Rebel Wolves co-founder Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who previously worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, is obviously aware of this, with the studio’s latest game The Blood of Dawnwalker putting players in the shoes of a Carpathian warrior from the Middle Ages who discovers that he can live as a human by day and a super-powered vampire by night.

The Blood of Dawnwalker now available on Steam, Xbox Series and PlayStation 5.

With the hotly anticipated title arriving soon, I’m looking back at five of the most memorable vampires in videogame history.

As usual, this list is purely based on personal opinion, but keep in mind that it’ll only include original vampires specifically created for videogames. That means no digital adaptations of Dracula. Though he doesn’t hail from a horror game, I’d also like to give a shout-out to Baldur’s Gate 3’s Astarion, as I think he’s definitely one of the most iconic bloodsuckers we’ve seen in a while.

As usual, don’t forget to comment below if you think we missed a particularly memorable vampire.

With that out of the way, onto the list.

5. Rayne – Bloodrayne

A gory gothic romp all about thwarting occult Nazi conspiracy theories, the Bloodrayne series seems like it was made to bring joy to me specifically. Of course, a franchise is only as good as its main character, and Bloodrayne’s leading lady is one of the best in the business.

Heavily inspired by the paranormal investigator Svetlana Lupescu, an existing vampire from slightly less popular Terminal Reality franchise Nocturne (a part of the Blair Witch Project expanded universe), Rayne underwent an extensive design process where the team aimed to find a perfect balance between strength and attitude. If you ask me, they really hit the nail on the head (or the stake through the heart) with this one!

4. Raziel – Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

He may not be the title character of the series, but I think it’s safe to say that there are more fans of the vampire-turned-wraith Raziel than there are of Kain at this point. In fact, Soul Reaver and its moody protagonist were so well-received that a lot of people are still unaware that the title is actually a spinoff of an existing action RPG.

A winged vampire who was resurrected by an Elder God after being betrayed by his master, Raziel’s design is one of the most memorable examples of Goth and classic ’90s edge making their way into videogames. In fact, the character’s undead appearance was influenced by both Conrad Veidt’s Cesare from the 1920 expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well as paintings of the Hindu god Vishnu.

3. The Voerman Sisters – Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

The very first image you see when you pick up a copy of Bloodlines, Jeanette Voerman has earned a reputation over the years as an over-the-top example of sexist eye candy meant to cater to the lowest common denominator. While there’s certainly a conversation to be had about how videogames often use female characters as advertising gimmicks, the game itself actually treats both Jeanette and her slightly less sexualized “twin sister” Therese with a refreshing amount of respect.

You see, the game eventually reveals that this pair of successful business owners are secretly a single vampire suffering from dissociative identity disorder. However, neither sister is aware that the other also inhabits the same body, with these distinct characters becoming fan-favorite NPCs as well as a dual-sided mascot for Bloodlines as a whole.

2. Lady Dimitrescu – Resident Evil: Village

Whether or not Lady Dimitrescu is meant to be sexy or scary is still up for debate, though I’d argue that it’s possible to be both, but I think most fans can agree that this towering Nosferatu is one of the main attractions in Capcom’s penultimate entry in the long-running Resident Evil franchise.

Castle Dimitrescu may only be one small part of Ethan’s sprawling quest to recover his child, and the Lady’s vampiric daughters can be just as threatening as the giantess herself, but Dimitrescu’s imposing figure and classy design (I love that giant fancy hat) make her one of the most iconic creatures of the night on this list.

1. Alucard – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Escaping the shadow of your famous father can be a challenge for any nepo-baby, but it’s especially hard when your dad is literally Dracula. Thankfully, Symphony of the Night greatly expands on the once-supporting character of Vlad’s less-villainous son, who was first introduced in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.

Cheekily named after Lon Chaney Jr’s role in the 1943 film Son of Dracula, Alucard was meant to be a mirror opposite of his murderous father in everything from his personality to his iconic appearance. That’s why his design borrows just as much from classic Baroque artwork as it does from bishōnen manga.

Sink your fangs into The Blood of Dawnwalker, now available on all platforms.

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The biggest seller since the previous update back in June is Resident Evil Village, which sold in excess of 600,000 units across PC and consoles, bringing its lifetime total to 12.8 million units. Of course, the top seller of the series is still the remake of Resident Evil 2, which added an additional 500,000 units for total of 16.3 million units.

Obviously, with the impending release of Resident Evil Requiem next February, the more recent Resident Evil titles have been enjoying increased sales. However, the best-selling Capcom title still remains Monster Hunter: World with 21.8 million units.

Likely benefitting from the Netflix adaptation that was released earlier this year, Devil May Cry 5 still remains the best-selling of the franchise, adding another 200,000 units for a 10.7 million lifetime total across PC and consoles. The next highest total is Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition, which currently sits at 3.6 million units sold.

Dead Rising 3 is still the highest-selling of the franchise at 4 million units lifetime. Unfortunately, last year’s Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is nowhere to be found among the list’s 125 entries, which unfortunately doesn’t bode well for the series getting a second look. However, Dead Rising 3 did add an additional 400,000 units since last year, so who knows?

Meanwhile, Resident Evil Requiem lumbers to a February 27 release for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and the Nintendo Switch 2. Pre-orders are now open.

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The brand-new story trailer brings players deeper into the twisted web of horror awaiting Grace Ashcroft as she investigates the Wrenwood Hotel, including a glimpse of new antagonists, weapons, and locations in the game.

Set approximately 30 years after the outbreak in Raccoon City, Resident Evil Requiem follows Grace on a new case where the young FBI analyst must escape from the horrors surrounding her and face the tragic memories from the death of her mother, Alyssa Ashcroft. In addition to the Nintendo Switch 2, Requiem will also arrive on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam on February 27.

Meanwhile, Switch 2 players will also be getting Resident Evil 7 biohazard Gold Edition, which includes the full game, the “Not a Hero” chapter, and all additional DLC. Resident Evil Village Gold Edition will feature the Winters’ Expansion and the Trauma Pack. More information on these releases is expected in the near future.

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As always, things of these nature are not verified by Capcom, so take it with your salt.

Dusk Golem made the claim yesterday that this still is a “grapevine rumor”, but they have heard “very reliably several times now” that Capcom will be bringing Resident Evil 7, the remakes of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Village, and the still-to-come Resident Evil Requiem to the Switch 2 as part of the series’ 30th anniversary. Unlike the original Switch ports, these new versions will be running natively from the console instead of being streamed from the cloud.

This all comes after Dusk Golem reported last week that Capcom was also rumored to be doing a PlayStation 4 port of Resident Evil Requiem. According to them, it’s unclear if the PS4 version will be available at the same time as the current-gen launch, but “it’s happening.”

If this is the case, the PS4 version of Requiem will be hit with some downgrades, since the PS4 obviously doesn’t have the capability for ray tracing and the like. Still, if this does indeed turn out to be true, previous-gen players won’t have to shelve their PS4 just yet.

Resident Evil Requiem will launch February 27 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series.

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Obviously, with stuff like this, it pays to keep your grain of salt handy. None of this has been officially confirmed (obviously) by Capcom or anyone on the Resident Evil 9 team. Plus, these rumours do venture into spoiler territory. So, here we go.

According to Andy, Resident Evil 9 will take place 4 years after the main game of Resident Evil Village, and not the Shadows of Rose DLC. The story will apparently focus on Leon and Jill traveling to an island to investigate the company that created Eveline in Resident Evil 7, who are now creating mass clones of the bioweapon Eveline using the Megamycete provided by Miranda from Resident Evil Village.

Drawing a bit from Resident Evil 4, Jill and Leon will become infected by the Megamycete and will experience hallucinations and hear Eveline’s voice throughout the game. Not only that, but there will be someone stalking Leon throughout the game, while Jill will be hunted by what’s referred to as the “Goat-Man.”

Locations for RE9 include an abandoned hospital, caves, deserted houses, labs, dark forests, and a temple. The main enemy will be an evolved zombie that sounds similar to the Ganados from Resident Evil 4 Remake.

The main villain for the game will be a man named Mr. Simon, a completely new character who supervises the mass production of bioweapons on the island. Blue Umbrella will also return as the “good guys.”

As you’ve probably guessed, Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine will return as the main playable protagonists. They will, however, be joined by Chris Redfield and Barry Burton as supporting characters through radio calls.

Speaking of Jill, her appearance will resemble her look from the Lost in Nightmares DLC from Resident Evil 5, while Leon will appear similar to his look in Resident Evil: Damnation. Age-wise, Jill will remain the same, but Leon will have a more grizzled, rough look.

Once again, this is all just based on rumours. There’s hope that Capcom will at least drop some new info (read: a teaser) at The Game Awards 2024 next month, but even that is speculation. As is always the case, we’ll just have to wait and keep expectations in check.

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Three years since its 2021 release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on May 7, Resident Evil Village has earned 10 million sales worldwide, which makes it the fastest Resident Evil entry to do so. That doesn’t move the needle much in terms of its place on Capcom’s Platinum Titles list at number 6, though Village would now be firmly ahead of Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6 and the Resident Evil 3 remake.

Capcom subsequently hasn’t updated their Platinum Titles list since March 31, so we’ll have to see what the final results will be once that’s done.

Meanwhile, the results of the fan survey on Capcom Town were also revealed, with just over 250,000 people casting their votes. Among the questions, the results for which franchise fans would like to see a sequel the most went to Dino Crisis with 80,769 votes, a percentage of  31.7% of the total votes cast.

