Resident Evil 7 – Video Game Review!

I had a chance to check out the latest game in the Resident Evil series!

I'm a huge fan of the video game company Capcom. I think they've made some of the most memorable characters and franchises in history. One of those franchises, is Resident Evil. Released over 20 years ago for the Playstation, Resident Evil gave birth to the genre know as "survival-horror." The game let you play as two different characters and had you exploring a creepy mansion that was hiding something. Also, the game had you take on zombies before every game in existence had you taking on zombies. The series would go on to expand to 5 main series sequels, a prequel, and a bunch of other terrible tie-in games that we don't talk about (go eff yourself Resident Evil Outbreak).

The series hit it's peak with Resident Evil 4 (my all time favorite game). That game was a departure from what RE games had been since the beginning. With a heavier focus on action, the game was a masterpiece of horror and making things heads explode. The next two games, Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 tried to replicate the success of 4 but failed in execution. The games simple strayed too far away from the horror roots and became mediocre third-person action games. Without the RE mythology to tie into, the games would not have been as successful.

With the release of Resident Evil 7: biohazard, the series is once again changing things up by making the game first-person. They also did this really cool thing of MAKING THE GAME SCARY AGAIN OH MY GOD I'M PEEING ON MYSELF AND EVERYTHING IS HORRIBLE! The game is claustrophobic, the sound design will have you checking your surroundings constantly, and the scares are frequent. Things lurk in the darkness and pop out at you. The game follows the character of Ethan, who is trying to track down his wife, who has been missing for 3 years. When he gets a mysterious email from her, he heads to a Louisiana plantation to try to track her down.

When he gets there, he is greeted by "The Family." A group of people who have clearly lost their minds and can do some pretty gruesome stuff. The first hour of the game will have you just trying to survive an onslaught of horror and brutality that will have you screaming and laughing at how over-the-top the violence is. The game also puts an emphasis on exploring different locations of the house, with tons of backtracking and secrets. Even though the game made the jump to first-person, this is the most a game in the series has felt like an honest-to-Wesker Resident Evil game since the 2nd. The game is fun and offers a lot of replay value. I'm really glad that the series has found it's way again. I enjoyed the action focus of 5 and 6, but it did become a bit much. My only complaint with 7, is that early on it does some gimmicky things that are clearly aimed at people playing in VR. I wasn't so having a knife blade stabbing at my face, didn't really add anything to my playthrough except point out what is aimed at the VR audience.

If you've been needing an excuse to hop back into the Resident Evil series, 7 is a great reason to do so! I highly recommend it if you don't mind sleeping with the lights on.