Capcom has finally revealed the release date for the long-awaited Resident Evil: Village. It will be next May 7 both on PS5, Xbox Series X | S and PC (via Steam), as well as on the old PS4 and Xbox One, which is appreciated.
To make the wait more enjoyable (or not), the Osaka company has published a demo this morning (exclusive for PS5, unfortunately), which serves as a preview of what awaits us in your adventure … Or at least, in Part of it, because we neither control Ethan Winters nor do we have certain basic character movements, apart from a lack of inventory. More limited, in fact, than the fantastic and impressive Beginning Hour demo from the past Resident Evil 7. And of course, here the comparisons are obnoxious … by losing the surprise effect .
Welcome to your new nightmare in town
Taking the role of a mysterious girl, whom the game itself baptizes as Maiden , we appear inside a dungeon and a clear objective: to escape from there. Something simple, if we take into account that our prison is very small and there is a hole in one of the walls through which to crouch and easily get out of there.
Landscape is another issue. Everything gives a bad feeling, from that latrine of the “neighbor” next to which worms and feces protrude, passing through a whole string of medieval torture objects , among which you can still see a corpse …
The setting is one of the darkest remembered for a Resident Evil , taking as a reference the previous adventure starring Ethan Winters. However, personally, I expected a major quality leap in terms of graphic potential. It gives the feeling of being a PS4 game, with poorly defined textures compared to other next-gen titles, except for the play of light and shadow, the same as for other types of flourishes, such as the effect of intense cold creeping through a broken window on which the wind roars. There, yes.
It can be considered a technical demo, in fact, but without the spectacularity of other kinds of productions, although this small demonstration does not reflect the final quality of the product. And if it could be played in Virtual Reality, it would be better, since the aforementioned Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is one of the most rewarding experiences for horror fans , following the model of that The Kitchen.
It is also a more restrained demo in terms of options or variety of situations, with a testimonial use of some objects to advance, where there is no lack of the classic lock pick along with the usual chain cutter. But everything is calmer, without frights (the game tries some scare without fortune), until we enter the mansion and begin to taste the drastic change in the setting, with all the luxury of details of great value and know that someone sees us .
In this short journey there is no lack of documents to read, leaving messages such as “medicines to keep livestock alive”, which does not refer precisely to animals, or references to the candidates and discards for the mansion run by women and where you can read the document of one, dating from 1958, eye.
A little snack for Resident Evil Village
The mansions have always had a special role in all Resident Evil and here will not be the exception, although this Resident Evil Village hides all its secrets (and puzzles, which of course there will be) to let us walk through some of its rooms, showing a small brushstroke of the environment.
The main room shows a bonfire with burning clothes that are the same as Maiden’s own, which may mean that she is, in effect, one of the discarded girls. Be that as it may, it is inside the mansion when we gradually notice that someone is watching us, until suddenly we run into one of the sisters. It’s funny, because in my case I saw it moving away, going after it until I “went through” it and it dissipated in the form of insects.
It was a hoax warning for what would come next, of course, right at the end of the demo, with the pressure of escaping the mansion in possession of the key to the courtyard, seeing how he inoculated us with a poison previously. And then comes the surprise , of course.
This imposing-sized vamp appears to end with a stroke of the pen our dream of escaping from there, seeing how one of her hands becomes a Freddy Krueger claw . An expected ending, on the other hand, although far from the impact of the demo of the previous chapter, in part due to the successful use of the first-person perspective, with which Capcom was right that time.
There were, on the other hand, less careful details regarding that demo, although some may have been intentional, such as not having a reflection in the mirror of some rooms to hide Maiden’s identity; or that there are far fewer objects to use or investigate, except for a certain ring with a red eye.
As an appetizer for Resident Evil Village, it is less sweet than the aforementioned Resident Evil 7: Biohazard , but it is still a preview of the new chapter of one of the survival horror sagas par excellence. And that essence of the classic Resident Evil 4 is sure to bring us many surprises and moments of tension.
