''Resident Evil Village'' is a 2021
survival horror game
Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...
developed and published by
Capcom
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
. It is the sequel to ''
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'' (2017) and the eighth numbered mainline game of the ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'' series. Players control
Ethan Winters, who searches for his kidnapped daughter in a mysterious village filled with mutant creatures. ''Village'' maintains survival horror elements from previous games, with players scavenging environments for items and managing resources while adding more action-oriented gameplay, with higher enemy counts and a greater emphasis on combat.
''Resident Evil Village'' was announced at the
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
reveal event in June 2020 and was released for
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
, PlayStation 5,
Stadia,
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
on May 7, 2021. This was followed by a
macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
version and a cloud version for
Nintendo Switch
The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
in October 2022, and a
PlayStation VR2
The PlayStation VR2 (PS VR2) is a virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 5 and Personal computer, PC, developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and released on February 22, 2023.
History and development
Development of PS VR2 took about s ...
version on February 22, 2023. An
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
version was released on October 30, 2023.
''Resident Evil Village'' received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its gameplay, setting, and variety, but criticism for its puzzles,
boss fights
In video games, a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stro ...
, and performance issues on the Windows version; the increased focus on action divided opinions. The game won year-end accolades including
Game of the Year
Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.
Events and ceremonies
British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)
...
at the
Golden Joystick Awards
The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...
. It had sold over 10.5 million units by November 2024.
A sequel, ''
Resident Evil Requiem
''Resident Evil Requiem'' is an upcoming survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is the ninth main installment in the ''Resident Evil'' series, following ''Resident Evil Village'' (2021). It features a new protagonist, the F ...
'', is scheduled to be released on February 27, 2026.
Gameplay
Like its predecessor, ''
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'', ''Resident Evil Village'' uses a
first-person perspective
A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar suc ...
, and has the option for a
third-person perspective
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to del ...
. It is set in a snowy explorable European village, described as "pulled straight from the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
" and much larger and more immersive than its predecessor.
Structures and buildings in the central village can be climbed and used to fight enemies.
Compared to ''Biohazard'', the game is more action focused, with protagonist Ethan Winters equipped with more combat skills due to military training. The game's primary enemies, the werewolf-like Lycans, are agile and intelligent and can wield weapons and attack in packs, forcing the player to rethink their strategy on whether to use sparse ammunition, use melee combat, or run away.
Similar to ''
Resident Evil 4
''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube. Players control the special agent Leon S. Kennedy on a mission to rescue the US president's daughter, Ashley Graham (Resident Evil), Ashley ...
'' (2005), makeshift barricades can be used to fend off enemies.
The inventory management mechanic is similar to that of ''Resident Evil 4'', featuring a briefcase and the ability to move and rotate items for better storage space. Players can buy supplies, weapons, upgrades, and items from a merchant called the Duke. The players can hunt animals in the village and have them cooked into dishes by the Duke. Eating side dishes allows the player to gain certain advantages such as decreasing the damage taken while blocking. Treasures and collectibles can be found around the village, and sold to the Duke for currency.
Players can manually save the game progress by locating and using
typewriter
A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...
s, which replaces the tape recorders in ''Resident Evil 7'' and marks their first appearance in a mainline game since ''Resident Evil 4''. A map of the village can be accessed from the pause menu, as well as a diary with sketches recapping the player's progress in the story so far.
Two features added to the game were photo mode, which allow to screenshot in-game moments, and a button to skip cutscenes.
The Mercenaries Mode, an arcade-style game mode of past ''Resident Evil'' games, returns in ''Village''. In this mode, players fight through timed stages, and purchase items and upgrades from the Duke's Emporium. Players who purchased ''Village'' also received ''Resident Evil Re:Verse'', a six-player
online multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
third-person shooter
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...
. After nearly a year and half delay, ''Re:Verse'' was activated in October 2022.
