Resident Evil 8 (village?)

[neoELITE]

@CheekyMonkey RE4 does have areas you can bypass. It's ages since I played it but I remember a maze and possibly The Bella Sisters. 

What's Mercs like on this?

I played the demo but will wait until this appears on Gamepass.

[DarhkFox]

The maze isn't optional - it just excludes it when playing on easy. A couple of other times during the game this happens too.

 

However the are a couple of times you get a choice of a different path but they both lead to the same place after.

[dumpster]

Resi4 has dynamic difficulty and I think that means that if you play on normal but are terrible the DD can drop down far enough so the maze can be skipped on normal as well.

 

I first learned of DD when I played the Wii version with an infinite health cheat and spent an hour wondering why I couldn't kill one of the bosses.

[DarhkFox]

No , trust me the maze and a section of the castle is only available on normal and above. If you skipped the maze you were playing on easy 

 

I did finish village tonight. Great game , really happy with the direction they took. It wasn't perfect but it was pretty close.

 

They turned ethan - one of the blandest characters into one of the more interesting ones.

[CheekyMonkey]

Yeah the maze in RE4 is only optional due to the difficulty.

 

There's one or two branching paths in RE4 yes, but they come together at the end of the section and that's the extent of it. In general (not all the time) once you leave an area in RE4, unless it specifically requires backtracking, the doors lock you out and you are forced to move on. It's actually one of the great things about it - it's relentless in its progression and never lets up. You go from one area to another, then another and another its just keeps going and you just don't know when or where it's going to end. 

 

Anyway, this is freaking stellar - I'm at the 

Spoiler

Factory

now and its still brilliant! Others have mentioned but the engine in this is quite superb - the lighting in particular is exceptional. 

 

I'm usually not one to moan about review scores, but a 6/10 from Edge seems unbelievably harsh. Perhaps I need to finish the game, and also read the review before making that statement though. I just can't imagine being disappointed at what's left of the game - hope that's not an ominous statement to make. 

[Triple A]

3 hours ago, CheekyMonkey said:

I'm usually not one to moan about review scores, but a 6/10 from Edge seems unbelievably harsh. Perhaps I need to finish the game, and also read the review before making that statement though. I just can't imagine being disappointed at what's left of the game - hope that's not an ominous statement to make. 

No you're absolutely right

[Kayin Amoh]

Ha ha! Sounds like the famous Edge 6 strikes again. So this is up there with Binary Domain and Saints Row 2? I gotta get cracking and check it out if that's the case.

[jdanddiet]

I've almost completed this and have hugely enjoyed it. It's classic overblown resi in many places and while it's not as claustrophobic as resi 7 it still spooks in certain areas. If you've played the dolls section you'll know what I mean.

 

I love exploring the environments in these sort of games and am still in awe of the graphical fidelity of the last generation (I'm on ps4). The (alleged) short time doesn't bother me at all either - I prefer it in fact as I don't have the spare time to play a 100 hour game anyway.

 

Overall another great resident evil. After the debacle of 6 I'm happy with the new direction of the series.

[Kevvy Metal]

22 hours ago, Kayin Amoh said:

Ha ha! Sounds like the famous Edge 6 strikes again. So this is up there with Binary Domain and Saints Row 2? I gotta get cracking and check it out if that's the case.

 

It's a whole 1 better than Balan Wonderland! 

[Nathan Wind]

As someone that's never got on with the franchise very much, I absolutely loved this from start to finish. In terms of being a 'horror' game it's definitely front loaded, but that final act from the Stronghold to the end is so utterly bonkers I had such a blast with it. I love that it wears its filmic inspirations on its sleeve and just runs with it. Obviously, it looks and sounds sensational as well.  As noted thataway^ it would be nice if there was more interactivity in the RE Engine.

 

Spoiler

The Chris Redfield power fantasy payoff after the slow early game was inspired.

 

This new FPSier direction suits me perfectly.

 

TLDR - One of the most enjoyable games I've played in a good while.

[LaveDisco]

Resident Evil: VIIlage is what you get if you take the tonal shift that came in Resi 4 when the little vampire lord child guy shows up, and made a whole game like it.

 

This is also why it's the best Resi since then.

[Jamie John]

I reviewed this for Mental Health Gaming.com, if anyone's interested  

 

Link below to my post in the completed games thread:

 

 

 

TL;DR: 'Gory, goofy and surprisingly funny, Resident Evil Village is a spectacular roller coaster ride that feels a little too on-rails at times.'

[Kevvy Metal]

I certainly wouldn’t describe anything as “on rails”, it has in-game cutscenes but not even nearly the amount as something like RE4! 

[DarhkFox]

I think by on rail's he means that you always seem to be progressing forward. I think that's just clever design really to stop you getting too lost.  The factory is definitely more confusing but not that difficult to navigate when you get your head round the layout.

 

Loved the optional bosses on this too.

[Jamie John]

It's been spoken about in the thread already, but by 'on-rails' I mean that there are sections of the game, especially later on, where I felt shuttled from one bit to the next a bit too quickly. I go into more detail in the review 

 

I enjoyed the game, but I found that it lacked depth, especially compared with Resi 2 remake.

[El Spatula]

The same as in RE4 then? A lot of the criticism of this un can easily be levelled at 4 equally.

[Jamie John]

59 minutes ago, El Spatula said:

The same as in RE4 then? A lot of the criticism of this un can easily be levelled at 4 equally.

 

Resi 4 is definitely a linear experience, but there's a depth, breadth and variety to it that I thought this lacked. But then Resi 4 is one of the best games ever made, so Resi Village is doing pretty well if it's being compared with it!