Dino Crisis also fared well with the “Which of the following Capcom games do you like the best?” question, coming in second with 10,978 votes to Devil May Cry 5‘s 15,157 votes. Based on another question regarding “complaints”, which saw fans requesting that Capcom reboot previous IPs, it’s safe to say that Dino Crisis is still very much on players’ minds.

Whether Capcom will take the survey to heart, and not give fans platitudes, is another issue.

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Fortunately, Alan Wake 2 didn’t walk away empty-handed. Remedy’s return to Bright Falls won the awards for Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 4, however, was not so fortunate. The remake was shut out of all of its nominations, while Resident Evil Village won its only nomination in the Best VR/AR Game category.

Resident Evil 4 had company in the goose egg category, as Dead Space, DREDGE, Diablo IV, Mortal Kombat 1, Dead Island 2 and Remnant II were all shut out.

HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us won in the Best Adaptation category, beating out Castlevania: Nocturne, and Twisted Metal.

The biggest surprise of the night was Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which was nominated in seven categories, but walked away with no wins.

You can view the entire list of winners from The Game Awards official site.

The awards season isn’t over yet, however. For horror gamers, The Horror Game Awards 2023 are coming up fast, with the show airing next week on December 16, live on YouTube, starting at 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET.

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Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village will be available for pre-order on the App Store soon. Both titles can be downloaded in a limited form for free from the App Store, with an in-app purchase to unlock the full game. Village will set you back $39.99 USD, with the Winters’ Expansion DLC being available for $19.99 USD.

As a special bonus, players who purchase Resident Evil Village and Winters’ Expansion during the launch window will receive the Street Wolf Outfit, an additional costume Rosemary Winters can wear in the Shadows of Rose story content.

Resident Evil 4 (and “Separate Ways”) is out now on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series, with the free VR Mode for Resident Evil 4 coming to PlayStation 5 this Winter. Resident Evil Village is also available Resident Evil Village is also available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.

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The acclaimed remake of the 2005 classic nabbed all five of its nominated categories, including Horror Game of The Year. Meanwhile, Capcom’s other Resident Evil title, Resident Evil Village, snagged the award for Best VR/AR Horror.

The title closest to equaling RE4‘s total wins was rose-engine’s Alien-esque Survival Horror title Signalis, which snagged the awards for Best Narrative of the Year and Best Indie Horror of the Year.

Meanwhile, the Horror Game Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award went to Mikael Hedberg, lead writer for the upcoming Alone in the Dark remake, as well as Amnesia: Rebirth and SOMA.

Here’s a complete rundown of the winners:

Best Game Design of the Year
Resident Evil 4 Remake

Best Score/ Soundtrack of the Year
Resident Evil 4 Remake

Best Audio Design of the Year
Dead Space Remake

Best Horror Trailer of the Year
Silent Hill 2 Remake

Best Performance of the Year
Nick Apostolides (Resident Evil 4 Remake)

Best VR/AR Horror of the Year
Resident Evil Village

Best Horror Multiplayer of the Year
The Outlast Trials

Best Horror Content Creator of the Year
The Sphere Hunter

Best Narrative of the Year
Signalis

Best Indie Horror of the Year
Signalis

Best Art Direction of the Year
Scorn

Best Character of the Year
Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil 4 Remake)

Horror Game of The Year
Resident Evil 4 Remake

Lifetime Achievement Award
Mikael Hedberg (Alone in the Dark, Amnesia: Rebirth, SOMA) – Lead Writer

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For this month’s edition of The Inventory: Safe Room’s monthly review show, we have yet another eclectic mix of horror offerings that dabble in both intensity spectrums of the genre. 

For this episode, we begin with the gorgeously twee physics puzzles of Birth, to the Souls-inspired Metroidvania madness of Elderand, to the hellish office politics of Redtape, before Neil unpacks Resident Evil Village VR and Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever Reloaded. Then we have a lengthy chat about the alternate-history horrors of Atomic Heart!

Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast with new episodes every Monday on

iTunes/Apple, Sticher, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Linktree for additional streaming services. 

Feel free to follow the show and hosts on Twitter:

Safe Room | Neil | Jay

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Launching on February 22 (the same day as the launch of the PSVR2), the VR Mode will support the entire Village campaign in 4K HDR. Thanks to the PlayStation VR2’s Sense controllers, players will be able to use Ethan’s hands to perform intuitive actions in-game. Weapons also feel tangibly more realistic in VR Mode, coupled with new gameplay elements such as dual wielding and natural motion controls for reloading firearms and brandishing knives give aim to give Village a whole new level of immersion.

And speaking of immersion, the new trailer shows off the improvements made to the VR Mode since its initial reveal way back in June of last year. For one, Ethan can be seen pulling out a torch from his jacket. There’s also the in-your-face swing of Heisenberg’s hammer.

As mentioned, the DLC is free for those existing owners on the PlayStation. If for whatever reason you haven’t yet plunked down money for Village, there will also be a demo of the VR Mode available the same day that the upgrade is released.

Resident Evil Village (sans the new mode so far) is also available for Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.

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Resident Evil Village will launch for the PS VR2 on February 22, 2023 as a free DLC for those users who own either Resident Evil Village or Resident Evil Village Gold Edition.

The new VR Mode supports the entire Village campaign, taking “full advantage” of the advanced features of the PS VR2’s headset. VR Mode utilizes the 4K HDR display, eye tracking, and 3D audio “to make ” more realistic and intense than ever.” And yes, you will feel truly dwarfed by Lady Dimitrescu.

Thanks to the PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, players will be able to use Ethan’s hands to perform intuitive actions in-game. For example, players can hold up their arms to guard against enemies that get too close. Weapons also feel tangibly more realistic in VR Mode, coupled with new gameplay elements such as dual wielding and natural motion controls for reloading firearms and brandishing knives give aim to give Village a whole new level of immersion.

Resident Evil Village is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. And in case you missed it, check out our review of the recent Winters’ Expansion DLC.

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Split into three main components, the Winters’ Expansion consists of the hefty story expansion Shadows of Rose, an expansion to the vastly underrated Mercenaries mode, and an all new third-person mode for the main story mode.

Capcom has decided to bundle these new additions together rather than piecemeal them out, allowing players to pay a single entry fee to get all three.

Shadows of Rose

Arguably the main attraction of the Winters’ Expansion, Shadows of Rose is a hefty story expansion focusing on Rosemary Winters, the daughter of Resident Evil 7 and Village protagonist Ethan. Set 16 years after the end of Village, the story finds Rose struggling to find her place in the world and dealing with the fallout of having supernatural abilities. When opportunity arises that could potentially “cure” her of her abilities, she’s drawn to Castle Dimitrescu and the horrors that lie within.

Played from a third-person perspective, players are tasked with exploring the gothic landmark from the base game. This section of the expansion borrows heavy inspiration from the PS1 era of Resident Evil in its gameplay design. Gone is the heavy action of Village and in its place is the puzzle solving and exploration that made Resident Evil a household name in the first place. 

That’s not to say that Rose is entirely defenseless as a new enemy type is quickly introduced and she’ll have to use her abilities to navigate combat situations and the environment. For example, Rose can stun enemies in place to pop off clean headshots while using the same ability to clear blocked paths in the castle. These supernatural abilities reminded me of Square Enix’s classic horror series Parasite Eve and while admittedly a tad under-utilized in this expansion, could open the door to many new gameplay possibilities in future installments.

Perhaps most interesting is the shift to a more “survival” focus in Shadows of Rose. While she does have her abilities in her arsenal, Rose is limited to only two weapons and limited ammo. Borrowing a page from early installments, sometimes the best method of fighting is to run and avoid enemies. If Village’s action-heavy focus didn’t satisfy your survival horror needs, Shadows of Rose may provide a more satisfying experience.

Shadows of Rose also features a puzzle heavy second half that I won’t spoil in this review that also cranks the terror levels to new heights. If Village featured one of the scariest moments in the franchise, Shadows of Rose manages to match or exceed those expectations while delivering an emotional story and true ending to the Winters saga that began in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Featuring a likable protagonist, some solid gameplay design, and an emotional payoff, Shadows of Rose is a vital addition to the Resident Evil Village experience.

The Mercenaries: Additional Orders

The Winters’ Expansion also features a sizable upgrade to the game’s fast-paced score attack mode known as The Mercenaries. With the addition of new unique characters and new brutal maps, fans of this underrated mode are in for a treat as the mode now has an even greater deal of replayability. From the wicked fast gameplay of Chris Redfield, whose gameplay is so fast it almost felt like I was playing a Doom clone at one point, to the lipstick-wielding dresser-throwing power house that is Lady Dimitrescu. If fans of this mode can work through some of the severe difficulty spikes, they’ll be treated to some of the most unique and memorable gameplay in the series.

I will say though if you’re not already a fan of the base Mercenaries mode, these additional orders won’t change your mind.  Mercenaries is oddly only playable in first person mode. A missed opportunity to bring back that chaos of the famous third-person mode from Resident Evil 4 and 5.

Third-Person Mode

The final piece of content in Winter’s Expansion is the addition of a long-requested third-person for the base game. Since Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’s reveal all the way back in 2016, the viewpoint has been a point of contention and debate amongst the fanbase about which was the better Resident Evil experience. While I’m willing to argue that first-person play is far more immersive, there’s something comforting about getting a Resident Evil you know and love.

Oddly locked behind this expansion’s paywall rather than an update, it’s clear that a lot of care and attention to detail went into this mode to make it stand up to the likes of the remake of Resident Evil 2. While playing I noticed that Ethan had more animations than previous Resident Evil protagonists in the way he navigated the environment; from throwing up his arms in a self-defense block, to even crouching in a stealth-like manner. I wanted to only try the beginning of this mode but sat and finished the entire game in one sitting because of how good it felt to play. It feels like a whole new game and returning/new players are in for an absolute treat.

