The saga of terror of Capcom returns to the origins with an evolution of Survival Horror that marks a new beginning. The fear, tension and impossible puzzles are back in style.
Analysis of Resident Evil 7 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One
It's been over a decade since Resident Evil was reinvented by Shinji Mikami . The market release of Resident Evil 4 was a paradigm shift in the franchise, which abandoned the genre that he had popularized, the Survival Horror, to embrace the action in the third person. The one of the fourth numbered delivery is a very particular case, the one of how a brilliant game could be the tomb of a way to understand the terror. Several later titles have been coming out with more or less success, even some, like Revelations, which tried to recover the original path. But it has not been until this 2017 with Resident Evil VII that it can be said, very loud and clear, that the saga is back on track. And that means that it returns to terror ... And to excellence.
It is almost impossible to talk about Resident Evil and that someone has no idea what it represents. Since it was released in the mid-nineties with the adventure of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in the mansion Spencer (PSX), the saga became one of the great creations of Capcom and a success delivery after delivery. Then Resident Evil 2 would arrive , for many the best of the series, and later the third part with Nemesis as one of our particular nightmares. There was still time for two more titles that enlarged the legend of the series: Code Veronicaand Zero. But when it seemed that Resident Evil 4 would be a new iteration in terror, the development radically changed and a turn was made to the action. Something that continued Resident Evil 5, a best seller, and the most disappointing Resident Evil 6. Along the way, the Revelation with its attempt to mold the modern formula of the saga and the Remake and Zero remasters that have shown, recently, as time does not pass for your proposal.
The announcement of Resident Evil VII caught almost everyone by surprise. We came from the surprise and subsequent cancellation of PT de Kojima and in its first presentation, that aspect in the first person was reminiscent of what we had previously experienced with Silent Hills. The development team explained that the project was underway before the announcement of the canceled Konami title and that the idea was to go back to the origins looking back. Terror, but similar to the one we know today (Outlast, Amnesia and many other games that the first person uses to wrap the player in the middle of the tension they promote).
The demo did the rest. An overwhelming environment , leisurely exploration , bobbin lace based on elements that seem to have no relationship between them until we hit the key and a most satisfying experience. The big question: What did everything seen with Resident Evil have to do with it? Much more than it seems. In fact, it is one of the issues that has been debated the most, if we are dealing with a game that inherits the legacy of the classics or, simply, it is a horror game that could have another name. We bet on the first, and with good reasons.
Terror and essence of Resident Evil
Resident Evil VII maintains the essence of the formula we lived in the mid-nineties and early 2000s on several fronts. It is true that both the setting and the protagonist, as well as the plot development that appears to us at first do not seem to fit in the universe of Raccon City , Umbrella Corp or the STARS members.Jill, Chris, Leon and company. It is also true that the first-person perspective changes the point of view from which we have always seen the Capcom saga. But these elements simply respond to how terror is consumed today. A set-up to update the brand to the times. If Resident Evil had never existed, surely its first delivery in 2017 would be with guidelines like the ones in this seventh part, and not as we saw it in 1996 for the first time.
In return, we have many points in common that connect with our adventures in the Spencer mansion, in the police station, our tug-of-war with Nemesis or our passage through the train where Billy Coen goes . The main one is balance: when in 30 minutes of Resident Evil 4 you have killed or seen more enemies than in five hours of Resident Evil 7, one is clear, at least, the declaration of intentions of the development team of Capcom. We remembered it in the reviews of the remastersHD and is perfectly expressed in this installment: Shots are no more important here than exploration. Eliminate enemies before solving riddles. Continue forward as the only way before giving one more shot in case we have left something. Resident Evil has always been this: explore, solve puzzles, survive a terrible atmosphere and, also, pull the trigger. But everything in its proper measure.
