Resident Evil 7 Review
Resident Evil has gone through a few evolutions over its 20 years in the spotlight, but none have felt so foreign and at the same time familiar as its shift to first person in 7. At face value it sounds like a cynical attempt to ride the coattails of successes like Outlast and PT, and also threatens to make the newest Resident Evil installment feel like something entirely different from the series we know and love. After the bombastic, unfocused, and messy action fare of Resident Evil 6, one could be forgiven for not having the faith in Capcom to pull off a major gameplay shift like this. But somehow they pulled it off. The Resident Evil series has shifted into first person with a level of grace, quality, and focus that makes this one of the best entries in years.
The Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil is one of the most iconic locales in gaming. Its eerie, abandoned hallways, cavernous rooms, and hidden secrets make it a joy to explore and learn. In only a few hours of playtime, you know this building, not only as a series of video game levels but as an actual place. It feels real, tangible, like if you were to walk in the front doors yourself you’d feel no different than you do walking around it with a controller as Chris or Jill. Resident Evil 7’s Baker household instills those same feelings, but on an even more personal level. When you and Ethan Winters first arrive to look for his missing wife, you have no idea what you’re about to step into. Walking into that house is terrifying because you don’t know what you’re about to find, but also because it feels like it exists. You move from room to room, opening drawers, finding artifacts from a happy family that now exists only in body, carefully examining every minute detail in hopes of finding the next clue that will lead you to Ethan’s ultimate goal. At first, the house feels huge and intimidating, but as you begin to uncover more of its secrets and navigate your way around it for the second, third, fourth time, it becomes clear that this isn’t a sprawling mansion. Right now, I can run through the entire floor plan in my mind, not only of that one building, but of the whole game. Every space has a purpose, every room something interesting to discover. There is almost no superfluous space in the game, everything is utilized to its fullest potential. For some games, small play spaces can be a detriment, but Resident Evil 7 uses some of the tightest level design I’ve seen in years to evoke an unrivaled sense of place and being. Sadly, this sense of place begins to wane as you enter different locales in the later game, but for a majority of the game these places you inhabit are impeccably designed and a joy to skulk around and inhabit.
This sense of place is augmented considerably by the masterful sound design on display. Every step echoes throughout the dusty halls, every crackle of the trees of slammed door puts you on edge. Music is used sparingly, but when it hits it hits hard, punctuating every moment it appears in perfectly.
Of course, the best level design and sound design in the world doesn’t matter if it isn’t backed up by equally tight gameplay. Luckily, Resident Evil 7 has that in spades, and mostly due to the fact that it’s largely unchanged from the original game. As you make your way through the various challenges of the Baker homestead, you’ll find a ton of items, weapons, and puzzles scattered about. It’s a slow, thorough, and methodical gameplay style that rewards you for taking your time while also using this time to build the tension until your inevitable run ins with the main threats to your life. And they’re some huge threats. Early in the game, you’ll be introduced to the Baker family themselves. Every one of these characters exudes a sense of personality that defines their respective sections of the game. Jack, the father, is a large psychotically jolly guy, and the standout of the game. He’s a force to be reckoned with, lumbering after you and screaming horrifyingly amusing lines at a constant pace. Similar to his angry, screechy wife Margueritte a little later, he is an ever-present threat that you feel familiar with after only a few minutes, and in a morbid way it’s almost a disappointment when they aren’t in the game anymore. The game really shines when it focuses on the family, because of the pervading sense of dread that they put onto the player. Running and hiding from them, using weapons that do nothing but slow them down and trying to just get away is the highlight of the game. Another, more manageable threat comes fairly early in the game in the form of the Molded. These hulking, black, viscous creatures take the role of cannon fodder, and they do it serviceably. While they are intimidating and even minorly scary at first, toward the later few hours of the game they being to lose their fear factor. Add to this the fact that their designs aren’t exactly top-shelf and you have an enemy type that gets the job done, but never reaches the heights of their more characterized and terror-inducing human counterparts. The gunplay that becomes a part of the game more prominently in the latter half of the game at first feels a little weak, but I found it became more and more satisfying the more skilled I became. This gunplay takes center stage during a few of the boss fights in the game, which I refuse to spoil for anyone. While a couple don’t exactly hit the mark, most of them are phenomenal, giving a thrilling sense of progression and release of tension that as built up during the slower moments of the game.
Resident Evil 7 does something I didn’t think could be done after the explosive and thoroughly not scary sixth entry and returns the series to its survival horror roots while charting new courses for the franchise’s future. It delivers scares, tension, and a thrill of discovery that I haven’t felt in a long time, and memorable adversaries and moments that I feel will be remembered for years to come. In a lot of ways, Resident Evil 7 feels like a similar situation to the classic fourth entry in the series, changing the status quo for Resident Evil while still feeling like Resident Evil. For the first time in a while, the series feels focused and like it’s on a path that I’m excited to walk down with Capcom for years to come.