Final Thoughts

Resident Evil Village remains one of the best AAA survival horror experiences that one could play. The Winters’ Expansion elevates it to new heights by delivering 3 new experiences and sanding off some of the rough edges of the base game. Fans and new players owe it to themselves to pick up this expansion to round out their Resident Evil Village experience.

The remake of Resident Evil 2 has been my favorite game in the series (and one of my favorite games of all time) but this expansion may just bump Village up to that position. Winter’s Expansion is not only one of the best things the long running Resident Evil series has ever given us, it’s the best AAA survival horror experience on the market. Required playing.

Review Code provided by Capcom.

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And if for whatever reason you haven’t been keeping up with what’s new in the DLC, this expansion introduces new ways to enjoy Village, including the new “Third Person Mode,” new playable characters for “The Mercenaries Additional Orders” including Lady Dimitrescu, and the final chapter of the Winters family saga known as “Shadows of Rose.”

In addition to Resident Evil Village Gold Edition, Capcom has finally launched Resident Evil Re:Verse for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The free online multiplayer experience was originally scheduled to release with Village last year. Available for all Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil Village Gold Edition owners, Re:Verse includes cross-play support across consoles and PC.

The new Third Person Mode enables players to experience the main campaign, which was originally presented from a first-person perspective, from a whole new angle.

Set 16 years after the events of the main story, “Shadows of Rose” continues the Winters family saga. Now grown-up, Rose Winters delves into a realm of consciousness in search of a cure for her unwanted powers. Rose must face her fears in this warped and twisted world of nightmares, wielding her strange abilities to elude and overcome the monsters and other threats that seek to pull her into the darkness.

Alongside Lady Dimitrescu, “The Mercenaries Additional Orders” introduces additional new playable characters. Ethan Winters is joined by an ensemble cast in this action-packed bonus mode that now features legendary BSAA agent Chris Redfield, and Lord Karl Heisenberg. Charge into the fray and unleash Chris’ boulder-boxing fists, Heisenberg’s magnetic gifts, and Lady D’s ability to conjure throwable furniture. Each character has their own array of attributes and abilities to help them carve their way through enemies in this enhanced mode that also includes new stages and fresh balance adjustments.

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Capcom has announced that their next Resident Evil showcase will take place on October 20 at 3:00pm PT / 6:00pm ET. You’ll be able to watch the event via YouTube or Twitch. As for what the showcase will be about, we’ll finally be getting new gameplay footage and a new trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake.

The showcase will also be taking another look at the “Winters’ Expansion” for Resident Evil Village Gold Edition, which is set to arrive on October 28 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

There’s also a good chance that we’ll be seeing more Resident Evil-related goodies during the showcase, which hopefully will finally reveal just when we’ll be getting Resident Evil Re:Verse, which if you recall, was supposed to be bundled as a free game when Village was released last May. That of course never happened, as Re:Verse was delayed, and has faced multiple delays since then. The last we heard from Capcom about the game was that it was coming out this year, so fingers crossed.

Resident Evil 4 will launch March 24, 2023 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC.

https://twitter.com/RE_Games/status/1582129468134473728

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As mentioned previously, the Winters’ Expansion includes a new story campaign, Shadows Of Rose. The new story takes place 16 years after Village, where Ethan’s daughter Rose has grown up, and now has to contend with her powers. Desperate to be rid of her powers, she enters the consciousness of the Megamycete. It’s here she encounters “Michael”, a being who offers her help in removing her powers. It’s also here she meets a woman who looks exactly like her, along with a host of creatures and the world itself looking to kill her.

That killing part is key, since even a single attack can be fatal for Rose. To counter this, and despite wanting to be rid of her powers, Rose can use her abilities to freeze enemies, enabling her to target weak points and defeat them easier.

Meanwhile, Capcom has announced that the Resident Evil 4 remake will be coming to the PlayStation 4, alongside the previously-announced PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions. No word on if the Xbox One will be getting a version. As a parting treat, Capcom announced another Resident Evil Showcase event for next month, which will include more information on the RE4 remake.

The “Winters’ Expansion” DLC, alongside Resident Evil Village Gold Edition, arrives October 28 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. Switch users will be getting their chance to play the DLC on December 2nd. Resident Evil 4 is expected to be released on March 24, 2023.

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Announced during the latest Nintendo Direct, Capcom will be bringing Resident Evil Village Cloud to the Nintendo Switch on October 28, the same day that PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC owners will be getting the Winters’ Expansion. Switch users will be able to join in on the fun with the Winters’ Expansion on December 2.

No specific date for when Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil VII will arrive was announced.

If you’re itching to see what the current generation of Resident Evil games looks like on the Switch, you’re in luck. A demo for Resident Evil Village Cloud is available to stream beginning today via the Nintendo eShop. The demo allows players to test out their internet connections with the experience for a limited time. After trying the demo, players can pre-order or purchase the full game through the same app.

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As expected, Monster Hunter: World is still top dog for Capcom, as the game has sold over 18 million units since its launch back in 2018. What’s even more surprising is Monster Hunter: Rise, which launched in 2021, but has already cracked the 10 million units mark across the Nintendo Switch and PC.

Not to be outdone, Devil May Cry 5 continues to be the best-selling of the franchise, which now stands at 5.7 million units sold. The newest entry to the list of Platinum Titles is the Devil May Cry HD Collection, which has now cracked the one million unit mark with 1.1 million units sold across PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Meanwhile, the Resident Evil 3 remake has added another 200,000 units sold to its lifetime total, which puts it at 5.4 million units overall since it launched in 2021. It’s still dwarfed by the Resident Evil 2 remake, which stands at 9.80 million units, and is still number two behind Resident Evil 7 as the highest-selling entry in the franchise.

And while it admittedly was a bit premature last time to say that Resident Evil Village would overtake Resident Evil 5‘s total by now, Village is still chugging away, having now sold 6.4 million units. Resident Evil 5 and its successor in Resident Evil 6 have now sold 8.3 million units each. One can expect Village‘s numbers to jump even more once the Gold Edition drops this October.

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Per the press release, each character has their own unique traits while playing Additional Orders. Lady Dimitrescu has a Thrill meter that increases by having her slice up enemies, which allows her to perform special actions like slamming down hostiles or summoning her daughters. Lord Karl Heisenberg is able to utilize his Soldat Jets as an attack, and can also use his magnetic powers to pull enemies towards him or fling scrap metal. Lastly, Chris is able to build up his Onslaught gauge from dispatching foes. When Onslaught is active, Chris’ movement and reload speed is increased. Chris can also request support from the Hound Wolf Squad by using his target locator to pinpoint enemy positions and call in support strikes.

In addition to the characters, the trailer also introduces the new stages “Bloody Village” and “Bloody River.”

“The Mercenaries Additional Orders” is only one addition to Resident Evil Village Gold Edition. Also included is the “Shadows of Rose” story expansion, which follows Ethan’s daughter Rose as she tries to be rid of her powers. That’s also on top of the new “Third-Person Mode”, which gives players a literal whole new dimension when playing the full campaign.

Resident Evil Village Gold Edition arrives October 28 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

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Per the press release, Capcom had this to say: “[Resident Evil 2] garnered critical acclaim from international media, lauded for providing a fresh horror experience, deeply immersive world and dramatic story all made possible by the latest in cutting-edge technology. Following its launch, Capcom released a steady stream of high-quality titles from the series, including Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil Village, and executed a flexible pricing strategy that leveraged digital sales. Moreover, the company promoted the overall brand with regular content releases—such as the live-action Resident Evil series that began streaming today, July 14, on Netflix—propelling cumulative sales of Resident Evil 2 to surpass 10 million units worldwide.”

While Capcom’s official Platinum titles list hasn’t been updated since March 2022, the Resident Evil 2 remake is still behind Resident Evil 7 as the highest-selling entry of the series. The 2017 hit has sold 10.8 million units, which will now doubt have increased since the Spring.

Meanwhile, the latest entry in the series, Resident Evil Village, will likely have caught up to Resident Evil 5‘s 8.2 million units by now. It’ll only be adding more to its total once the “Shadows of Rose” DLC arrives on October 28.

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First up in the Resident Evil Village DLC is “Shadows of Rose”, a new story involving Ethan’s daughter. Rose has now grown up, and now has to contend with her powers. Desperate to be rid of her powers, she enters the consciousness of the Megamycete. It’s here she encounters “Michael”, a being who offers her help in removing her powers. It’s also here she meets a woman who looks exactly like her, along with a host of creatures and the world itself looking to kill her.

Along with “Shadows of Rose”, Mercenaries mode gets an upgrade with “Additional Orders”. Along with new stages, players will have more characters to play as, including Chris Redfield and Lady Dimitrescu herself. And yes, she does tower over everyone.

Lastly, Village will be getting a third-person mode for “Shadows of Rose” with new animations. You can expect the DLC to arrive on October 28th. The DLC will also be available as part of Resident Evil Village Gold Edition for those latecomers. Resident Evil Village is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

As for Resident Evil Re:Verse, the troubled PvP multiplayer component that was supposed to ship with Village will now arrive on the same day as the Village DLC.

Then there’s Resident Evil 4, which got a bit more gameplay shown during the showcase, along with a story recap. Still no word on if you can suplex Ganados this time. Resident Evil 4 hits home on March 24, 2023 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC. The game will also see PlayStation VR2 content.