The Baker Massacre
The story revolves around Ethan , the protagonist of the plot who decides to go find his missing partner, Mia, of whom he has not known anything for more than three years. A mysterious email signed in his name indicates arrival at a house run by the Baker family. Once he gets there, he realizes that really strange things are happening. Mia is kidnapped and her behavior, to put it in some way without destripes, is not the most logical possible. After a series of surprising, hard and violent events -RE7 does not skimp on blood and brutal actions when he has the chance- we will end up being guest-hostages of the Baker. Father Jack Baker, his wife Marguerite and son Lucas, plus an elderly lady who neither speaks nor walks-she is in a wheelchair-and could well be the grandmother of the family.
The staging of this first 'family dinner' that we have all seen in promotional images speaks for itself of what it also wants to be Resident Evil VII. A tribute to terror that we have known in all types of arts, starting with Tobe Hooper's great work , the classic La Matanza de Texas.Each of the characters before us has evident similarities at first to the members of that film. It is not the only reference that we will find throughout the game: the mansion itself, the surroundings of it, the disturbing basement, the oppressive environment and the confusion of not knowing where we are, who does this to us or why. If someone has ever dreamed of living in the first person the slasher classic, Resident Evil VII is their game.
Returning to the dinner, and without mood of destripes: what could have been a butchering ends more or less well for Ethan, with options to try to escape from the clutches of the Baker. We are alone in a house full of crazy psychopaths, the encounter with our partner after three years has been anything but the ideal and we have very little time before Jack returns to finish what he had started. After a guided introduction, now without weapons, touching everything around us to know where we can go and where not, begins a great adventure that marks the way forward for the franchise in the future.
The game focuses its experience on what happens in this house and its surroundings - it is not the only location, as is usual in the series, that we are going to visit and discover - while we are fitting pieces to understand not only what is happening there but also by what. Here we enter another topic of debate: the relationship with the Resident Evil world. The reality is that for some time now the plot of the series escaped from mother, totally runaway in Resident Evil 6 with the president of the United States mutating and bioterrorism threatening the entire planet. Difficult to follow this way or look back. So it seems a success that at the level of argument we are before -a priori- a reboot. Those who want or want connections with the original world of Resident Evil should play to know if there are, but one thing is clear: everything that the title proposes, especially as we untangle the plot, is credible within the that we understand by Resident Evil. As much as saga of videojuegos like in the own meaning of "host maldito".
Explore, distrust and try your luck
In Resident Evil 7 it is as important to know how to aim at the enemies' heads as hiding in the shadows or running away. This is one of its virtues and one of the demands that it has been asking for for some time. Make us feel in the middle of a world in which we are at a disadvantage. Exploration is vital to our progress. We can touch and consult all kinds of objects , doors, drawers... Sometimes we will find consumable items, others we will see little clarifying images; some others, notes that serve as a context to understand what happens in that place. Or clear clues to move forward. The paused rhythm offered by an essential playable mechanic like this merges with the constant tension to which the title subjects us. The Baker family seems invincible and immune to our blows, so you never know when it may appear before us. Or, worse, from behind.
The exploration, moreover, does not focus only on touching everything that we have selectable through the HUD , but also taking objects, turning them around, manipulating them and extracting what is necessary. We do not explain any mechanics unknown in the franchise, but something that comes back with great force. And he does it because he joins perfectly with the puzzles . The mansion and the other areas of Resident Evil VII have puzzles within them that allow them to move forward and access new places. Exploring we will see that three animal heads are missing in a door, presumably necessary to open it. Solving all kinds of dead ends is what best brings the title from the first moment.
The classic sequence in which objects that have no relation between them end up being necessary to reach a final goal: A key that allows to open a trap door, from which we will get a lock with which we can open a box and find a knife. Thanks to this white weapon we can undo a closure with electrical tape and continue our journey. These three lines summarize very well what we will be doing constantly in Resident Evil VII. At first the puzzles are quite evident, with an object that is precise for that single output that we have located. But as we move forward, the actions necessary to overcome the game become more and more complicated. This is where the Capcom title shines again: forcing the player to be attentive, to pay attention to everything he sees. Otherwise, we will end up spinning senselessly while trying to find a clue that we have normally had before our eyes without realizing it.
