Resident Evil 7. It was an unexpected game. And yes, I know that Resident Evil 8 Village is sort of considered cult classic by now (at least that’s what I heard, and also that’s what I think), the seventh instance of the game wasn’t like that. In fact, a lot of people dismissed it at first sight. First person? Horror oriented? Some new lame character no one ever heard of? No Umbrella? That’s not Resident Evil, Capcom, fuck off.
I wasn’t like those people. Neither I was like those who loved the game for it bravery to change the pace and style. I couldn’t care less. Yes, that’s how it was. I knew that they were going for a total restart of the franchise by introducing new characters and new play-style, but I just didn’t care. Somehow, I wasn’t neither thrilled nor offended, however, naturally when the game came out I had to play it. It was Resident Evil, after all. I played all the major games (except Resident Evil 6) and saw no reason to miss this one.
I got it, I played it, and I couldn’t tell whether I liked it or not. Same as with trailers and all this promo-madness that took place before the game hit the shelves, I was left completely neutral. It was good enough to beat it once, but not good enough to play it for the second time. And as a rule of hand, I usually beat Resident Evil games on all difficulties available, open all the weapons, and go for all the challenges as long as they don’t require multiplayer. I’m addicted to the Resident Evil series. And this one wasn’t it even though it had everything Resident Evil usually has – replayability, the cast of bat-shit crazy characters with grandiose goals that make no sense whatsoever, epic boss battles, secret weapons that would turn infinite on the consecutive runs.
What was the problem? I still don’t know. Sometimes I’m thinking about it, and up to this moment I can’t say for sure. Perhaps it was not as Resident Evil as I expected it to be? I mean, from the perspective of Resident Evil, it is absolutely bland, linear, and limited. But first, let’s talk about the plot, or at least what I remember about it.
We’re playing as Ethan I Can’t Stop Losing My Limbs Winters. The same character who was in the Resident Evil 8 Village. Believe it or not, but he is even more bland and unremarkable in Resident Evil 7. The guy has no charisma whatsoever, and at times, it feels like he doesn’t even care what’s going on at all, as if he’s already dead inside and gave up on life big time. Somewhat relatable, actually.
Ethan Winters is looking for his wife Mia, who went missing for a while (you know, absolutely normal and expected spouse behavior), but suddenly came back to existence by sending an obscure video message to Ethan (she asked not to come, but conveniently named the location in some secluded house in Louisiana in the middle of the fucking nowhere… wink-wink). Our hero, being the same duffus from the Resident Evil 8 we all somehow grew to live, decides that it is just the right opportunity to get into his sports car, inform no one (except leaving some blabbering nonsense on someone’s machine), and go there completely unarmed. What could go wrong? Everything.
He gets to the house, finds it in terrible shape, finds his wife in some sort of dungeon, his wife goes crazy and cuts off his arm with a motherfucking chainsaw. Ethan, being a typical protagonist from the Resident Evil 8, is not impressed and puts a fucking axe in her neck as a response. Then, with a missing limb shoved into his back pocket (the only way I can imagine it), he goes to the attic, gets a gun, and shoots Mia again till she stops harassing him with a chainsaw. All with one hand and spurting blood from missing limb all over the place like a motherfucker. His triumph is short-lived as he encounters the Big Daddy of the house by the name of Jack, who gives him a famous warm Southern welcome by introducing his fist to Ethan’s face. The end.
Well, not at all. Later Ethan, his hand crudely re-attached by some giant stapler, wakes up in the famous Chainsaw Massacre dining scene reenactment. Meets Big Daddy, Mommy, their Dumb Fucking Son, and an obligatory catatonic Grandma in the wheelchair (OG Chainsaw Massacre dining scene, people). Gets fed with human flesh, tortured for fun a little, you know, typical stuff in those parts of the US according to many horror movies. In fact, the entire game follows the same pattern: Ethan goes somewhere where he shouldn’t go, meets one of the family members who isn’t happy to see him, gets tortured for a while before growing a pair and fighting back.