Finally, Capcom announced that the previously-revealed current-gen upgrades for Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 7 are available now for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. The upgrades include 4K visuals and increased framerate, along with ray-tracing and 3D audio. These upgrades are free across all platforms and PC.

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Of course, right after that, Capcom also dropped news that Resident Evil Village will be receiving VR support via PlayStation VR2! No release date has been revealed as of yet.

Capcom revealed more about the RE4 remake on PlayStation Blog, highlighting that the story will undergo a “reimagining” while keeping its essence. In addition, the game will see updated graphics and a modern control scheme. “We aim to make the game feel familiar to fans of the series, while also providing a fresh feeling to it.”

You know the story by now: Six years have passed since the biological disaster in Racoon City. Leon S. Kennedy, one of the survivors of the incident, has been recruited as an agent reporting directly to the president. With the experience of multiple missions on his back, Leon is sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of the president of the United States. He tracks her to a secluded European village, where there is something terribly wrong with the villagers…

Meanwhile, thanks to the still-in-development PSVR2, Village “will be able to provide an even deeper immersive experience by taking full advantage of the vivid graphics possible with the headset’s 4K HDR display, PlayStation VR2’s eye tracking, PlayStation 5’s 3D audio and more.”

https://twitter.com/RE_Games/status/1532487904810831872

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Andrew Dabb (Supernatural) is the showrunner for Netflix’s “Resident Evil,” and he tells The Gamer that the events of Resident Evil Village are very much on the table for adaptation.

And yes, that includes fan-favorite character Lady Dimitrescu.

Dabb tells the website, “Village is part of our lore.” He teases, “If we want to put a giant vampire lady in Season 2, we can. I’m not saying we’re going to, but it’s an option.”

Dabb explains, “What I wanted to do is create something that you could come to if you’ve played one game or seen one movie, you can enjoy it, and if you’ve played nothing and never seen a movie, you can still enjoy it. My hope is for those people this can be a gateway to a wider world of Resident Evil. I hope you will jump in with both feet because they’re fantastic games.”

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the series will even make it to two seasons, but it sounds like anything and everything is on the table should Netflix want to keep it going.

If you missed it, watch Netflix’s “Resident Evil” trailer here.

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It’s been a long wait for PC fans, as despite Capcom offering PSVR support for RE7, Capcom never extended the same courtesy to PC fans. Meanwhile, Village hasn’t received any official VR support at all, making this an extra treat.

As you’ll see in the video, Preydog’s mod works almost perfectly for Village, albeit with a few “oddities”. Namely, the fact that you’re carrying Ethan’s infant daughter in the intro, which lends itself to some humourous moments as you can flip her around, seemingly having her glued to your hand. Don’t do this with a real baby.

Nevertheless, Village takes on a whole different level of atmosphere with the mod, which you can eventually snag on Praydog’s github page.

Capcom could eventually extend VR support for Village on their own, so PS4/PS5 fans could experience it themselves at some point. Who knows, it might be included with the game’s first DLC, which is currently in development.

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Riding the momentum of its recently-released Ascension update, Returnal took home the BAFTA in the Audio Achievement and Music categories, as well as the award for Performer in a Leading Role category for Jane Perry’s performance as Returnal‘s protagonist Selene Vassos. Meanwhile, Inscryption took home the award for Game Design, and Psychonauts 2 beat out Resident Evil Village for the Performer in a Supporting Role BAFTA with Kimberly Brooks’ performance as Hollis Forsythe.

Sadly for Village, Capcom’s latest entry in the Resident Evil franchise went home empty-handed, along with Turtle Rock Studio’s Back 4 Blood. Surprisingly, Bethesda’s Death Loop, which had been cleaning up awards shows, also went home empty-handed.

You can hit up the official BAFTA Games site for the complete list of categories and winners.

Returnal is currently available on the PlayStation 5, with the Ascension update having been released last month.

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Titled Resident Evil Dead Village, the short 1-minute mashup video was uploaded by YouTube channel eli_handle_b․wav today, digitally inserting Ash into Resident Evil Village.

The video uses clips from the various Evil Dead movies to make the mashup a reality, and while it’s not exactly seamless every step of the way, it sure is a fun little bit of fan art.

Whether he’s maniacally laughing alongside the game’s creepy dolls or laying some groovy moves on Lady Dimitrescu, Ash is needless to say a natural fit in the Resident Evil world.

Check out Resident Evil Dead Village below!

The good news here? Well, Ash Williams is headed back into the world of video games with this year’s Evil Dead: The Game, so you’ll soon be able to slice and dice monsters as the Evil Dead icon… for real! That game releases May 13. And who knows, maybe one day Ash will make his way into an actual Resident Evil game. Stranger things have happened, we suppose…

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Surprisingly, Deathloop doesn’t have the most nominations. That would go to EA’s It Takes Two with nine, followed by Housemarque’s Returnal with eight. Deathloop has six nominations overall, including GOTY, Audio Achievement, Best Game, Game Design, Music and Original Property.

Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2 also has six nominations, though it misses out on the EE GOTY and Best Game. 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite has three nominations, while Devolver Digital’s Death’s Door, Capcom’s Resident Evil Village, Square Enix’s Life is Strange: True Colors and ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium: The Final Cut have two nominations each. Turtle Rock Studios’ Back 4 Blood‘s lone nomination is in Best Multiplayer.

Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the BAFTA Games Awards will be take place on April 7th, and streamed live on YouTube and Twitch. Check out the full list of nominees here.

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A mysterious countdown timer has appeared on Capcom’s official site. And while that might not necessarily mean much to some, at the same time, the Japanese Resident Evil (aka Biohazard) portal has something funny going on with its own countdown timer.

The countdown timer is set to end on February 20 at 10pm PT / February 21 at 1am ET, with no indication as to what it’s counting down. At the same time, the countdown on the official Biohazard website has it expiring February 15 at 4pm JST / 2am ET. While the two appear to be unrelated, one can’t be too careful.

As for what Capcom’s reveal is on the Resident Evil site, you’ve got your upcoming Resident Evil Village DLC, your still-not-announced Resident Evil 4 remake, and the perpetually-delayed Resident Evil RE:Verse.

Again, speculation is the name of the game, so we’ll have to wait.

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While five million sales pushes RE3 past the original Resident Evil 2, the is game is just out of the top 10 of Capcom’s list, right behind (you guessed it) Resident Evil Village. Speaking of which, Village crossed the 5 million units sold mark in under a year, while the Resident Evil 2 remake accomplished the same feat in similar fashion back in 2019.

Obviously, the RE3 remake hasn’t wasn’t able to surpass the popularity of the RE2 remake. Along with the emphasis on action over exploration, one of the main criticisms of the remake was its length, which we noted in our review.

It also didn’t help that the game was saddled with the mediocre multiplayer game Resident Evil: Resistance, indicating the brevity of RE3. Nor did it help when Capcom announced that Resident Evil 3 wasn’t going to receive any postlaunch content.

Still, five million in sales is nothing to sneeze at, and Capcom certainly did alright with Village. Nevertheless, The reception to RE3 gave Capcom just cause in their mind to switch developers for the rumoured Resident Evil 4 remake.

Currently, we’re still waiting on an announcement for DLC for Village, as well as the repeatedly-delayed Resident Evil Re:Verse, which is due out later this year.

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The update details that Village sold an additional 900,000 units across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC since the September update. Obviously, Village isn’t the only Resident Evil game that’s been raking in the numbers, as the Resident Evil 2 remake has now sold 9.3 million units across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, while Resident Evil 7: biohazard now stands at 10.6 million units sold.

However, RE7‘s sales don’t come close to Monster Hunter World‘s dominance of Capcom’s charts, having now earned 17.8 million units in sales. And that’s not including Monster Hunter World: Iceborne‘s 8.8 million units sold. Meanwhile, Devil May Cry 5 continues to be the top-selling entry of the franchise, having now sold 4.8 million units across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

In case you’re curious about the Dead Rising franchise, Dead Rising 2 is still on top with 3.1 million units.

Obviously, we’re still waiting on that DLC for Village, which will hopefully have some info revealed later this year. Not to mention that Resident Evil Re:Verse is expected sometime this year.

And, if you’re looking to add to that total, Village is currently enjoying a 50% discount on Steam during the Lunar New Year Sale.

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Deathloop leads genre titles with eight nominations, followed by Devolver Digital’s psychological horror card-battler Inscryption with six. Housemarque’s Returnal has five nominations, while Capcom’s Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 VR have four and two nominations, respectively. Xbox Game Studios’ Psychonauts 2 has three nominations, while Warner Bros. Games’ Back 4 Blood has a single nomination in the Online Game of the Year category.

For “Game of the Year”, Deathloop is up against Inscryption, It Takes Two (which earned the “Game of the Year” award at The Game Awards 2021), Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Returnal. Meanwhile, Village has earned nominations in “Outstanding Achievement in Animation”, “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction”, “Outstanding Achievement in Character” and “Adventure Game of the Year” (joined by Devolver Digital’s Death’s Door and Psychonauts 2).

Resident Evil 4 VR, of course, has nominations in VR-centric categories “Immersive Reality Technical Achievement” and “Immersive Reality Game of the Year”.

The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), and held during the AIAS’ annual DICE Summit in Las Vegas. The DICE Awards take place on February 24 at the Mandalay Bay Resort, and will be livestreamed courtesy of IGN.