''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' criticized the balancing of the game, lack of content, and aggressive monetization, while ''GamingBolt'' stated that ''Re:Verse'' is the worst ''Resident Evil'' game.
Synopsis
Setting
''Resident Evil Village'' is set three years after the events of ''Resident Evil 7'', largely on the day of February 9, 2021.
Ethan Winters returns as the protagonist, having defeated bioweapon Eveline in ''Resident Evil 7''.
Ethan has been living with his wife Mia and six-month-old daughter Rosemary when
Chris Redfield
is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. He was introduced as one of the two player character, playable characters of the original Resident Evil (1996 vide ...
—the protagonist of previous ''Resident Evil'' entries—and his men suddenly appear, murder his wife in cold blood, and kidnap him and his baby daughter. While Ethan and Rosemary are being transported in a van, a mysterious entity crashes it just outside the village.
Ethan has to traverse the village to rescue Rosemary.
The village is invaded by
werewolf
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
-like mutants called Lycans and governed by four different mutant lords, each controlling their own forces from strongholds within the village.
Lady Dimitrescu, a tall
aristocrat
The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...
vampire, resides at Castle Dimitrescu with her three daughters Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela, and mutated female attendants. The hallucination-inducing and ghost-like Donna Beneviento rules from her mansion, House Beneviento, and acts through her puppet Angie.
The grotesque Salvatore Moreau operates from a reservoir in close proximity to the village and is described as a "
merman
A merman (: mermen; also merlad or merboy in youth), the male counterpart of the mythical female mermaid, is a legendary creature which is human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes mer ...
". Karl Heisenberg, who can manipulate electromagnetic fields, leads a group of Soldat
simulacra
A simulacrum (: simulacra or simulacrums, from Latin ''simulacrum'', meaning "likeness, semblance") is a representation or imitation of a person or thing. The word was first recorded in the English language in the late 16th century, used to des ...
from a contemporary factory. All houses respond to a supreme leader figure called Mother Miranda, the
witch
Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...
-like ruler of the village who is a "presence worshipped by the villagers."
Plot
Three years after the events of ''Resident Evil 7'', Ethan and his wife Mia have been relocated to Europe by
Chris Redfield
is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. He was introduced as one of the two player character, playable characters of the original Resident Evil (1996 vide ...
to start a new life with their newborn daughter Rosemary. One night, Chris and his Hound Wolf Squad raid the house, assassinate Mia, and abduct Ethan and Rosemary. The next morning, an unconscious Ethan awakens beside the crashed transport truck and discovers that Rosemary is missing. Making his way through a dark forest, he finds a mysterious village being terrorized by werewolf-like creatures called Lycans. Ethan finds surviving villagers holed-up in a house but fails to save them during an attack and is captured by Karl Heisenberg and brought before the village priestess Mother Miranda and her lords: Alcina Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, Salvatore Moreau and Heisenberg himself. Ethan evades a death trap set by Heisenberg and ventures into Dimitrescu's castle in hopes of finding Rosemary, with help from a mysterious merchant known as the Duke. Ethan eliminates Dimitrescu and her daughters, finding a flask containing Rosemary's head. The Duke explains that Miranda placed Rosemary's body parts in four different flasks for a special ritual, and that she can be restored if Ethan recovers the other flasks, held by the remaining lords.
While killing Beneviento and Moreau for their flasks, Ethan learns that the Hound Wolf Squad & Chris are also present in the village. Ethan passes a test from Heisenberg for the fourth flask and is invited to the lord's factory, where Heisenberg proposes they defeat Miranda together. Ethan refuses, once he learns Heisenberg intends to weaponize Rosemary, and escapes. Venturing through the factory, Ethan encounters and confronts Chris over Mia's death, learning the "Mia" Chris killed was Miranda in disguise. Chris reveals that Miranda possesses the power of
mimicry
In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...
and was attempting to abduct Rosemary, succeeding when she crashed the transport truck. Chris destroys Heisenberg's factory while Ethan uses a makeshift armored tank to kill Heisenberg. After the battle, Miranda reveals herself and mocks Ethan, revealing her plans to take Rosemary as her own. She then rips his heart out, killing him.
