Where do you think you're going...
Resident Evil 7 takes you to a completely different world sat in Dulvey, Louisiana. The story revolves around finding the whereabouts of Ethan Winters missing wife, Mia who is kidnapped by the Baker family. With a lot of hype for use of the new Playstation VR technology and an attempt at new gaming experience to redeem the franchise, a lot was placed on RE7. Can new developers deliver when the pressure is on harder than a horror movie?
In this latest installment of the Resident Evil series, RE7 prioritizes tone over action, in true horror survival horror fashion, everything is in short supply and you must manage you limited inventory while exploring a linear game that is rare for the new open world games that are dominating the industry.
Most of the game revolved around being in tough situations and struggling to adapt. It's all about changing up your survival tactics to meet each challenge, scavenging for items, and conserving what little ammo you have. I was happy to see some core elements that hadn't been in Resident evil since the 1990's games return as a factor.
In RE7, there is a strong sense of returning to the tradition of placement that makes frequent exploration and back track work without wearing out its welcome. As an attempt to move away from the antics of Wesker and the umbrella corporation, RE7 introduces new antagonist known as the Baker family.
The Baker family descent into savagery and the way it has manifested into their domestic life. The Baker family really uphold southern stereotypes that come off as dated yet funny. Each family member has a quirk that gives you a challenge: whether it's your face terror by Jack the father. whether a stealth approach by Marguerite the wife, whether it's by Lucas the son setting traps like the movie Saw to keep you off balance and make you afraid of things you once took for balance.
Negatives
- The only low point was the simple puzzle solving that has been a trend of the series since it went main stream.
- There were moments were you are putting into a linear progression and wasting bullets on enemies that can't be killed until certain moments feel like poor execution of the capabilities.
- The big draw to RE7 was the introduction of Playstation VR for a major title game. My resident evil experience was good with and without VR. There were only a handful of sequences that were designed to take advantage of the new technology. Tbh the only time you really get the best use out of the technology is when fighting in enemy in close corners.
Positives
- The atmosphere is similar to Silent Hill PT. manages to handle horror/survival and first person shooter well.
- There is a compelling pace that made pulling levers, finding keys to lock doors and dodging enemies feel natural. Even the out of place puzzle solving felt a like shallow nods to a by gone era rather than a constant continuation the elements that defined and invented.
Overall, I think they were ambitious, but developers didn't do much with the 10 hour campaign to keep you compel to want more. It's opportunity there, but the game fell short on capitalizing that opportunity. Resident Evil 7: Bio hazard is a good game not a great game. It was a nice break from fighting zombies and umbrella corporation mercenaries, but I didn't feel the character development was there nor engagement to see the story conclude a certain way. Overall, I give RE7 an 8 out 10.