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Horror was represented in other categories (though not as lucky), with Blair Witch VR Edition being nominated for VR Game of the Year, Back 4 Blood in the Better With Friends category, Little Nightmares II for Outstanding Visual Style, and Days Gone (with Village again) for Outstanding Story-Rich Game. The only other genre winner was Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition in the Best Game You Suck At category.

Deathloop snagged another award, this time in the Most Innovative Gameplay category, beating out Devolver Digital’s Inscryption and Annapurna Interactive’s Twelve Minutes.

Meanwhile, all of the nominees and winners are still enjoying their discounts during the Steam Winter Sale, which ends January 5th, so get in on the deals.

As for Village, we’re still waiting on that DLC (free or otherwise). And of course, Resident Evil Re:Verse, which is expected sometime this year.

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SPOILERS AHEAD!

After a story-focused intro, the game drops you in the titular village, providing a classic RE-style compact space that slowly unlocks and loops back on itself as you progress. For fans of Resident Evil 4, the setting feels familiar, as does the opening set-piece where you have to survive an onslaught of enemies, giving you a chance to get used to the game’s combat mechanics. The village area acts as your hub, and keys or items you find in other areas will unlock new places to search for secrets. Each time you return, the village acts as a palette cleanser before letting you sample the next flavor of horror it has to offer.

The subsequent main locations are all given a unique tone, each reflecting one of the four lords that reside there. While the series isn’t exactly known for its subtle villains, the four lords seem a lot more over-the-top and cartoonish compared to the relatively grounded Baker family from RE7. Much like Metal Gear Solid antagonists, they each have a strong visual language that communicates their character, with a matching powerset to further differentiate them. It’s a bold strategy that gives the rest of the game a segmented feel, while still managing to act as a cohesive whole.

The first of these themed areas is Lady Dimitrescu’s castle, which plays out like an opulent version of the RE2 police station. This area is meant to appeal to people who may have recently played the RE2 Remake, as it is the only one that features an unkillable, Mr. X-like stalker character, the aforementioned Lady Dimitrescu. The gameplay fits perfectly in the new setting, with a few miniboss fights sprinkled throughout the standard key collection and light puzzle solving. It’s a perfect way to ease you into the game and lull you into a false sense of familiarity before pulling the rug out from under you.

After a brief stop in the central village, you head to House Beneviento, which is easily my favorite section of the game. Upon entering, your weapons are taken away, immediately shattering the expectations from the previous area, letting you know you’re in for a complete change of pace. Here, the game switches from the standard RE-style exploration to a more dream logic, puzzle-focused gameplay, echoing the found footage escape room sections of RE7. The surreal puzzles all have a surprisingly emotional focus on Ethan’s family, giving the game a much-needed emotional grounding while still managing to creep the hell out of you. I’m not sure RE: Village could survive completely on this type of gameplay, but it’s a perfect diversion after the more standard opening level.

At the end of each of the first two areas, you find one of four plot-important flasks, but in the third area, the Reservoir, you find it immediately and spend the rest of your time trying to escape. Rather than constantly searching for keys and doubling back to unlock new rooms, this section focuses more on figuring out how to navigate the area and unlock it in a more linear fashion. While it’s not as big of a departure as House Beneviento, it is another welcome change of pace, and once again brings to mind RE4 with its choice of set dressing. The linearity of it is appreciated, especially when it comes to the chase with the giant fish monsters in a flooded portion of the map.

The final few areas switch things up to a more action-heavy focus, with a change of scenery each time. First, you have a large-scale battle in a Stronghold, fighting off wave after wave of werewolves. It’s a tense exercise in ammo management that leads nicely into Heisenberg’s Factory. Here, you face off against strange mechanized experiments, an entirely different type of enemy than anything you’ve seen in the game. Even though it’s very action-heavy like the Stronghold, the enemy types change how you play, asking the player to target specific, often challenging to reach, weak points. This all climaxes in a guns-blazing showdown in the central village, where you’re tearing through monsters as a well-armed Chris Redfield. After all the more measured gameplay of the first half, it’s a little disappointing that the end becomes so action-oriented, but it feels like an appropriate escalation of the story.

If RE7 proved anything, it’s that the series could be malleable with its content while still feeling like it belonged with the other games. Rather than the traditional zombies we got unstoppable cannibals and strange mold creatures. With VIllage, the RE team stretched the premise even further, incorporating vampires, werewolves, creepy dolls, and mechanized monstrosities, all without shattering the world they’ve created over the last 25 years. While RE7 succeeded because they scaled it down and focused on the basics, Village succeeded because they took the revamped gameplay of 7 and blew it up with a kitchen sink approach to worldbuilding. The sheer variety of horror tropes that are thrown at you without feeling overwhelming makes for one of the most thrilling experiences of 2021.

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2021 marked a huge year for perhaps the biggest name in horror games, Resident Evil. Not only did the series celebrate its 25th anniversary, but the eighth mainline game was also released and proved there was still plenty in the tank for the franchise’s future. Elsewhere, Silent Hill 2 turned 20 with rumblings of new entries in the franchise sadly still just that. Nostalgia was well rewarded in 2021, with ports and stellar remasters of revered classics such as Alan Wake, Quake, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors among the restored hits.

Whilst it’d be nice to just swim in a sea of hazy sentimentality, 2021 had plenty of new games to discover as well. One thing that struck me this year was the sheer variety of horror experiences on offer. So much so that I struggled to keep it at just ten. So first up, a few honorable mentions that, for various reasons, didn’t quite make the final ten.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood: Shallow as a puddle in so many ways, but let me tell you, I really enjoyed being a hulking eco-warrior who can turn into a regular wolf and a monstrous werewolf.

Deathloop: Look, Deathloop is fantastic. I love it a lot, and slapped the whole 5 skulls on it for this very website, but it would be a bit much to have it adorn a top 10 of the year for horror. Violent, bloody, and excellent it may be, but it leans further into sci-fi than horror.

The Last Stand: Aftermath: A solid apocalypse survival game that plays out like a serious take on Death Road to Canada.

Nix Umbra: A deceptively simple score attack game setup leads to an unsettling, visually-captivating folk horror experience

Jupiter Hell: Doom as a top-down, turn-based game? That’s essentially what Jupiter Hell is, and it pulls it off pretty well.

Christmas Massacre: Right at the death, Puppet Combo dropped a festive score attack game where you are a serial killer, racking up kills against the public whilst dressed as Santa. Exquisite.

Right then, onto the Best Horror (and yes, sometimes horror adjacent) Games of 2021. Obviously, these are my personal picks, and as such, if something isn’t here that you think should be, I didn’t play it or didn’t get on with it as much as the rest. As ever, your own personal picks for games of the year are more than welcome in the comments section below!

Tormented Souls (Developer: Dual Effect – Format: Multi)

A throwback survival horror with a PS2-era attitude, Tormented Souls is sincere enough with its schlocky melodramatic attempt to recreate the likes of Haunting Ground and Rule of Rose to be forgiven for some of its technical misgivings.

The work of a small studio is quite impressive here, especially in the detail of its creepy old private hospital setting. I doubt it will end up gaining anything like the cult status of the games it’s inspired from, but Tormented Souls invokes the spirit of them superbly.

Returnal (Developer: Housemarque – Format: PS5)

More sci-fi action than horror? Yes, you could indeed say that of Returnal. Yet my biggest takeaway from it was that of horror. From the Giger-esque environments of its alien world of Atropos, to the cosmic horror monstrosities that inhabit it, and in the strange occurrences that blight protagonist Selene, Returnal is all atmosphere and dread. 

What really sells it is the punishing arcade-inspired combat. Every movement feels important to Selene’s ongoing survival, and knowing the consequence of falling to the tendrils or energy blasts of one of Atropos’ nastier inhabitants is a trip back to the start that manages to be exhilarating where it could easily have been frustrating.

Back 4 Blood (Developer: Turtle Rock – Format: Multi)

To try and capture the lofty heights of Left 4 Dead is a bold choice, and this year alone, there have been a few attempts, but for Turtle Rock Studios, to do so was personal. Having its own storied history with Valve’s zombie shooter series, there was much expectation at hand when it announced Back 4 Blood.

Was it met? No, it never really could, but the effort to continue that legacy is sincere, and at its best, Back 4 Blood doles out explosive, nervy co-op action in spades.

Bloodwash (Developer: Black Eyed Priest, Henry Hoare – Format: PC)

Torture Star published this punchy, grimy slice of retro horror set almost entirely in an isolated laundromat in the dead of night. The remit of Torture Star is short sharp horror games with an unsettling throwback aesthetic and Bloodwash ticks those boxes whilst still managing to be its own thing.

What I especially enjoy about Bloodwash is how well it captures the feeling of existing in the mundane during the hours when everyone else is asleep or partying. Bloodwash’s 24/7 laundromat and neighboring stores exude a seedy, back of beyond atmosphere long before a killer shows up.

In Sound Mind (Developer: We Create Stuff – Format: Multi)

To make any kind of statement in first-person horror games these days, you either have to shake up the usual ideas or show a meticulous understanding of how to utilize them properly. Both together would be nice, though… 

In Sound Mind largely goes for the former, by carving its trippy story into several distinct sections, each informed by the mental issues of a particular patient of the psychiatrist protagonist, who is himself cursed with a supernatural entity forcing its way into his psyche.

Yes, there’s smatterings of the trope-laden stuff that makes you roll your eyes, but it’s used as cement for the more interesting bricks of ingenuity and vibrancy used to build the house of In Sound Mind’s often psychedelic journey into madness.