Witnessing Ethan's death, Chris leads Hound Wolf to extract Rosemary while a Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) assault force distracts Miranda. Chris enters a cave beneath the village and discovers the Megamycete, the source of the mold. He plants a bomb on the Megamycete lair and finds Miranda's lab, learning that she has lived a century since coming into contact with the fungus, and was a mentor to the
Umbrella Corporation
''Resident Evil'' is a horror game media franchise created by Capcom. The series' success has led to a live-action film series, animated films, television series, comic books, novels, audiobooks, and merchandise. The franchise features an exten ...
's founder Oswell E. Spencer; Oswell used her knowledge to develop the T-Virus. Miranda experimented with the fungus in an attempt to revive her deceased daughter, Eva, who had succumbed to the
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...
a century ago; the four lords, Lycans, and Eveline were all failed experiments. Rosemary, however, is a suitable host, due to her special abilities inherited from Ethan and Mia. Chris rescues the imprisoned Mia, who reveals that Ethan should still be alive, due to his "special" nature.
Ethan revives after encountering Eveline in limbo, who reveals that he had died in his first encounter with Jack Baker in Dulvey, 3 years ago but was revived by her mold, which gave him regenerative powers. The Duke brings Ethan to the ritual site where Miranda attempts to revive Eva, but ends up reviving Rosemary instead. Enraged, she battles Ethan, who kills her, before the Megamycete emerges from the ground. Ethan, with his regenerative powers finally having reached their limit, sacrifices himself to detonate the bomb planted on the Megamycete, while Chris transports Mia and Rosemary to safety. As Mia mourns Ethan's death, Chris learns that the BSAA soldiers sent to investigate the village were organic bioweapons and orders his squad to head for the BSAA's European headquarters to find those responsible. Years later, Rose visits Ethan's grave before being called away on a mission for the BSAA. As she and her escort drive off into the distance, an unknown figure approaches the vehicle.
''Shadows of Rose''
Rose, now sixteen years old, has been separated from Mia while under the protection of Chris. She has become a social outcast due to her abilities gained from the Megamycete, and resents her powers. Canine, a member of the Hound Wolf Squad, informs her from Miranda's research that there is a Purifying Crystal within the realm of the Megamycete that can remove Rose's abilities; he proposes that she finds the rest of Miranda's research within the sea of consciousnesses stored within the Megamycete fragment that the team has salvaged. Rose uses her powers for her consciousness to enter the Megamycete, where she discovers herself in a realm similar to Dimitrescu's castle. She finds it covered in spewing mold, with monsters led by a masked version of the Duke hunting and killing clones of herself. She encounters a guiding spirit whom she names Michael. Despite Michael's advice to leave the Megamycete, Rose persists, wanting to rid herself of her powers. With Michael's help, Rose escapes the castle but falls into a deeper stratum within the Megamycete.
Rose finds herself in a replica of Beneviento's house, where she relives her traumatic childhood of constant bullying by her schoolmates, with the realm's leader blaming her powers gained from her father. To comfort Rose, Michael shows her a realm similar to her house as a baby, where she finds a letter for her written by her father, saying that he loves her and will always be by her side. She is immediately pulled out of the realm and brought back to the previous one by the realm's perpetrator who reveals herself to be Eveline, seeking to kill Rose out of jealousy over being a failed and unloved experiment. Michael once again helps Rose escape.