Basically, the plot goes in circles. Ethan has to find his wife and find the cure to her condition, also has to understand why all of a sudden he can re-attach chopped off limbs (not that he ever asks), kill the family of bulletproof hillbillies, defeat the evil that lurks in the house, and get the fuck out of here. During this quest, he has a chainsaw duel with Big Daddy, observes how a grown woman transforms into some Thing-like spider creature and shoots projectiles out of her vagina, participates in a retarded version of American Gladiator made by the Dumb Fucking Son, also meets the Sister (who is actually okay and probably the only sane character around), realizes that the family is actually nice people underneath all this killing and torturing and eating human flesh fetish, and it’s the little girl from FEAR and Call who paid a visit to the franchise and is behind all this mess, and also fights an army of goo monsters. Oh, yeah, and Umbrella somehow returned. Mia worked for it. She was its operative and fucked up during transportation of the new virus and its host (who is a little girl, for fuck’s sake, give me a break).
So, still sounds like a typical Resident Evil game, right? Even Chris Redfield pays a visit in the end. So what’s the problem? And again, I still don’t know. It just feels not there. Like it is somewhat bland. What I mean is that besides invincible wise-cracking bosses patrolling the parts of the old house, there are basically only three types of enemies: regular goo, fat goo, crawling-jumping goo. Oh, and also an obligatory creepy little girl who is behind all this mess who jump-scares you here and there. So, not much is going on.
The POV is actually okay. The fact that the game is now more horror oriented and not so action packed is alright, too. Even though I’m not a big fan of screamers, the game wasn’t scary to me at all. I mean, yes, I jumped on two occasions (both times someone yelled right in my face out of nowhere), but besides that, there was no tension at all. The enemy design just doesn’t seem scary at all. The goo monsters are looking like a black toothy goo. They aren’t scary. They resemble regenerators from Resident Evil 4, but they don’t have enough charisma and this evil energy that makes you anxious from the thought alone. Besides, I played it on PC when the game was clearly made for consoles, so enemies moved slowly and bobbed a lot. When you’re playing with a mouse, shooting enemies in the head is not difficult at all. That’s why even on normal difficulty I had more than enough ammo and very rarely had problems with health. And by the time I reached the mines (Capcom and their unexplainable love for mines), I already had all the most powerful weapon I needed with lots of ammo and no amount of enemies could pose a valid threat.
I think I liked the first half of the game, where you’re still vulnerable, and the house is still full of mystery, and you still trying to understand the AI, and the threat it poses. And while you can fight back, it doesn’t have the result you want to achieve. It gives some tension, and that’s what makes the game. Once you realize that you don’t have to waste your ammo on the bosses since they are fucking dumb and can get lost in two chairs, while patrolling only what they are allowed to patrol without walking away from their route, the game loses majority of its horror factor. And turns into a rather tedious stealth-action where most of the time I just ran past any threat. Perhaps, like it was in the DLC to Outlast, I just preferred to have the big bad guy right behind my back, so I always knew where he was at any given time.
I understand that probably they tested out new engine, still explored the AI, and in general everything looked like they were getting ready for a remake of Resident Evil 2, which I still consider as one of the best video game remakes ever made. And actually that’s what Resident Evil 7 feels like. Like an experiment. Like a test in production. It was obvious they weren’t utilizing the full potential of the engine, and that’s why the game felt like a demo version of the new things to come. Even Resident Evil 8 Village proves it. They had to start somewhere to build something new to a point where they had a desired proficiency that let them create awesome things.
Unfortunately, having this in mind, I couldn’t go on with replaying the game. Even years after I beat it, I still remember almost everything there by heart, and it just doesn’t feel intriguing anymore. The atmosphere ain’t there either. It’s like I can always play again Resident Evil 2. I can always play again Resident Evil 1, or Resident Evil 4, or even Resident Evil 3 (I know, I know, a lot of people don’t consider it that good, but I still have childhood memories about it). Both originals and remakes because they have this something that makes me want to return and experience the world once more. The same goes for Resident Evil 8 Village, because the world, the environment, the design feel interesting even after many times I beat it. And here it just isn’t there. For me, Resident Evil 7 is always a demo version of good things to come. It always will be. The thing that feels like a test.