top of page

Beckett vs: Resident Evil 7 on PlayStation 4

The 7th main installment of the Resident Evil series is a much-needed shot of adrenaline in the arm, and the risk undertaken by Capcom in bringing this game to fruition has paid off. “Action Horror” is no longer a mainstay of the Resident Evil series it seems, and this is a massive step in the right direction. No game is perfect, and Resident Evil 7 certainly has its own drawbacks and minor blemishes, but these are easily overlooked when taking into account the value of the entire product, and the visible polish Capcom has put into it. If you’re still not convinced that you should buy this game (which you should), please read on. You need this game.

IMG_0919

As Resident Evil 7 opens, the player is presented with a cut scene that immediately sets the tone of this game apart from previous installments in the series. The player steps into the shoes of series newcomer Ethan Winters who receives a video message from his wife who has been missing for three years. She pleads Ethan to not come looking for her. Of course, Ethan decides to drive to the fictional town of Dulvey, Louisiana to investigate her disappearance, which eventually leads to the game’s main family of antagonists, the Bakers.

IMG_0926

Personal possessions and pictures scattered throughout the house hint that these people were once “normal.” And it’s terrifying not knowing if these insane, psychopathic characteristics are their own, or if something has caused them to become this way.

Once you arrive at the Baker House, the mystery thickens. How is Ethan’s wife linked to these events? Who are the Bakers? Or more importantly, who were they? What drove them to their cannibalistic tendencies? Personal possessions and pictures scattered throughout the house hint that these people were once “normal.” And it’s terrifying not knowing if these insane, psychopathic characteristics are their own, or if something has caused them to become this way.

IMG_0923

The main campaign is well paced throughout, with story beats occurring at all the right moments. Every objective you complete and every item found almost never feels arbitrary. The exception is one area toward the end of the game felt too long due to repetitive back tracking, although again a minor gripe in an otherwise fantastic experience. The ending feels a tad lacking after dropping a massive cliffhanger that begs for answers, but this seems to be a conscious choice due to the free DLC “Not A Hero”, which has unfortunately been delayed with no updated release window provided.   Players and fans of Resident Evil may be put off by the apparent lack of returning characters from previous games, but this does not hamper the story experience at all. In fact, this strengthened it and allowed for the developers to tell an original story not bound to the previous installments but still within the same universe.

IMG_0920

Resident Evil 7’s visuals are utterly jaw-dropping, and they come together with fantastic sound engineering to create an atmosphere that’s terrifying and extremely compelling at the same time. Throughout Ethan’s bloody quest he encounters rotten corpses, walls covered in thick black mold, large numbers of arachnids, and even finds himself getting way too close to chainsaw-wielding madmen than he’d prefer.

IMG_0922
In recent years, I found myself numbed from jump scares and other typical ways of making players uneasy in video games. Here, they’ve provided just enough for you to create your own fears, and to scare yourself, over and over again.

Dimly lit hallways in a seemingly ordinary house have been transformed into something right out of a living hell. You may even be privy to witnessing a dismemberment or two, or have the privilege of conducting an exploratory search through a body cavity. I consider myself mainly a horror gamer, and for the first time in years I found myself peeking around corners, often anticipating an enemy to jump out at me, or waiting to be grabbed from behind by one of the Bakers roaming the house. Most of the time when I felt that urge, I’d find absolutely nothing waiting for me on the other side, which means Capcom has succeeded in creating an authentic survival horror game. In recent years, I found myself numbed from jump scares and other typical ways of making players uneasy in video games. Here, they’ve provided just enough for you to create your own fears, and to scare yourself, over and over again.

IMG_0913
Instead of blasting your way through hordes and hordes of enemies, you’re facing a family of masochists, which helps make the encounters all the more meaningful.

Thank the lords of survival horror – Resident Evil players are once again tasked with surviving. Giant explosive set pieces in the previous games have now been replaced with the intimate and terrifying Baker House. Instead of blasting your way through hordes and hordes of enemies, you’re facing a family of masochists which helps make the encounters significantly more meaningful. On the one hand this is a good choice, but on the other, it leaves a lack of enemy variety. Other than the Bakers, the main opponent often encountered is an enemy called the Molded. These lovelies tend to appear in areas where mold has overtaken the environment, attaching themselves to the walls and floors to blend in before attacking. The first few encounters with them are unnerving, but as time goes on it becomes easier as the player begins to anticipate them and their movement patterns.

IMG_0927

Ammo and healing items are no longer plentiful, and scarce amounts of resources can be found throughout the game. Crafting items, which can be combined to either create additional ammo or healing items, add to the tension because it’s a gamble – the extra ammunition may be needed, but what if injuries are sustained? Sometimes facing enemies head on may not be the right call either. These decisions impact the course of the game and make the player truly think before execution, because the wrong decision may be the difference between survival or death. For the first time since Resident Evil 4, the horror is real.

IMG_0914
I consider myself to be a seasoned horror gamer, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience.

This is the killer app that Playstation VR enthusiasts have been waiting for. Playing Resident Evil 7 in VR is utterly mind-boggling. I consider myself to be a seasoned horror gamer, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience. For example… (SPOILERS)… … (more spoilers)(If you’re still reading I warned you) in the opening hour of the game, you encounter your missing wife and attempt to escape with her. Eventually, you hear some commotion when you’re in a different room attempting to find a way out, only to discover she is missing again. After further searching you find yourself going up a dark stairwell and into a hallway. The only obvious exit is locked, and you make your way back to the stairwell and descend the stairs again, only to see a dark figure is crawling its way up towards you in a Ring/Grudge-like fashion, and suddenly the face of your (seemingly deranged) wife pops up in front of you. In VR, I felt she was close enough that our faces would’ve been touching. As Ethan raised his hands in an attempt to block the knife his loving wife was attempting to stab him with, I felt something in my hands, a connection seldom realized when playing a game from the couch. (end spoilers)

IMG_0916

Resident Evil 7 in VR completely immerses you. The graphics do show a slight downgrade, but with everything else in the experience, this is hardly ever an issue, nor is it really noticeable. VR mode also tends to be on the darker side  – for whatever reason the developers did not include a brightness adjustment in this mode. Again, another minor gripe for a product that is undoubtedly groundbreaking. About 30% of my play through was done in VR due to my own susceptibility to motion sickness. There are a plethora of options provided to the player to tailor the experience to their own comforts. For example, the default settings allow for the player to slowly turn their character by turning their head and moving in the desired direction. If the player opts to turn with the right analog stick instead for a quicker response, the camera moves in roughly 15 to 30-degree increments. These sudden camera shifts took away from the immersion, so I changed my setting to “Smooth,” which allowed for more conventional camera control. This definitely contributed to the motion sickness I felt, but on the flip side I enjoyed the game even more. If you have the technology, this is the way the game is meant to be played.

IMG_0925

Resident Evil 7 is the shot of pure, unbridled horror the series needed after many years of releasing new entries that felt somewhat stale and uninspired. This is a strong revival of what made the original games so enticing – an engaging story, gameplay that gives a sense of accomplishment when overcoming the toughest obstacles, while also making the player feel vulnerable. My score for Resident Evil 7, played in and out of VR mode on the Playstation 4, is a solid 9.5 out of 10.

FINAL SCORE: 9.5

Commentaires


©2023 by beckett van stralen. all written content within belongs to the writer.

bottom of page