With Resident Evil Village, Capcom wisely leaned into the success of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, presenting a direct sequel that continues the story of protagonist Ethan Winters. This time, he winds up in a rural village overlooked by a vast, elegant castle as he strives to locate his kidnapped daughter, Rose. It’s no secret that Village borrows heavily from what is widely regarded as the series’ critical darling, Resident Evil 4, but the results are somewhat mixed.
For starters, Village ramps up the action with more open spaces, a wide array of enemy types, upgradable weapons, and counterattack mechanics. The enemies are significantly more interesting than The Mold featured in RE7, with Lycans, reanimated dolls, mechanically enhanced ‘Soldat’ humans, and more all vying to bring your journey to a gory conclusion.
The environments are generally much more varied, too, and are the true stars of the show. You’ve got the aforementioned village and castle, plus the spooky House Beneviento, Moreau’s Reservoir, and Heisenberg’s Factory (no, not that Heisenberg…or that one). Each major location feels wholly unique with its own dedicated boss character, and so it makes for a supremely well-paced experience that rarely outstays its welcome.
That said, all things considered, I’m not sure Village has aged quite as well as its predecessor. The characters — and by extension, the story — feel pretty throwaway compared to the excellent Baker Family, and even Lady Dimitrescu, who ruled the internet for a good while there, doesn’t make quite as much of an impact as I’d have hoped. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a great entry in the series, but over the last few years or so, I’ve found myself going back to RE7 a lot more often than Village.
With the Gold Edition on Switch 2, you get access to everything that was added to the game as DLC. This includes a variant of The Mercenaries arcade mode which, as fun as it is, is a pretty huge step down from the blistering, addictive action we enjoyed in Resident Evil 6. You’ve also got the ‘Shadows of Rose’ DLC, a weird third-person jaunt through familiar environments with a host of new enemies, plus the ability to play through the main campaign in first or third-person. Overall, it’s not quite as extensive as RE7’s DLC, but it’s certainly worth a look.
Performance on Switch 2 isn’t as impressive as RE7, unfortunately. Although visuals and frame rate remain consistent in docked mode, there are a few issues present when transitioning to handheld. It still looks great, but you’ll definitely notice a few stutters here and there, particularly when exploring exterior environments like the central hub and reservoir.
I still very much recommend playing Village. Its gameplay and pacing are excellent, and there’s one very specific moment that remains one of the scariest in the series’ history. When compared to RE7’s superb story and the wider franchise lore, however, Village is a bit of a narrative anomaly that I’m not convinced will stand the test of time.