Rose finds herself in yet another deeper stratum that resembles the village where she was kidnapped. There, she discovers and uses the Purifying Crystal, which absorbs her powers. Just then the consciousness of Miranda appears, who reveals that the Canine Rose spoke with was an illusion to lure her into the Megamycete. Still determined to revive her daughter Eva, Miranda intends to use Rose's consciousness as a vessel now that she is powerless. Michael immediately manifests, revealing himself to be Ethan's consciousness within the Megamycete, and helps Rose escape, but Miranda catches up to them. Ethan encourages Rose to leave and battles Miranda himself. Seeing her father in danger, Rose is reluctant to leave, but when she hears his agonizing cries, she breaks the crystal and embraces her powers, along with gaining some new ones, and defeats Miranda, finally destroying her existence once and for all. Rose embraces her father, who apologizes for not being there for her upbringing but says that he is proud of her. Rose's consciousness then leaves the Megamycete. The
post-credits scene
A post-credits scene (also known as a stinger, end tag, or credit cookie) is a short teaser clip that appears after the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV show, or video game has run. It is usually ...
from the base game plays out.
Development
''Resident Evil Village'' was in development for approximately three and a half years before its announcement in June 2020.
Capcom asked the ''Resident Evil'' team to start development on August 8, 2016, while ''Resident Evil 7'' was still about a half a year from release, according to director Morimasa Sato.
Without having ''RE7'' release to judge its success, the team kept the initial designs around the core
survival horror
Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...
gameplay roots that had been in ''
Resident Evil 4
''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube. Players control the special agent Leon S. Kennedy on a mission to rescue the US president's daughter, Ashley Graham (Resident Evil), Ashley ...
'' (''RE4'') and had been a return to form in ''RE7''.
During this early period they came up with the concept of the village as the central theme, inspired by ''RE4,'' where its village was also a central location as well as many of the gameplay mechanics established by the title.
The team used ''RE4'' approach to create "a balance of combat, exploration, and puzzle solving".
Sato said that for the new game, "we're bringing the essence of ''Resident Evil 4'', while ''Resident Evil 7'' functions as the base for the game".
Looking back at the use of horror of ''RE7'', producer Tsuyoshi Kanda said, "One of the lessons we took away is that this isn't something that is black and white, it's always going to have some variation or modification, and figuring out, OK, this worked for
'RE7'' but rather than replicating it, let's find a variation that works for a wider audience." The development team opted for a more balanced take on action and horror for ''Village''.
''RE7'' was released in January 2017 and was well received by critics and players, so the team decided to make the next game a direct sequel to ''RE7'', keeping its protagonist Ethan Winters as the main character and retaining the same style of gameplay.
According to Kanda, this also helped to complete Ethan's story that was left open in ''RE7''.
The team had become attached to his character, and worked to devise a story for him with the other ''Resident Evil'' teams within Capcom.
As they continued to develop the village, Sato said they wanted to give players more freedom toward solving problems, and make it "a horror movie that you can play".
Kanda said that like with ''RE4'', they were able to incorporate a variety of different themes of horror within the village, leading Capcom to describe the village as "a theme park of horror".
In contrast to past ''Resident Evil'' games that generally have been linear progressions, the team created a more
open world
In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...
-style village, with optional and secret areas, designed to reward the player for exploration. The main story remained in a pre-set order that the team felt best for how the player should experience it.
He said that compared to the claustrophobic feeling of the Baker mansion in ''RE7'', the horror in the game came from the uncertainty on what lurks in the "openness" of the village, while easing the "tension curve" compared to the previous game through quiet moments such as
save points. Sato also stated that the village's snowy weather was inspired by the team's trip to Europe for research for the game, where they were met by an "unseasonable cold snap, the scenery was covered in snow. This inspired us to implement snowscapes into our game. We use snow not just for visual presentation, but as gameplay elements as well."
While it is recognized by Capcom as the eighth main game in the series, and its logo stylized to include the
Roman numeral
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...
"VIII" for 8, the producers stylized the title to emphasize on the "village" aspect rather than the "8". In a ''
Famitsu
, formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' interview, producers Kanda and Peter Fabiano said that they considered the village a character, and wanted to reflect that in the stylization of the title so that players would remember it.
Development on the game was hampered by the
COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths, along with 33,728,878 recoveries.
