Back to crisps again :-) Pringles have many great flavors one of my preferred is Prawn Cocktail (Noll's too), I like to jazz it up sometimes by dipping them in Dorito's Hot Salsa. I know two snack brands working together, it will never work! But it does, it really does. Prawn cocktail combined with a little heat creates something special. Playing Resident Evil The Village I found myself asking was this the perfect combination?
Story
Ethan Winters has had a tough life and after the events of Resident Evil Bio Hazard it seems his life is finally coming together. He has been trained and taken care of by Chris Redfield, he has his wife and baby girl Rose. So you can imagine when that all gets ripped away in the opening of the game it is a tough pill to swallow for Ethan, but at least it won't get any worse, right, right? Wrong, for poor Ethan things are going to get much worse and he will have to fight to protect his family but at what cost?
The characters in the game (no spoilers) are amazingly, the four lords are really interesting all with their own interests and back stories. Facing each of them is a vastly different experience and often very unnerving. The story is fantastic throughout, the ending and post credits are amazing. Overall, the story can be summed up in one word - yes.
Visuals
The visuals in this game are out of this world and the best I have seen on the PlayStation 4 to date, I can't even imaging how good it looks on the PlayStation 5 (I know I could check it on YouTube but its not the same as actually playing it and seeing it that way). The area in and around the village itself and castle is covered in trees and over grown wilderness. The village itself feels very old, and has certainly seen better days, there is death everywhere.
One of my favorite areas was the second lords house, which is a cross between a quaint mansion and a back street clinic run by a serial killer. Everything is designed to make you feel uncomfortable, which in itself means you will become accustomed to it, but wait the developers can't have that and create a new hell to make your skin crawl.
Overall it is hard to find fault with the visuals and is worth playing for this element alone.
Music
To say the music used in the game is unnerving is an understatement. Some tracks feature a constant and consistent spine chilling sound, while others build and build, heart racing hoping whatever is coming to get you just gets on it. The music is composed by; Shusaku Uchiyama (Resident Evil 2, 4, Devil May Cry 4, Mega Man 8), Marcin Przybylowicz (Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Vanishing Of Ethan Carter), Nao Sato (Monster Hunter Rise, Resident Evil Biohazard) and Brian D'Olivira (Shadow of The Tomb Raider, Tearaway, Papo and Yo).
The soundtrack runs a little over an hour, which is surprising and seems like it is longer but in reality this is just a great show of composers working well together. It is hard to pick my favorite tracks, a few of them would be; Village Of Shadows, The Duke, Blood Thirsty, She's Not Here, Out Of Control, Acid Rain, The Final Movement, Rose (hearing this piece again actually made me well up), and Yearning For Dark Shadows.
Overall a phenomenal and well put together soundtrack, and certainly one of the more memorable one for me in recent times.
Gameplay
The first and most important thing to say about the gameplay in Resident Evil The Village is that it is solid. Ethan's movements feel fluid, the weapons mechanics work really well, and the enemies offer a good challenge without feeling frustrating.
Like with all Resident Evil games your weapons can be upgraded by the games merchant called 'The Duke', an extremely interesting character. Most weapons also have extra parts that can be added to them, these can be found in the world and some purchased from The Duke. Lei is the currency in the game and can be found in many places - in breakable objects, dropped by enemies and higher value items can be traded to The Duke for them. Crafting is another fun element, this can really help later in the game. Materials can be found scattered throughout the world so it makes sense to search everywhere possible.
There are four lords, and each has their own area, without giving anything too much away you will need to defeat each one of them. The battles with them are intense and no two feel the same, with some boss battles there can be sometimes this feeling of dread, for me Resident Evil The Village had me excited to see what the next one would throw at me.
There are collectibles scattered throughout the world, some given insight as to what has happened in the village, others can be sold for a considerable amount.
Similar to the other Resident Evil games there are a number of puzzles in the game, none of them are particularly taxing. In one set there were fun labyrinths which are dioramas of game areas, where you you have to place a ball in it and tilt it to get to the exit. The reward for completing them is pretty good, but the real reward is getting to solve and complete it.
Overall the gameplay is very solid with no issues of note, there is also a lot of replay value as new modes open, and you have the chance of unlocking new weapons, and infinite ammo, and more.
Final Thoughts
So, after just shy of twelve hours of playing how did I feel? Happy, sad, and many other emotions. I wanted to know even more about the characters in game as they intrigued me so much. I felt sad for Ethan throughout the game, constantly struggling but never giving up. The story was amazing and made me so excited for the next installment in the series. The visuals were stunning and shows that the PlayStation 4 still has plenty of life left in it. The soundtrack was phenomenal and easily my favorite of the year thus far. Overall a masterpiece of a game that cannot be passed up on this one gets top marks 5 out of 5
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