Sunshine Manor (Developer: Fossil Games – Format: Multi)

While Sunshine Manor takes more obvious inspiration from games such as Earthbound and Undertale, its spooky mansion setting, full of ghosts to bust, and secrets to uncover, brings to mind Luigi’s Mansion by way of Resident Evil’s Spencer Estate.

Key to the game’s appeal, however, is its dark humor placed next to its adorable 8-bit visual style. You certainly wouldn’t expect a game about a psychic child surviving a house of a possessed serial killer and spirits to look this cute.

Resident Evil Village (Developer: Capcom – Format: Multi)

Without doubt, Resident Evil Village is the biggest horror game of 2021, and such expectations hang heavy on it. So it’s quite a relief that Village doesn’t get too bogged down with that weight, and offers surprises among the familiarity.

Sure, going in expecting a whole heap of meme magnet Lady Dimitrescu would leave you disappointed, but I’d argue the game’s strengths lay away from the tall vamp. Village ends up getting the balance of absurd melodrama and gore-splattered nastiness that makes a great Resident Evil just about right. 

In the game’s second area I found one of the best things to come out of a Resi game in years, and it’s a departure from formula to boot. You know the place if you’ve played it. How could you forget?

Spookware (Developer: Beeswax Games – Format: PC)

The more observant (or just more invested) among you might look at Spookware in this list and go ‘hang on there for a minute, you put this in last year’s honorable mentions!’ and you’d be right in a way. This is still Spookware in the sense it has the same basic idea of a goofy horror version of Wario Ware, but it’s a whole other game that’s bigger and better. 

Now the Wario Ware-style micro-games are just an ingredient in a genuinely amusing RPG about a trio of skeleton brothers going on an afterlife-changing road trip that takes in high school graduation, cooking, and a murder mystery on a cruise ship.

Everything that made the relatively small iteration of Spookware from last year so endearing is present here, and boosted by a proper fleshing out of the world the micro-games inhabit.

Mundaun (Developer: Hidden Fields – Format: Multi)

I must admit, despite loving the pencil-drawn style of Mundaun, I found it a tough game to get into at first. Thankfully I got to a point where it all clicked and became one of the year’s most unique horror game setups.

Exploring a rural Swiss mountain town rife with cult activity is an enticing premise on its own, but throwing in Mundaun’s distinctive visual style elevates it into something otherworldly. You start with an investigation of your father’s death, but things take an increasingly weird and horrific turn that stands out when compared to its first-person horror contemporaries.

Inscryption (Developer: Daniel Mullins Games – Format: PC)

A card game you know nothing about played out in a candlelit cabin against a wild-eyed figure, cloaked in shadow. That’s how Inscryption begins, and for a little while, that’s all it seems to be. Then the strange things start happening. The cards begin to speak to you, and they offer a chance to escape; to give anything more away would spoil a deeply engrossing experience.

What I love about Inscryption is how it keeps hanging little morsels of a supposed truth in front of you, begging you to snaffle them up and fall deeper into the game’s mysteries. A quick round of its rather violent card game is out of the question as curiosity leads you elsewhere, and certainly not where you’d expect. The places this game goes are truly exciting because it never settles on one path, but manages to make a coherent whole by the time things wrap up.

Unnerving, unsettling, compelling, chaotic, and downright mind-boggling, Inscryption is an easy choice for my Game of the Year.

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As the year comes to a close, Neil and I are counting down our top five horror games of 2021, a task that developers seem to pride themselves on making increasingly difficult with every year.

Neil and I would also like to extend an extra thank you to our listeners who have helped our show grow immensely and our guests who were incredibly generous with their time. It has been a privilege to speak with and provide horror entertainment for anyone who has given our show a shot.

We very much look forward to continuing to tackle horror in the new year and will return with a new horrifying episode on January 10th, 2022. 

Happy Holidays from Safe Room!

A new episode of Safe Room is released every Monday, and is available on all major platforms. Feel free to browse our LinkTree for a complete list of services: linktr.ee/SafeRoomPodcast. 

Feel free to follow the show and hosts on Twitter:

Safe Room – @SafeRoomPod

Neil – @Nezzko

Jay – @NotFunnyJ

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Capcom scored with Resident Evil Village (another Game of The Year nominee) earning the Best Performance award with Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu, as well as their revamped classic Resident Evil 4 snagging the Best VR/AR Game. Housemarque earned Best Action Game with Returnal, while Nintendo won the Best Action/Adventure Game award for Metroid Dread.

To no one’s surprise, From Software’s upcoming Elden Ring won Most Anticipated Game for the second year in a row.

Surprisingly, Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2, despite earning five nominations, walked away from the show empty-handed. Turtle Rock Studio’s Back 4 Blood also missed out in the two categories in which it was nominated.

You can view the complete list of winners from The Game Awards’ official site.

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Along with the Ultimate Game of the Year, Resident Evil Village also snagged awards for Best Audio, Best Performer with Maggie Robertson’s Lady Dimitrescu, and PlayStation Game of the Year. Capcom as a company won the Studio of the Year award, as well. Death Loop garnered the Critics Choice Award, while Metroid Dread won the Nintendo Game of the Year. Psychonauts 2 won the Xbox Game of the Year, and Elden Ring earned the Most Wanted Game award.

For their efforts on Returnal, Housemarque won the Breakthrough Award. Ghost of Tshushima won the Best Game Expansion award for their “Iki Island” expansion, and the PlayStation 5 won the Best Gaming Hardware award.

Oh yeah, and Dark Souls? It was voted the Ultimate Game of All Time. The winners are based on public opinion through voting on the Golden Joystick Awards’ website, so we’ll have to see just how the Game Awards stack up this year by comparison.

Speaking of which, The Game Awards 2021 will take place live on December 9. Voting is still open, so head on over to The Game Awards website to log your choices.

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Deathloop is also nominated in Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Performance (twice), Best Art Direction, and Best Action Game. Psychonauts 2 has nominations in Best Action/Adventure, Best Art Direction, Best Narrative, Best Game Direction.

Metroid Dread is also nominated for Best Action/Adventure title (alongside Resident Evil Village), while Village is also nominated for Best Audio Design, and Best Performance in Maggie Robertson‘s Lady Dimitrescu. Capcom also has a nomination in Resident Evil 4 VR as Best Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality title.

Other genre titles nominated include Housemarque’s Returnal, which has nods in Best Game Direction, Best Audio Design and Best Action Game. Shin Megami Tensei V is nominated for Best Role-Playing title, and Turtle Rock Studio’s Back 4 Blood is nominated in Best Action Game and Best Multiplayer.

Lastly, From Software’s Elden Ring, Sony Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarok and Bethesda’s Starfield are nominated for Most Anticipated title.

Voting for the nominees is now open, so head on over to The Game Awards website to log your votes. The Game Awards takes place live on December 9.

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According to the document, which mostly details the previous year’s events for the company as well as its future plans, one section (page 48, if you’re curious) mentions free DLC for both Monster Hunter Rise and the aforementioned Resident Evil Village. The document states that Capcom will “drive our customer management to understand the playing trends and preferences of users while also building a business model for online operations, taking into account the situation of our free additional DLC for titles such as Monster Hunter Rise and Resident Evil Village.”

Other than that paragraph, nothing else mentions any details for the DLC, including whether or not Capcom will adopt the model that they went with for a combination of free and paid DLC for Resident Evil VII. Then there was the hinting by voice actor Neil Newbon (who voiced Village‘s Karl Heisenberg) that he could be involved with Resident Evil again in some capacity, not to mention Ada being left on the cutting room floor for Village.

Regardless, it looks to be another “stay tuned” situation.

Resident Evil Village is out now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Google Stadia, and PC via Steam.

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The first two announcement have already been reveals for RE-themed swag, and details for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 VR, which arrives exclusively for the Oculus Quest 2 on October 21st. However, there are three announcements scheduled for Thursday, October 21, two reveals on Friday, October 22, another on Monday, October 25, and the last on Friday, October 29.

As for what they can be, given the rumblings over the past year, the possibilities could include the in-production but not-announced Resident Evil Village DLC, and that long-rumoured remake of Resident Evil 4, which was most recently hinted at in the latest PlayStation ad.

Or, given that we finally got a trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City last week, perhaps we’ll be getting another one ahead of the film’s November 24th release?

Big thanks to Nibel for finding the site.

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Speaking on the Awfully Irish Podcast with host Gerard Eady, Newbon stated that he and fellow actor Nicole Tompkins (who played Jill Valentine in Resident Evil 3) could be returning for another game.

“I do make some very good close friends that I love working with again and again sometimes,” Newbon said. “You know, Nicole and I – I can’t talk about some things, but this is not our first rodeo and it may not be our last. We may have some other shit.”

Now obviously, this is the point where many of you jump up and down and say “Resident Evil 4 remake!”. And you may be right. However, Newbon plays it vague in terms of just what he’s referring to. While it could be RE4, it could also mean the upcoming Resident Evil Village DLC, or a new game entirely.

Heck, let’s toss in something out of left field and say that Capcom is going to give fans justice and give us Code: Veronica X. After all, Stephanie Panisello (who did Claire Redfield’s voice in the Resident Evil 2 remake) would be up for it.

But until Capcom says something, all we’re left with is our speculations and hopes.

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Over at the Resident Evil Modding Board, modder JTeghius Kittius has begun bringing Leon Kennedy into Village in the most efficient way possible: by snagging the Dead by Daylight model, and Frankensteining Leon’s head from the Resident Evil 2 remake onto the body. “I’m surprised that with the game being out for 2,5 months [sic] no-one has made a Leon mod yet, especially with how everyone said this game was very RE4 inspired,” says JTeghius in his forum post.