Government of Japan, The Japanese government confirmed the country's first case of the disease on 16 January 2020 in a ...
, at one point bringing the development process to a halt for a month.
Like ''RE7'', ''Village'' was developed with the
RE Engine.
According to art director Tomonori Takano, the developmental team drew inspiration from ''Resident Evil 4'' as they wanted memorable characters to populate the village.
Takano said the developers wanted to continue the same approach that started with ''Resident Evil 7'' in that they wanted to move away from simply using elements like
zombies
A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore ...
to scare players but created unique situations and characters that would create fear in new ways.
Capcom had considered populating the game's castle and village with hundreds of witches but found this difficult to conceptualize. The team decided to switch directions from witches to vampires for
Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters, albeit avoiding stereotypical tropes of vampires in popular culture.
Castle Dimitrescu was also inspired by
Peleș Castle
Peleș Castle ( ) is a Neo-Renaissance palace in the Royal Domain of Sinaia in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914 ...
in
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
.
The other three Houses in the villages drew from other classic gothic horror themes of simulacra, mermen, and ghosts fo
HeisenbergMoreau an
Beneviento respectively.
Karl Heisenberg is characterized as an engineer with an extravagant dress sense inspired by men's fashion from the 1960s; his base of operations is not covered in snow unlike the other lords', likely due to the lower altitude of its location.
Salvatore Moreau was conceived as "the most repulsive character on Earth"; his domain was originally inspired by a frozen lake the team sighted during a research trip in Eastern Europe.
House Beneviento furthered some of the ideas that the team had used in ''Resident Evil 7'', with Sato noting that the fully veiled Donna Beneviento and her puppet Angie are considered to be the scariest of the four lords by his American colleagues, even though the team approached Angie's design with an instant impact in mind rather than being purely frightening.
For major antagonist Mother Miranda, Takano stated that crows were the primary motif of her design, noting them being symbolic in the game's village, as well as functioning as an overarching design theme for the game.
The Lycans' werewolf-like design was developed with the game's gothic horror setting in mind, with Sato explaining, "
hey
Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...
very much spawned from the fact that we wanted to create an enemy that represented the village...We designed it very much where this is kind of the twisted outcome of a human being where we draw a lot of inspiration from werewolves, being able to tap into that
gothic horror
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean m ...
visual."
Chris Redfield, a prominent protagonist in several ''Resident Evil'' entries since the
first game, appears as a major supporting character in ''Village''; however, he is instead shown as more nefarious in the game's trailers due to killing Mia and kidnapping Rosemary, which surprised longtime fans.
Kanda described Chris's appearance in the game as "a much darker, more sinister role," in contrast to his previous heroic portrayal in the series. Chris's actions serve as a major mystery to the game, which Capcom felt was an opportunity to showcase the character's progression to fans who were already familiar with him.
Chris eventually becomes playable towards the end of ''Village'', where the game briefly transitions from survival horror gameplay into a more action-heavy segment due to Chris's veteran experience in fighting bioweapons, which Andy Kelly of ''
PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' saw as a "cathartic moment for players who have been carefully conserving ammunition up until that point."
Similar to ''
Resident Evil 3
''Resident Evil 3: Nemesis'' is a 1999 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom originally for the PlayStation. It is the third game in the ''Resident Evil'' series and takes place almost concurrently with the events of '' ...
'' (2020), ''Resident Evil Village'' included a six-player
online multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
third-person shooter
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...
game titled ''Resident Evil Re:Verse'', developed by NeoBards Entertainment.
Originally meant to launch on the same day as the main game, the game was delayed until summer 2021, and was delayed again before releasing on October 28, 2022, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.
