Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil Village[a] is a 2021 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and the tenth main game of the Resident Evil series. Players control Ethan Winters, who searches for his kidnapped daughter in a village filled with mutant creatures. Village maintains survival horror elements from previous games, with players scavenging environments for items and managing resources while adding more action-oriented gameplay, with higher enemy counts and a greater emphasis on combat.
"RE8" redirects here. For other uses, see RE8 (disambiguation).Resident Evil Village
Capcom
Morimasa Sato
- Tsuyoshi Kanda
- Peter Fabiano
- Masachika Kawata
Isamu Hara
- Tetsuro Noda
- Masaharu Kamo
Tomonori Takano
- Shusaku Uchiyama
- Nao Sato
- PS4, PS5, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
- May 7, 2021
- macOS, Nintendo Switch
- October 28, 2022
- PlayStation VR2
- February 22, 2023
- iOS, iPadOS
- October 30, 2023
Resident Evil Village was announced at the PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020 and was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 7, 2021. This was followed by a macOS version and a cloud version for Nintendo Switch in October 2022, and a PlayStation VR2 version on February 22, 2023. An iOS version was released on October 30, 2023.
Resident Evil Village received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its gameplay, setting, and variety, but criticism for its puzzles, boss fights, and performance issues on the Windows version; the increased focus on action divided opinions. The game won year-end accolades including Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. It had sold over 10 million units by March 2023.
Gameplay[edit]
Like its predecessor, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil Village uses a first-person perspective, and has the option for a third-person perspective. It is set in a snowy explorable European village, described as "pulled straight from the Victorian era" and much larger and more immersive than its predecessor.[1] Structures and buildings in the central village can be climbed and used to fight enemies.[1] Compared to Biohazard, the game is more action focused, with protagonist Ethan Winters equipped with more combat skills due to military training.[2] The game's primary enemies, the werewolf-like Lycans, are agile and intelligent and can wield weapons and attack in packs, forcing the player to rethink their strategy on whether to use sparse ammunition, use melee combat, or run away.[3][4][5] Similar to Resident Evil 4 (2005), makeshift barricades can be used to fend off enemies.[4]
The inventory management mechanic is similar to that of Resident Evil 4, featuring a briefcase and the ability to move and rotate items for better storage space. Players can buy supplies, weapons, upgrades, and items from a merchant called the Duke.[6] The players can hunt animals in the village and have them cooked into dishes by the Duke. Eating side dishes allows the player to gain certain advantages such as decreasing the damage taken while blocking.[7] Treasures and collectibles can be found around the village, and sold to the Duke for currency.[1]
Players can manually save the game progress by locating and using typewriters, which replaces the tape recorders in Resident Evil 7 and marks their first appearance in a mainline game since Resident Evil 4.[8] A map of the village can be accessed from the pause menu, as well as a diary with sketches recapping the player's progress in the story so far.[4] Two features added to the game were photo mode, which allow to screenshot in-game moments, and a button to skip cutscenes.[9]
The Mercenaries Mode, an arcade-style game mode of past Resident Evil games, returns in Village. In this mode, players fight through timed stages, and purchase items and upgrades from the Duke's Emporium.[10] Players who purchased Village also received Resident Evil Re:Verse, a six-player online multiplayer third-person shooter. After nearly a year and half delay, Re:Verse was activated in October 2022.[11]
Synopsis[edit]
Setting[edit]