In all honesty, it looks much better than it sounds. The mod is using one of the 3rd-person camera mods to accomplish this, so expect the same issues as with the previous attempts at implementing a 3rd-person camera.

To get this mod going, you’ll need FluffyQuack’s fluffymanager. And, if you do watch the video below, JTeghius does warn people that he’s playing in Mercenaries Mode, so expect some spoilers if you haven’t had the chance to complete the game.

Resident Evil Village is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and Google Stadia. Thanks to SiliconEra for spotting this one.

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As part of the series’ 25th anniversary celebrations, the three perfumes were released this past Friday, and are “inspired” by a different Resident Evil character: Leon, Chris and Jill. Chris’ scent features “the passion of cloves and black pepper”, while Jill has a “fruity floral ozone scent” that expresses her “cuteness”. And Leon? His scent is “centered on citrus that is reminiscent of Leon’s calmness and sense of justice”.

Blame Google Translate for these descriptions.

Unfortunately, as mentioned these perfumes are only available at Japanese retail stores, and digital orders are restricted to Japan. Each bottle retails for ¥6380, which is around $60 USD.

And, if for whatever reason Resident Evil isn’t your thing, Capcom also has Devil May Cry 5-themed perfumes available with Dante, Nero and V.

Resident Evil Village is out now, with DLC expected in the future.

Thanks to Gamesradar for the heads up.

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Capcom’s justification for the delay this time is to allow the team to “deliver a smooth gameplay experience”. Capcom is planning to share updated launch details at a later date.

As for those who purchased a physical version of Resident Evil Village, Capcom recommends that you keep track of the included Resident Evil Re:Verse download code, or add it to your account now.

Resident Evil Village is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and Google Stadia.

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As reported by DSOGaming, a hacking group known as Empress successfully cracked Village and circumvented Capcom’s anti-tamper V3 protection, as well as the Denuvo security. By doing so, the game no longer suffers from stutters when killing zombies, watching cutscenes and other problem areas.

However, it would seem that the cracked version isn’t perfect. As noted in the video below, while the game does run smoother, animations are now missing when the players are attacked by Cassandra Dimitrescu. Still, one hopes that Capcom will eventually decide to remove the code that’s causing the performance issues.

After all, how else are players going to enjoy their mods effectively?

Resident Evil Village is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC via Steam, and Google Stadia.

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Obviously, things have slowed down since the game garnered 3 million sold in its first four days, but I doubt anyone would want to argue that 4.5 million units is a bad sales figure. Plus, we still have more Village on the way, so that number will be a distant memory not long after that.

Resident Evil Village is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PC via Steam and Google Stadia.

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While, in normal times, the physical show would continue throughout the week as developers showcased their games for press, this year, it’s just about the trailers. And there were some good trailers!

After a year-and-a-half of work-from-home, some shows were understandably sparse. But, thanks, in large part, to stellar showings from Nintendo and the recently formed Xbox + Bethesda Voltron, horror fans have plenty of new games to look forward to in the year ahead.

Read on for a non-exhaustive list of E3 2021’s horror highlights.

The Co-Op Horror Shooter is Having a Moment

The Left 4 Dead formula is back in a big way, even in games that have left the dead behind. Leading the pack is Back 4 Blood, a spiritual successor to Valve’s zombie shooter made by the original developers, Turtle Rock. The game was all over E3 with trailers at Xbox + Bethesda’s showcase and Friday’s Summer Game Fest kickoff. Back 4 Blood has a new roster of monsters and a PvP mode that will let you play as humans or zombies. And, it’s never been easier to get the squad together, as Back 4 Blood will be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch on Oct. 12. Add in the fact that each party will have access to any DLC owned by its leader, and Turtle Rock seems to be handling co-op right.

Ubisoft is cooking up a Left 4 Dead of its own. At Saturday’s Ubisoft Forward, the publisher showed off Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction (previously Rainbow Six Quarantine). The tactical co-op shooter will task players with using stealth and special abilities to take down goopy aliens as they make a mad dash to the next safe zone. Extraction is out Sept. 16. 

Aliens are also the primary antagonists of The Anacrusis, another co-op shooter set to release this fall from the developers at Stray Bombay. This one, per the website, is “set aboard a massive starship stranded at the edge of explored space.” Like Left 4 Dead, The Anacrusis has an “AI Driver,” meaning the game is programmed to react to your success or failure and adjust the kind and amount of enemies you face accordingly. Stray Bombay is pitching the game as an “infinitely-replayable fight against alien hordes,” and that feature, plus a long tail of unlockable content, will go a long way to making this a game player’s stick with for a long time.

Maybe most exciting is Redfall, the next game from Arkane Austin, developers of 2017’s sci-fi horror immersive sim, Prey. The co-op shooter closed out the Xbox + Bethesda show on Sunday with a cinematic trailer showing wisecracking teens taking on a vampire menace. It’s an Arkane game which likely means plenty of interlocking systems and chaotic emergent play. But, unlike previous games like Dishonored, Redfall supports multiplayer. From the trailer, it looks like each character will have unique abilities to make short work of every Vlad, Lestat, and Nosferatu they can get their hands on. 

Horror-ish

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wasn’t a horror game (though it did have plenty of intimidating monsters), but from the first trailer in 2019, its untitled sequel has exuded spooky vibes. At this year’s Nintendo Direct, we got another look at the game, and it still looks to be more Majora’s Mask than Ocarina of Time. Hyrule Castle is floating on some malevolent energy. There’s a mummy or zombie of some kind. Zelda falls into a cavernous pit in the ground. Link’s arm appears to be corrupted. The Breath of the Wild theme is playing in reverse throughout the trailer. Dimly lit shots show Link in what appears to be the caverns underneath Hyrule. All of which suggests that there will be plenty in this game for fans of horror, as well as those who love Zelda’s brand of adventure.

Metroid Dread, similarly, looks to be borrowing from horror. “The word ‘DREAD’ in the title is self-explanatory,” said producer Sakamoto Yoshio. “It represents a relentless threat that pursues the seemingly invincible Samus Aran. On a planet unknown to Samus, an overwhelming presence haunts her every move as she explores alone… And with that, it’s a new game in the Metroid series that has new elements of a different flavor added to it.” Yoshio went on to call E.M.M.I., the robotic enemy which stalks Samus, “terrifying.” The series has always drawn from the well of sci-fi horror — the series’ villain is named Ripley, after all — but Dread looks like it will lean into stealth and survival horror elements in a way the series rarely, if ever, has in the past.

Indie Scares

Gloomwood is the next big game from New Blood Interactive, the publisher behind gems like Dusk and Amid Evil. Like those games, Gloomwood takes inspiration from first-person games from the 1990s. Unlike those games, Gloomwood’s chief influences are immersive sims like Thief — the URL, thiefwithguns.com, which redirects to the game’s Steam page is just one blunt way it pays homage to Looking Glass’ sneak-em-ups. The game was part of a supercut of New Blood’s games at the PC Gaming Show, but you can see a five-minute demo, which gives a good feel for the game’s flow, here.

We don’t yet know much about Immortality, unveiled at the PC Gaming Show. Still, its pedigree speaks for itself: it’s the next game from Sam Barlow, developer of the excellent FMV detective games Telling Lies and Her Story. This one focuses on the disappearance of Marissa Marcel, an actress who starred in three movies that were never released. If Immortality is anything like Barlow’s most recent games, it will likely involve scrubbing through hours of footage in search of the answers behind Marcel’s disappearance, and we can’t wait.

Somerville is a 2.5D platformer that follows a family through an alien invasion. We don’t know too much about it yet, but the game’s developer, Jumpship, is headed by Dino Patti, co-founder of Playdead, the studio behind Inside and Limbo. Those games rule, and Somerville looks incredibly cool, too.

Old Frights, New Sights

A Plague Tale: Innocence was a welcome surprise when it launched back in 2019. The third-person stealth game cast players as Amicia, a young French noble whose world is upended when her family is brutally murdered during a fictional version of the Black Plague. And we do mean fictional: one boss fight has you duking it out with an evil pope who, through some dark magic, commands tornadoes made of ravenous rats. Rats are everywhere in the first game, and learning to navigate their carnivorous presence is at the core of the game’s mechanics. We don’t know much yet about the sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, but it focuses on older versions of Amicia and her brother, Hugo.

Capcom’s show didn’t bring any new game announcements. But, the vanilla presentation did give us a bit of news: the team behind Resident Evil Village is working on additional DLC. Now that Capcom knows how much the internet loves Lady Dimetrescu, will future expansions focus on the stylish giant vampire? We’ll have to wait and see, but the DLC is still early in development, meaning Capcom has time to react to fan feedback. 

Doom Eternal, on the other hand, already got DLC, the two-part Ancient Gods expansion. Until now, none of it had debuted on Switch, however. That changed today as The Ancient Gods Part 1 launched on Nintendo’s handheld.

Our critic loved The Medium, and soon the Xbox Series X/S console exclusive will be available on Sony hardware. This week, Bloober Team announced that the game would arrive on PS5 in September with DualSense support.

Another console exclusive is heading to new formats in the form of the previously Wii-U only Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. The 2014 title is heading to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch later this year, hopefully bringing the spooky series to a new audience.

And that’s it! Well, most of it! For everything else, you can check out our full E3 coverage here.

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Of course, no details were revealed, so we just have to speculate as to what that might be. Will Ada Wong be brought back after she was cut from the original game? Hey, anything Capcom puts out will be welcome.