Release and promotion
Lady Dimitrescu, a character who rose in popularity prior to the game's release, was featured extensively in promotional material and merchandise prior to the game's launch. To promote the game, Capcom announced that a special lottery event would be held to give away a free ''Resident Evil Village'' acrylic
jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle (with context, sometimes just jigsaw or just puzzle) is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaicked pieces. Typically each piece has a portion of a picture, which is comple ...
which could be entered by
tweeting
A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around 8 ...
the hashtag #VILLAGE予約. On March 3,
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...
announced that the PC version would feature
ray tracing and AMD FidelityFX. ''Resident Evil Village'' was the featured cover game in the April 2021 issue of ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
''. On April 30, 2021, a puppet show featuring the four lords was released on YouTube, with each puppet claiming that they are not scary. On May 11, 2021, Capcom released a video that showed a behind-the-scenes on their YouTube channel on working on the game's theme song, "Village of Shadows".
''Maiden'', the first of two demos, was released exclusively for the
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
on January 21, 2021. For PS4 and PS5 users, an early access demo ''Village'' was released on April 15, 2021. It allowed players 30 minutes to explore the village and was playable only once and live for eight hours. The ''Castle'' demo was released for PlayStation early access users on April 24, 2021. It allowed players to explore the castle for 30 minutes, it was also playable once and live for 8 hours. A multi-platform demo released on May 1, 2021, for all platforms. It allowed players to explore both the Village and Castle for 60 minutes and it was live for a seven-day period.
''Village'' was released for
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
,
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
,
Stadia,
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
on May 7, 2021.
In celebration of the release, Capcom commissioned a large chalk artwork of a Lycan creature to be drawn on a hillside at
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
. The artwork was 58 meters high and over 100 meters long. In Japan, the game was released in two versions to comply with local regulations, a
CERO Z version that is legally restricted to ages 18 and up, and a CERO D version with less violence that is available to ages 17 and up with no legal restrictions. Both versions contain less violence than the international releases. A collector's edition was made available for the console versions, featuring extras such as a Chris Redfield figurine, a hardcover art book, and a village map poster. A
macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
version and a cloud version for
Nintendo Switch
The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
were both released on October 28, 2022.
A
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...
mode for the PlayStation 5 version was released alongside the
PlayStation VR2
The PlayStation VR2 (PS VR2) is a virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 5 and Personal computer, PC, developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment and released on February 22, 2023.
History and development
Development of PS VR2 took about s ...
headset on February 22, 2023 as free DLC.
A version of the game for select
iPad
The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
and
iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
models was released on October 30, 2023.
Downloadable content
At
E3 2021
The Electronic Entertainment Experience 2021 (E3 2021) was the 26th and final E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products. The event, organized by t ...
, Capcom announced that
downloadable content
content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
for the game was in development. At the Capcom Showcase in June 2022, the ''Winters' Expansion'' was revealed. It includes a new story expansion titled ''Shadows of Rose'', featuring Rosemary "Rose" Winters as the playable protagonist, alongside a third-person camera mode for the main story, and two new stages and Chris Redfield, Lady Dimitrescu, and Karl Heisenberg as additional playable characters for the Mercenaries mode. The expansion released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions on October 28, 2022,
for the Nintendo Switch cloud version on December 2, 2022,
and for the macOS version on January 13, 2023.
Reception
Critical reception
''Resident Evil Village'' received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
Some critics noted the more action-centered gameplay in comparison to ''
Resident Evil 7
''Resident Evil 7: Biohazard'' is a 2017 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. The player controls Ethan Winters as he searches for his long-missing wife in a derelict plantation occupied by an infected family, solving puzzl ...
'', and compared the switch in direction to that of ''
Resident Evil 4
''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube. Players control the special agent Leon S. Kennedy on a mission to rescue the US president's daughter, Ashley Graham (Resident Evil), Ashley ...
''. Phil Hornshaw of ''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' wrote that while he felt ''Resident Evil 7'' leaned towards the "dark and creepy haunted house" setting akin to ''
Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'', ''Village'' took cues from the "faster, panickier" ''Resident Evil 4''.
''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
''s Tristan Ogilvie saw the game as successfully taking the best elements of the action from ''Resident Evil 4'' and combining it with the modern design from ''Resident Evil 7''.