[MansizeRooster]

Do we know if this is going to get a suite of DLC in the same way that 7 did?

[Jamie John]

10 minutes ago, MansizeRooster said:

Do we know if this is going to get a suite of DLC in the same way that 7 did?

 

It's got the upcoming REverse multiplayer thing, but that's all that's been announced so far, I believe.

[NecroMorrius]

Was this an Edge 6 then? That seems bang on, and I don’t mean in the “Edge 6 is actually a 10” way for once. It’s a decent game, but absurdly easy and not a patch on the remakes. It’s really awkwardly stuck between being Resi and being a faster horror shooter, not quite hitting the highs of either but suffering the lows of both. 
 

However I do think they have the chops and capacity to do both. Alternating between more traditional Resi (currently the remakes) and a more action rollercoaster type (currently the 7-9 trilogy) suits me nicely as I like both to different degrees. In a perfect world they’d manage to do tricky puzzles, proper survival horror gameplay and action sequences in the same game. They should actually look to something like TLOU2 for an idea on how to balance this, the infected sections on higher difficulty are absurdly frightening and oppressive while still having detailed human-on-human combat and thrilling on rails sequences. Though of course, TLOU2 owes a huge debt to Resi 4, so we’ve gone full circle!

 

[Jamie John]

I've just read the Edge review this morning for the first time, and although I agree with pretty much all of it (interestingly, they focus on a lot of the same things in their review that I did in mine, and some of our screenshots are very similar!), I still think that 6 is too harsh. All their criticisms are entirely valid, but the game is still very enjoyable, although perhaps not consistently so.

 

It's a good-looking popcorn blockbuster action thriller of a game, pretty mindless and folding like a house of cards under the slightest scrutiny, but a great ride all the same. Pretty much every review I've read or heard for it has used the word 'romp', 'roller-coaster' or, indeed, 'ride', and that seems bang on to me.

[jdanddiet]

4 hours ago, Jamie John said:

I've just read the Edge review this morning for the first time, and although I agree with pretty much all of it (interestingly, they focus on a lot of the same things in their review that I did in mine, and some of our screenshots are very similar!), I still think that 6 is too harsh. All their criticisms are entirely valid, but the game is still very enjoyable, although perhaps not consistently so.

 

It's a good-looking popcorn blockbuster action thriller of a game, pretty mindless and folding like a house of cards under the slightest scrutiny, but a great ride all the same. Pretty much every review I've read or heard for it has used the word 'romp', 'roller-coaster' or, indeed, 'ride', and that seems bang on to me.

Agree 100% with you. All the points Edge makes are valid, but the game is still hugely enjoyable despite its flaws.

I thought the review was on the nose and great, but I'd have gone with a 7 f'sure.

[Dave White]

and done.

 

No denying the game looks glorious on Pc and PS5( I double dipped). But have to say left me feeling rather underwhelmed. puzzles were nonsense and the game felt far too hand holdy with obvious markers all over the place for ammo crates and the likes. I was fully expecting some proper alien isolation moments of terror but it never happened. 

 

Why on earth they didn't just make a massive castle and set the game in there I dont know. Bosses were easy and the latter half of the game felt half baked and the last level was just rubbish. Shooting mechanics had no satisfaction compared to 4 and all the guns apart from the magnum were like toys.

 

Big lady was the star of the show and having her chase you round for the whole game would have been so much better.

 

7 for me

 

 

 

[squirtle]

Well, this was fucking brilliant. 

[Kevvy Metal]

I’m now at the final stretch and this has been one of the most beautifully stupid games I’ve ever played. 
excluding the two new remakes, this is the best Resi since 4, and easily a 9/10 or 5 stars or whatever for me. 

[MansizeRooster]

I kind of feel like I want to replay 7 and then go straight into another playthrough of this.

[merrychan]

3 hours ago, MansizeRooster said:

I kind of feel like I want to replay 7 and then go straight into another playthrough of this.

I hadn't played 7 so am going through that first before I play this, initially in PSVR but FPS/walking games don't click too well with me in VR (the sat still/hiding bits work brilliantly however).

 

Really enjoying the exploration, feels like classic RE to me...with the exception that you need to remember to look absolutely everywhere in much more detail than I'm used to in 2 to 4

 

[Calashnikov]

4 hours ago, MansizeRooster said:

I kind of feel like I want to replay 7 and then go straight into another playthrough of this.

 

I’m with you on knowing for sure that I definitely just want to play more Resident Evil. 
 

Over the past year I’ve played / re-played REmake 2, REmake 1, 4, 7, REmake 3 and VIIIage, in that exact shambolic order, some for the first time, others for the hundredth, and I’ve been shit-scared, cozy and exhilarated throughout. Worried about where my next fix is going to come from. I still have about a third of the 7 DLC still to play, so might dip into that. Can easily see me doing another VIIIage run before very long as well.

[CheekyMonkey]

Just finished... Well that was amazing and just completely bananas at the same time! 😆

 

Spoiler

The tank bit/Heisenberg boss fight was just batshit insane - I was NOT expecting that! 😀

 

Brilliantly done - I'm a little sad its over as I could have played a lot more if it was on offer. What a shame we'll have to wait so long for the next one. 

[Calashnikov]

They’ve been pretty prolific in putting out a high standard of Resi game these past few years, between new entries and remakes. Hopefully we won’t have long to wait until we see or hear from whatever’s next. High hopes for some VIIIage DLC, but then again we never really got any for REmak3, a game that could really have done with some extra content.