Resident Evil Village is set three years after the events of Resident Evil 7, largely on the day of February 9, 2021.[12][4] Ethan Winters returns as the protagonist, having defeated bioweapon Eveline in Resident Evil 7.[13] Ethan has been living with his wife Mia and six-month-old daughter Rosemary when Chris Redfield—the protagonist of previous Resident Evil entries—and his men suddenly appear, murder his wife in cold blood, and kidnap him and his baby daughter. While Ethan and Rosemary are being transported in a van, a mysterious entity crashes it just outside the village.[13][14][15] Ethan has to traverse the village to rescue Rosemary.[15] The village is invaded by werewolf-like mutants called Lycans and governed by four different mutant lords, each controlling their own forces from strongholds within the village. Lady Dimitrescu, a tall aristocrat vampire, resides at Castle Dimitrescu with her three daughters Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela, and mutated female attendants.[16][17] The hallucination-inducing and ghost-like Donna Beneviento rules from her mansion, House Beneviento, and acts through her puppet Angie.[18] The grotesque Salvatore Moreau operates from a reservoir in close proximity to the village and is described as a "merman". Karl Heisenberg, who can manipulate electromagnetic fields, leads a group of Soldat simulacra from a contemporary factory. All houses respond to a supreme leader figure called Mother Miranda, the witch-like ruler of the village who is a "presence worshipped by the villagers."[15]
Plot[edit]
Three years after Resident Evil 7, Ethan and Mia have been relocated to Europe by Chris Redfield to start a new life with their newborn daughter Rosemary. One night, Chris and his Hound Wolf squad raid the house, assassinate Mia, and abduct Ethan and Rosemary. Ethan awakens next to a crashed transport truck in which he was riding, and discovers a village terrorized by werewolf-like creatures called Lycans. Ethan fails to save the remaining villagers and is captured by Karl Heisenberg and brought before the village priestess Mother Miranda and her lords: Alcina Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Salvatore Moreau, and Heisenberg himself. Ethan escapes a death trap made by Heisenberg and ventures into Dimitrescu's castle to find Rosemary, with help from a mysterious merchant known as the Duke. Ethan eliminates Dimitrescu and her daughters, finding a flask containing Rosemary's head. The Duke explains that Miranda placed Rosemary's body parts in four different flasks for a special rite, and that she can be restored if Ethan recovers the other flasks, held by the remaining lords.
While killing Beneviento and Moreau for their flasks, Ethan learns Hound Wolf is also in the village. Ethan passes a test from Heisenberg for the fourth flask and is invited to the lord's factory, where Heisenberg proposes they defeat Miranda together. Ethan refuses, once he learns Heisenberg intends to weaponize Rosemary, and escapes. Ethan encounters and confronts Chris over Mia's death, learning the "Mia" Chris killed was Miranda in disguise. Chris reveals that Miranda possesses the power of mimicry and was attempting to abduct Rosemary, succeeding when she crashed the transport truck. Chris destroys Heisenberg's factory while Ethan uses a makeshift tank to kill Heisenberg. After the battle, Miranda shows herself and mocks Ethan, revealing her plans to take Rosemary as her own. She then rips his heart out, killing him.
Witnessing Ethan's death, Chris leads Hound Wolf to extract Rosemary while a Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) assault force distracts Miranda. Chris enters a cave beneath the village and discovers the Megamycete,[b] the source of the mold. He plants a bomb on the Megamycete and finds Miranda's lab, learning that she has lived a century since coming into contact with the fungus, and was a mentor to the Umbrella Corporation's founder Oswell E. Spencer; Oswell used her knowledge to develop the T-Virus. Miranda experimented with the fungus in an attempt to revive her daughter, Eva, who had succumbed to the Spanish flu; the four lords, Lycans, and Eveline were failed experiments. Rosemary, however, is a suitable host, due to her special abilities inherited from Ethan and Mia. Chris rescues the imprisoned Mia, who reveals that Ethan should still be alive, due to his powers.
Ethan revives after encountering Eveline in limbo, who reveals that he was already killed in his first encounter with Jack Baker in Dulvey, but was revived by her mold, which gave him regenerative powers. The Duke brings Ethan to the ritual site where Miranda attempts to revive Eva, but ends up reviving Rosemary instead. Enraged, she battles Ethan, who kills her, before the Megamycete emerges from the ground. Ethan, with his regenerative powers finally having reached their limit, sacrifices himself to detonate the bomb planted on the Megamycete, while Chris transports Mia and Rosemary to safety. As Mia mourns the loss of Ethan, Chris discovers that the BSAA soldiers sent to the village were organic bioweapons and orders his squad to head for the BSAA's European headquarters.