The new game of the Resident Evil series will be released on May 7, 2021. Resident Evil Village is the name of Capcom’s new survival horror video game and it’s set after the events of the seventh part of the series (Resident Evil 7: Biohazard). Recently, the Maiden demo for the game has become available. I played it on Playstation 5. A conclusion.
A creepy atmosphere …
The demo of Resident Evil 8 starts in kind of a torture cellar from which you have to escape. This is easier to do than expected. The puzzles are very simple. A letter from a prisoner before contains an escape plan, which you simply have to follow with some intelligence. The real highlight here is not the escape, but the atmosphere that is built up. The graphics can convince in the usual Resident Evil manner and the soundscape had some scares ready.
Once escaped from the torture cellar, you get to the actual golden shining castle. But here appearances are deceptive. As soon as you look around a bit and peek into cupboards and drawers, a different picture reveals itself: There are some evil witches living here, who make their wine more palatable with human blood….
So, the setting and atmosphere work quite well. And fortunately, Capcom has kept the third-person perspective that goes with it. This had already done Resident Evil 7 extremely well.
… with major weaknesses!
But the real problem with this demo is that nothing happens. There are no opponents. Except for the final enemy in the form of the creepy vampire horror witch, but the player can’t do anything against her and the demo ends abruptly … So, the puzzles are the focus. The problem: They are so simple, stupid and childish (even by RE standards) that the gameplay is over in less than 30 minutes. The RE7 demo Beginning Hour was a lot better, more entertaining and somehow creepier. A clear step backwards from Capcom! This also leads to the fact that the demo doesn’t really make you want to play the final game…
A remark about the Playstation 5 demo version: Why doesn’t the demo support the DualSense functions? Astro’s Playroom showed everyone how great and powerful the new controller can be. And how its functions revolutionize gaming. But the Resident Evil Village demo doesn’t make use of a single feature (vibration, motion sensors, microphone, haptic feedback, adaptive tricker, etc.). In fact, the real revolution of the PS5 is the DualSense, and if games don’t use its functions, then the console loses all sense … So we have to hope that the PS5 version of the final game will exploit at least some of the controller’s possibilities!
Until then, you’d better play Resident Evil 7 again or the demo that comes with it!
Image: Copyright Capcom
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