Resident Evil Village is a game that requests, nay, demands multiple playthroughs in order to be fully appreciated. The latest entry in Capcom's survival horror franchise benefits from adopting an open-world approach that hides all its secrets and treasures in every nook and cranny, that are so easy to miss on your first pass.
As with anything, repetition makes perfect in finding these treasures. It also takes more than one run to fully understand the game's batshit insane story. A cult of pseudo-Romanian vampires, werewolves, fish people and ghosts have robbed my baby? My soldier mate has just assassinated my wife and now I'm trapped in the arse end of Transylvania trying to un-kidnap my child? Run that all by me one more time? Is probably what Ethan Winters is thinking.
While the story may be absolutely bonkers, we positively adored the game. Take a look at our spoiler-free review if you're still on the fence about whether to stump up the cash:
The issue with running the game through multiple times, is that you end up knowing it like the back of your hand. If your hand was made of mutamycete, that is. Playing the Casual to Hardcore difficulties in Village are essentially the same run, with slightly quicker, more hard-hitting enemies. Once you start to complete some of the game's challenges and unlock infinite ammo weapons (I'm looking at you, S.T.A.K.E., you beautiful, game-breaking son of a... gun) it's like, whatever, you know? You know where every enemy is and where to put your bullets and badda-bing badda-boom.
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That is until the Village Of Shadows difficulty. When I started my Village Of Shadows run, I thought it'd be much like Harcore only a little tougher. That is, after all, how difficulties tend to work, so you can forgive my ignorance. But after the game's opening village assault segment, I was made aware that VOS is actually quite a bit different, in one subtle but important way: enemy placement.
Entering into one of the abandoned village houses in search of loot - a house which, mind you, I'd been in dozens of times before and I knew was empty - stopped me dead in my tracks. A lycan was in there. Did I just forget about this one? Had he always been here? No I didn't, and no he hadn't. Suddenly, this village which I've spent 30-plus hours exploring didn't feel so familiar, and subsequent enemy encounters only made things more fraught.
This pattern of replacing enemies and relocating them continues over the course of the game on VOS difficulty, coming to a head in Heisenberg's factory. It's here that his deadly brick shithouse Soldats appear at whim, ready to scare your trousers a new colour. It's like playing a brand-new game at times, or at very least playing the same game again for the first time.
Tip-toeing around corners and double checking every room before you barrel through the doorway quickly becomes second nature, and it reinvigorated my passion for playing Village after becoming a little too comfortable with it. You also unlock the rocket pistol, which is absolutely invaluable when attempting the Dashing Dad achievement and finishing the game in under three hours. I would, however, suggest doing that on Casual. Unless you really, really hate yourself. In which case, go nuts.
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Resident Evil Village has proved to be a real turning point for Capcom, and the franchise in general. It's had the most successful launch for a title in the series' history, and has even had its horror aspect toned down in favour of a more action-heavy approach. I'm not so sure about that having now played it on Village Of Shadows difficulty, though. Nothing can prepare you for facing down a Soldat Panzer in a usually harmless hallway with no explosives left. Nothing.
Featured Image Credit: CapcomTopics: Features, Resident Evil Village