Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — The Bayou Willies

Resident Evil 6 was a step in a very wrong direction for the franchise. Resident Evil installments were progressively getting more actionized over time, a pattern that started with the superlative Resident Evil 4 and exacerbated with the good-but-not-great Resident Evil 5. RE6, however, dropped any sense of subtlety previous installments had and dove deep into the feel of an action movie, which made it more comparable to the live-action films. Not every aspect of the game was bad, and it has its fans, but the campaign was a poorly-designed mess that led to the game being resold at a high rate.

This highlights why Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is such a hard shift back to survival horror, the genre the series was previously known for. But upon looking at its previews and playing the Beginning Hour demo, I wondered if it was too big of a course correction. But just because it resembles several other horror games doesn’t mean it plays like them. Mind you, I ostensibly preferred this direction compared to what the previous two numbered RE games attempted.

RE7 is a first-person experience that occurs within a series of small-though-meaningful locations, an attempt on Capcom’s part to return to what worked for the series. In addition to being a reaction to RE6, it takes cues from the good reception the Resident Evil HD Remaster garnered, and realizes a concept proposed for the original PlayStation version that title was a remake of. It wasn’t until fully playing the game that I realized precisely why Capcom chose the first-person view for this installment, and how its concepts couldn’t have been realized with any other presentation style. It’s also the kind of refresh the series needed.

The game takes place in the fictional Dulvey Parish, Louisiana, in the area of the Louisiana Bayou, the dark and murky features of which make for a great horror setting. It’s where protagonist Ethan Winters travels to after his wife, Mia Winters, sends him a video telling him to come find her in the area. It’s a shocking occurrence due to Ethan thinking she was dead for years, which sets up a mysterious plot for a mysterious setting that only further unravels from there. Mia’s last location was on the property of the Baker family, one that’s into killing and mutilation for mysterious reasons. The goal here is for Ethan to escape with his wife and, well, his life. But to no surprise, he gets fully enveloped into the intrigue surrounding the location.

RE7 is stuffed to the brim with horror clichés through its characters and themes, but that’s fine when it’s entertaining. But it often doesn’t feel like an RE game. The concept of an average guy going to find his wife in a mysterious location after thinking they were dead sounds more reminiscent of Silent Hill, for good reason: This was the exact setup for Silent Hill 2. The concept is realized differently here, however. It’s also the first time a mainline RE game has a protagonist that isn’t a police officer or soldier, which works as a breath of fresh air. The game also has blatant references to other horror works, most of which (but not all) are fitting for the moments they’re used in.

RE7’s themes and environments represent a, let’s say, maturing for the franchise’s survival horror themes. Instead of relying on jump scares, it frightens the player through desolate and grotesque environments and superb sound design to keep progression tense. The first-person view makes this even more frightening by bringing the action closer to the player’s view, and restricts the ability to see everything around them. But it fortunately doesn’t get too frustrating, thanks to the tense music that plays and monster audio cues that occur when an enemy has spotted the main character. There are tricky encounters, but they’re never frustrating or unfair — at least on “Normal” difficulty.

The environments wouldn’t be as frightening without the stunning level of attention to detail t. The lack of a need for the developers to create detailed animations for the main character’s model allowed for them to divert resources to making photorealistic environments that look good even on the weaker “base” consoles. It also helps that the game’s scope is considerably smaller than RE6, clocking in at about half as long, but the quest doesn’t feel unfulfilling. It gives the player a lot to do within its small environments, taking another worthwhile page from the older survival horror RE titles.

The game also takes inspiration from the older games by having more combat compared to other first-person survival horror games. There’s some hiding and seeking involved, but most enemies can be taken out with guns and melee weapons. I say “takes inspiration” because though the game isn’t generous with ammo for every weapon, I always had enough ammunition to take out every enemy that could be killed despite taking a few hours to adjust to this game’s unique aiming controls. (Note: This meant I clumsily wasted bullets thanks to bad aiming.) I knew going into the game that it wouldn’t feel like a first-person shooter, but it’s still difficult for the reflexes to adjust initially.

This is a notable change from some earlier survival horror games, where it was sometimes better to run from enemies instead of wasting precious resources. RE7 gets more generous with ammo as the game progresses — to almost action-based RE levels in the last quarter of the game. I was thankful for this while playing, but it made later encounters less tense than they could have been. The lack of enemy variety didn’t help either, nor the fact that enemies only have few attacks and don’t develop more. These are minor blemishes on an otherwise superlative experience.

The voice acting is predictably good for an RE game, but this was the first title in a while to have unfamiliar talent. It’s another element that made it feel like an unfamiliar experience for a game in the franchise — almost a soft reboot. The game has a certain returning character from previous games whose existence is well known by now, though he feels new thanks to his new look and voice.

Despite my skepticism as to whether Capcom could make the first-person experience work throughout the entire game’s duration, I was very impressed with Resident Evil 7. I still personally prefer the third-person experiences from previous games and the more recent Resident Evil 2 remake, but the first-person view is a good one for nailing the fear and tenseness, two elements necessary for a good horror game. There’s no telling whether they’ll stick with it for future games, which could partly depend on whether VR is still popular among the larger audience or not. But at least Capcom’s found a good new formula to stick with for the mainline RE games and remakes, though it’s clear they still plan to get experimental with the spinoffs.