.

Heisenberg's final mutation is the most powerful of all, a mutant mixture of twisted iron, plates, and magnetic waves.

 

The Mysterious Merchant - Welcome!

Duke - as we call him, is our safe haven, as well as a seller of useful gameplay trinkets, he is also our cook. With him, we find weapon upgrades, sell treasures, and prepare meals that improve Ethan's skills.

He is a separate character, but one who gives the game a touch of curiosity and lightness. Who is the Duke? Where does he come from? How does he know so much about the village? These are some questions I asked myself while playing, Besides being humorous, Duke gives several hints of where to go and what to do next. He knows the village well and is in every lair for his barter. His huge belly shows how much the guy enjoys a good meal and it is with him that we deliver the game's hunts and upgrade weapons. The upgrade system is simple and motivates us to conquer more resources to acquire them all.

We may find the Duke sleeping, choking, or simply smoking his cigar while awaiting our sale of a jewel or treasure from the game.

He plays a key role at the end of the story, rescuing and leading us to the final boss. Pay attention to his lines. Many of them tell part of the story to be unraveled.

The typewriters are also back, but you no longer find the ink ribbons to use them. Items such as door keys and parts of treasures are in another part of the menu, making it easier to divide up the inventory.

Mother Miranda - the Big Bad

Wrapped in psychological terror, Mother Miranda is a villain that connects the entire Resident Evil line. Besides being enigmatic, not knowing for sure if she is a witch, a goddess, or a freak, the character has secrets that we will only find out at the end of Village.

Her mutation, besides making her almost immortal, transforms her into any form, which is why she was for a long time the priestess of the village of Village, which explains her images spread around the houses and the adoration of its residents.

Without wanting to spoil the story, I have to inform you that Miranda is very far from a supernatural being, she is a scientist and her research and discoveries are directly related to the Umbrella Corporation, and this is the most spoiler I will give you.

From her experiments with the Mold and parasites, she is the one who created the Cadou, which acts on all the transformations seen in the village. From the Lycans to the four lords. These hits and misses of Miranda with her experiments make Village a complete game of mysterious and scary elements making it unique and sensational.

From Terror to Horror

Unlike Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil Village seems to walk a more fine line, not distracting us from the paths we have to take. The game gives us its famous jumpscares but doesn't provoke us as much terror. The immersion in the story takes us exactly where the producers want us to be at the right time and with the right scare, but it doesn't frighten us as much as the previous title of the franchise that made us want to hide under the couch.

Several surprises await us as we go back and forth through the village in search of the game's collectibles. Some enemies are only encountered after assembling a certain treasure or when returning from a location to search for that gem.
 

The feeling of loneliness in the village immerses us in a sense of solitude that is always surprised by an enemy along the way or the sounds of the game that range from absolute silence to a bell or a bird.

The brutal and sadistic tone is throughout the game, balancing terror with a clearly scary and intriguing story. At each moment in the story you discover new information thus assembling the great progressive plot of Village.

The game photography is excellent, environments are built with rich detail, balancing the enchantment of stunning places, open or in a more closed panorama, the terror of surreal and terrifying places.

For this review, Resident Evil Village was played on Xbox Series S.

Thanks to Capcom who provided the access key so that this content could be done.