Hornshaw praised the new direction, feeling its notable departure from ''Resident Evil 7'' made it work as a sequel and opined that the game provided an excellent balance of action and scares.
Conversely, Leon Hurley of ''
GameRadar'' was critical of the new approach, lamenting that the title was "one of the 'not a horror game' ''Resident Evils''" and concluded that whilst the game was fun, it had undone the redefining work of ''Resident Evil 7''.
Later sections of the game received mixed opinions for their emphasis on action. Ogilvie praised the final chapters for their "chaotic levels of carnage" that reminded him of a run-and-gun ''Call of Duty'' campaign,
whereas both Hornshaw and Hurley criticised the sections for being too action-heavy, negatively comparing them to ''Call of Duty''
and "the worst action-heavy portions" of ''
Resident Evil 6
''Resident Evil 6'' is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. A major installment in the ''Resident Evil'' series, ''Resident Evil 6'' was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October 2012, and for ...
''.
Critics praised the variety of gameplay throughout the game's sections. Hornshaw commended the diversity of horror ideas and was impressed by how the game switched between them, calling each area "fun, intense, and, naturally, frightening in its own way."
Hurley lauded the sections in the game's first half as "full of atmosphere and intrigue", particularly one for being "one of the best horror moments I've played in a long time", but thought that the game's latter half felt average. Despite this, he opined that the shifting of ideas throughout the game created excitement for what was coming next.
Ogilvie noted the changes in gameplay for each section, with one catered towards stealth, while another leaned towards psychological horror over combat. He praised the increased variety of enemies compared to ''Resident Evil 7'', saying that it added "depth and decision making" to crafting.
The more open-world style of exploration was well received by critics. Hurley wrote that ''Resident Evil Village'' was the first time the series had experimented with open-world, and that a lot of his time was spent exploring areas with new skills and discovering surprises.
Ogilvie concurred, writing that the focus on exploration distinguished it from previous installments, and felt rewarding and motivating from new discoveries and the inclusion of a merchant character.
The game's
boss fights
In video games, a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stro ...
and puzzles drew criticism. Hurley thought that the quality of the puzzles was "consistently low", particularly criticizing an example in which a map is given to find a locked door that the player passes previously in the game, and another that had the solution next to it.
Ogilvie similarly criticised the puzzles, saying that the solutions were either "exceedingly straightforward" or spoiled by instructional notes nearby.
Hornshaw noted the movement system was unchanged from ''Resident Evil 7'' and as a result felt "a little slow and clunky"; they opined it was better suited when surrounded by enemies rather than during boss battles.
Hurley similarly thought that boss fights did not feel designed for first-person combat because of the slower movement, and that dodging attacks in large open spaces meant the player was often forced to move the boss out of their
field of view
The field of view (FOV) is the angle, angular extent of the observable world that is visual perception, seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors, it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to elec ...
.
Ogilvie found that many of the battles fell "surprisingly short" and amounted to little more than dodging and shooting an enemy's weak points, noting that he would have preferred them to be more engaging and "epic-sized".
Hornshaw wrote that the game's narrative was not one of the better ''Resident Evil'' stories, and was disappointed it did not resolve all of the plot threads from ''Resident Evil 7'' or sufficiently tie the games into the series at large.
Hurley opined that the pacing of the story was "inconsistent", and that due to how much time the player spent exploring, key story sections could either feel "weirdly short, or artificially extended."
On the other hand, Ogilvie praised the story as "a compelling mystery" that engaged him throughout his entire playthrough."
The arcade mode "The Mercenaries", which is unlocked on completion of the main game, was praised by Hornshaw for "demonstrat
nghow tight the combat in ''Village'' can be" and for being fun in its own right.
Ogilvie also praised the mode as "addictive" and "the most valuable bonus to unlock".
Windows performance
The Windows version of the game had performance problems, particularly during intense combat. Richard Leadbetter of ''
Digital Foundry
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network.