In addition, the delayed standalone multiplayer pack-in in Resident Evil Re:Verse will now be aiming for a July release. It’s still free, and is still being included with Resident Evil Village.

Once again, Resident Evil Village is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PC via Steam and Google Stadia.

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Juracek has pointed out and made documentation of at least 80 photographs from the book that have allegedly been used as references in Capcom games, including Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 4. Juracek has gone so far as to reference the data leak that occurred last year with Capcom to support her claim, saying that filenames for at least one of the images from the Capcom hack are the same filenames as those used on the book’s CD.

Juracek is seeking up to $12 million in damages, along with damages for “false copyright management and removal of copyright management”, which would run between $2,500 to $25,000 for each image.

Capcom has stated that they have no comment at this time.

Earlier this year, director Richard Raaphorst spoke out on social media, saying that Capcom lifted his creature designs from 2013’s Frankenstein’s Army for Resident Evil Village without permission. Capcom has so far not responded to those allegations, either.

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Granted, you don’t want your storytelling to be devoid of artistic unity (i.e., the original cut of Justice League). Yet, generally speaking, it’s healthy for an artist to mix different paints when they’re working. After all, it prevents their output from becoming too monotonous and – under the right circumstances – those contrasting elements can actually accentuate each other. For instance, The Walking Dead is so aggressively morose nowadays that you end up becoming desensitized to all its brutality, whereas a sprinkling of levity could (by juxtaposition) lend extra weight to those tragic parts. 

It is surely a tough balancing act to pull off. Nevertheless, the point is – unless you’re tackling extremely heavy subject matter – you probably don’t want to rigidly adhere to a single tone. Otherwise, people will start to get bored. Lord of The Rings, Indiana Jones, Star Wars: each of these properties understands that audiences crave emotional journeys that will thrill, amuse, frighten, sadden, and uplift them. Hell, even the notoriously bleak The Last of Us series appreciates the value of light-hearted relief now and again, in order to break up the darkness. 

With all that being said, there is nothing remotely dexterous or artful about the way Resident Evil Village clumsily lurches between its deranged ideas. Many have (justifiably) found fault with how it flits not only between opposing styles and moods but even conflicting genres that have no business coexisting. Indeed, the game is unquestionably a jumbled mishmash, even by the franchise’s own chaotic standards.  

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that Village is following hot on the heels of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, a reboot that was by no means masterfully written, yet did manage to feel somewhat cohesive. For a title that lumped together J-Horror ghosts, Texas Chainsaw Massacre influenced Hillbilly horror and, of course, the titular biohazards, it did a pretty good job of tying those disparate threads. Everything was neatly linked through the character of Eveline, whose cloying need for affection led to her mutating the Bakers so that they would, in turn, spread the mold and grow her family unit. Even those creepy Blair Witch effigies you find near the beginning are a direct by-product of her yearning for companionship. 

I’m sure this connective tissue was an afterthought for the developers (and that their main priority was loading the sequel with cool horror iconography) but, credit where credit is due, they almost nailed it. By contrast, the seams of Village are considerably more apparent, especially when it comes to the tenuously related set-pieces. One minute you’re sneaking through the dingy corridors of an eerie mansion (totally disempowered and stripped of weaponry), the next you’re piloting a fucking tank and blasting at a giant Decepticon made up of junkyard scrap. 

Suffice it to say, these moments don’t really belong in the same universe as each other and the associated tonal shifts can make the whole thing feel a tad incongruous with itself. There are atmospheric walking-sim bits, recalling P.T. or the type of experience you’d normally associate with Bloober Team. There’s helpless horror in the vein of Amnesia, wherein you tiptoe through the halls of Castle Dimitrescu, evading unkillable stalkers. Later there’s a lengthy combat gauntlet with a cyborg army and, following that, a run-and-gun section that feels as though it’s been ripped wholesale from the latest Call of Duty. Elsewhere, there’s campy fun to be had in plundering booby-trapped caves for treasures, navigating those silly ball labyrinths, and incinerating the lake monster from Bong Joon-ho’s The Host.  

The transitions aren’t particularly graceful either, considering that the polar extremes often occur barely 10 minutes apart. Capcom does try to hastily paper over the cracks with a late-game info dump, in which you come across a heap of documents that are somehow meant to explain the commonalities between a Lovecraftian merman, a 9-foot-tall vampire lady, and a guy with Magneto powers. It’s blatant that they didn’t fret over any of the details here and were simply unwilling to scrap incompatible ideas for the sake of a cleaner narrative. 

So to clarify, I hardly disagree with those who claim Village is all over the place. Far from it, I think they are objectively right. Yet where I crucially differ is that they mean that as a criticism, whereas I take the view that it’s actually the game’s biggest strength. According to the detractors, this is a product that has been focus-tested within an inch of its life to appeal to the broadest possible market. However, I don’t detect a hint of cynicism. Rather, I think it more accurately resembles the outcome of cocaine-fueled mania, as if the developers were giddily trying to one-up each other in devising the most bat-shit concepts imaginable.

Resident Evil 8 is admittedly not a ‘’smart’’ outing, but it absolutely knows what it’s doing. Like the much-touted fourth entry, it is an unapologetic celebration of the ridiculous and it doesn’t care how its individual pieces fit together, so long as there’s plenty of eclectic monster designs, high-octane action sequences, larger-than-life villains, and ostentatious environments. This laissez-faire attitude towards theming is part of the charm and it’s honestly preferable to a more sober-minded approach. I mean, who wants coherence from a series that routinely culminates in a nuclear bomb obliterating the antagonist? 

Of course, you do want some semblance of harmony and for that, there’s the ingenious hub-world structure. In our review of the game, we compared the level design to Ocarina of Time, whereby four ‘’dungeons’’ (the Reservoir, the Castle, The Factory, and the Beneviento Estate) are connected via a larger overworld. Likewise, in the Safe Room podcast episode, it was likened to the traditional Resi mansion layout, only this time each ‘’wing’’ of the hub is itself a mini-mansion. 

Whilst those are both perfect descriptions of the segmented map, the thing that it weirdly reminded me of most was the spoke and wheel design over at The Magic Kingdom. I am serious: the village alcoves are basically the equivalent to Main Street, winding their way up to the Cinderella Castle (the ritual altar), which then, in turn, branches off into 4 discrete areas. But instead of transporting you to fairytale realms, high-seas adventures, or intergalactic escapades, these gates lead to decidedly blood-soaked attractions. Orlando’s delights are replaced here with the likes of gothic vampire-land, repulsive Fishman-land, steampunk Frankenstein-land, and ‘’Jesus Christ; what the hell is that ungodly abomination? I don’t want to go any closer. Please don’t make me look at it’’… land. 

As with Disney’s theme park, progressing from zone to zone is incredibly exciting, as you set foot in brand new worlds with their own unique surroundings, character ‘’meet and greets’’ and different activities. From a story perspective, it’s obviously complete mayhem – and I don’t blame anyone for finding it jarring – yet I simultaneously don’t remember the last time I was so eager to discover what was around the next corner in a video game. It’s genuinely unpredictable in the best sense and very rarely disappoints with its schlocky surprises. 

As much as I adore Resi 7, upon repeat playthroughs my interest starts to wane after the Marguerite encounter because I know that it devolves into a linear procession of Molded killing from there. Village on the other hand does not share this problem, as it goes nuts throwing in every genre archetype under the sun. As a consequence of this, there might be a little tonal whiplash but it means the title doesn’t have quite as pronounced a slump. You just have to ask yourself what’s most important: that the journey is tidy and orderly, or that you’re having a good time on a moment-to-moment basis. 

For myself, it’s a no-brainer. When I had a backseat gamer watching along for the second run, I legitimately couldn’t wait for them to be caught off guard by the various twists and turns I knew were coming. Whenever they presumed to have a firm handle on how events were going to unfold, I alone harbored the secret knowledge of what was really in store. I’d be stealing sly glances at them throughout – looking for the moment where they realised this next location isn’t going to be anything like the previous one. And getting to vicariously relive the Beneviento house again through their eyes (as though it was the first time) was especially entertaining. 

Which is why it’s difficult to get too hung up on that issue of consistency, given that the slapdash nature of the game engenders such wonderful variety. If Capcom were more laser-focused and streamlined in their vision, then we’d be deprived of a frankly insane cocktail of psychological dread, intense stand-offs, pulse-pounding action, and OTT boss battles. The climax may get a little carried away – with an extended shooting gallery sequence that overstays its welcome – but overall the messiness is an asset! In other words, I don’t enjoy it despite the fact that it’s nonsense. I enjoy it precisely because it’s nonsense! 

Similarly, I love the greatest hits album vibe, as the devs cherry-picked highlights from the franchise’s illustrious past and remixed them in creative ways. In one consolidated package I can now experience an alternate version of RE:4’s opening siege, alongside the puzzle-box mysteries of the Spencer mansion and those suspenseful cat-and-mouse sections that distinguished the early hours of RE:7. Not to mention there are also original scenarios that belong entirely to this new release, including a freaky round of hide-and-seek against a possessed doll! 

In short, Village does not represent the series in the throes of an identity crisis. If you want to see what that truly looks like, revisit the compromised and utterly soulless Resident Evil 6. This, meanwhile, is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum. It’s the developers letting loose and indulging in the diverse pleasures that the horror genre has to offer. Liberally sampling from classic works of literature, popular films (to the point where it maybe plagiarizes some), and, yes, its own back catalog, this is Capcom taking a well-earned victory lap.

And even if the final result does occasionally induce an ice-cream headache sensation, I’d still take that any day over the formulaic or mundane. 

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