In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fro ...
'' noted the "tremendously high frame times" and "extraordinary" stuttering, especially during encounters with the maidens and other enemies with certain animations. Leadbetter attributed this to a combination of
Denuvo along with Capcom's own
anti-tamper software. In July 2021, a pirated version of the game by an independent
cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
was released, effectively stripping away the Denuvo and Capcom
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...
(DRM) software.
Leadbetter tested this version against the original release and was able to confirm that the crack improved upon the game's performance, stating that "By stripping out what the hackers call Capcom's
entry point
In computer programming, an entry point is the place in a program where the execution of a program begins, and where the program has access to command line arguments.
To start a program's execution, the loader or operating system passes co ...
s for the DRM... the game is absolutely transformed in those areas." A similar problem where Capcom had added additional DRM atop Denuvo had affected ''
Devil May Cry 5
is a 2019 action-adventure game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sixth installment overall and the fifth mainline installment in the ''Devil May Cry'' series. The plot follows returning protagonists Nero (Devil May Cry), Nero a ...
'' for Windows, and after Capcom's official update that removed Denuvo and its DRM, ''Devil May Cry 5''s performance was improved. Capcom released a patch for ''Village'' later that July that, among other changes, altered how the game used Denuvo. Leadbetter found that the patch improved performance, running equivalent to the pirated version.
Alleged plagiarism
Shortly after release, film director
Richard Raaphorst accused
Capcom
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
of
plagiarism
Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...
, citing close similarities between a monster that was featured in his film ''
Frankenstein's Army
''Frankenstein's Army'' is a 2013 found footage horror film directed by Richard Raaphorst, written by Chris W. Mitchell and Miguel Tejada-Flores, and starring Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Luke Newberry, Alexander Mercury, Robert Gwilym, And ...
'' and the "Sturm" creature in ''Resident Evil Village''.
Sales
''Resident Evil Village'' shipped over three million units in its first four days of release, becoming the third-fastest-selling title in the ''Resident Evil'' series, tied with 2019's
''Resident Evil 2''. At the same time, Capcom announced the series had sold a total of 100 million units since its debut in 1996. From May 3 to May 9, 2021, ''Famitsu'' rated the PlayStation 4 version at first place in the Japanese gaming charts, selling 111,171 units in a week. The PlayStation 5 version sold 38,713 units, reaching fourth place in the charts. ''Resident Evil Village'' was also the best-selling game across the United States and the United Kingdom during the month of May 2021. It went on to become the eighth best-selling game of 2021 in the US. The game sold 6.1 million units worldwide by May 2022, and reached 6.4 million units by June 2022. By January 2023, it had sold 7.4 million units. By June 2023, it had sold 8.3 million units. At the end of 2023, it had sold 9.3 million units.
By November 2024, it had sold over 10.5 million units.
By April 2025, it had sold over 11 million units.
Accolades
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Golden Joystick GOTY
2020s horror video games
2021 video games
Video games about amputees
Fiction about bioterrorism
Video games about cannibalism
Capcom games
Censored video games
Child abduction in fiction
Child abuse in fiction
Cloud-based Nintendo Switch games
Fiction about parasites
First-person shooters
Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year winners
Gothic video games
IOS games
Japan Game Award winners
MacOS games
Mass murder in fiction
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games
PlayStation 5 games
PlayStation VR2 games
RE Engine games
Resident Evil games
Science fiction video games
Single-player video games
Stadia games
Survival horror video games
Third-person shooters
Video game sequels
Video games about children
Video games about cults
Video games about ghosts
Video games about psychic powers
Video games about spirit possession
Video games about the afterlife
Video games about vampires
Video games about witchcraft
Video games developed in Japan
Video games set in 2021
Video games set in castles
Video games set in Europe
Windows games
Werewolf video games
Xbox Cloud Gaming games
Xbox One games
Xbox One X enhanced games
Xbox Series X and Series S games
The Game Awards winners