We will find puzzles of all kinds. Fit pieces to be able to use concrete contraptions, change a shotgun for a broken shotgun to be able to leave the room in turn (wink to a classic RE formula), explore objects to find switches, be attentive to details (photographed places, decorative elements that pass unnoticed) that respond to enigmas proposed to us, do backtracking once we have a key that opens 'those' doors we had seen two hours before, play with the shadow of figures to discover secret passages ... There is everything, they are well mixed between them and there is no sense of repetition.
We will go to a room where we will solve a small puzzle or find an item exploring some decorative element. We will go back to open the way to an inaccessible area thanks to the item previously achieved, and in the new place we will give a card that will allow us to return to the starting point and continue with our path. At first the player may think that the puzzles as described are remarkable, although not at the level of the first two installments of the series. But it is in the second half of the title, with the search for items that involve visiting several different floors full of rooms and dangers, with hardly any weapons, when one ends up recovering that feeling of huge labyrinth.
This formula, sometimes very slow and reflective , maintains the high levels of tension during the 10 hours that the first game can last in normal difficulty thanks to the fact that, as we have commented previously, everything has been measured in its fair amount. When it seems that a proposal may be exhausted, another member of the family appears on the scene, another location, another way of understanding the challenges the player must face. The aggressive pursuit of Jack Baker is not the samethat the tricks used by his wife Marguerite, just as there is nothing to do with the playable proposal that Lucas will offer us; Not to mention the final stretch and everything that happens in it. The relationship with these characters also helps an addictive plot development in which we always want to know something else. To all of them Zoe is added, the member of the family that seems, a priori, more sane and who will call us constantly on the phones to give us indications and clues.
Enemies and final bosses
In Resident Evil 7 we will also shoot. Progressively, starting with few enemies and ending with locations where there will be enough monsters to beat. In addition to the Baker family we will find a cast of quite powerful bugs. Capable of hitting us with force in the melee, of great scope and with some variants to each more dangerous. Next to them, Holomorfos, which are versions of smaller but more agile monsters, or other heavy ones that are throwing toxic vomit every time they get shot.. Their presence always has a motive, and our way of acting before them should not always be the same. Although with good management we should not have shortage of ammunition, Resident Evil 7 recovers lost feelings. For example, the satisfaction of getting the shotgun to blow the head of an almost invincible enemy with a gun. Or think once and twice if the scant ammunition of the grenade launcher is going to spend it with such an enemy or, perhaps, you can try to break them and escape waiting for a stronger rival.
It is easy to recover the old flavor of many moments that seemed forgotten thanks to Resident Evil 7 . Clean an area and keep walking with some fear to what happens something or unexpected enemy appears. Save game on the shift tape to each small step we take. When we advance too long without looking back, crossing our fingers and wishing that at the next door we find a refuge where we can rest and safeguard our progress. All this is proposed by a game that in many cases does not need more than a machine room blowing all over and two enemies surrounding us so that we are overwhelmed and lost.
The final heads are added to the proposal, which we will face on a recurring basis. It is probably the least inspired that has the title. There are some cases that give us really memorable battles in which, in addition to defeating the enemy, we must survive with all that these words mean. Manage medicines if the fight is longer than the account, attack with what little we have when we have run out of ammunition by firing into the air rather than the head of the villain, turn around looking for some object that we lack the game, etc. . On the other hand, other clashes are very uninspired. Either by the location where they happen or by the patterns and mechanics that are before us. Undoubtedly, the most irregular of the title, which is added to the fact that Ethan is not the most accurate and agile character when it comes to wielding a weapon.
Our protagonist has an inventory limited to certain boxes, and to manage everything you need you must use the classic trunks connected between them where we can store everything that is not necessary at that time. The management of our inventory is most interesting: although we have generous spaces that reach a certain point in the adventure, there is still the need to decide what we want and what we do not want. Number of weapons with their consequent ammunition boxes , healing elements for when enemies reach us, extra items needed to advance (like keys that only open concrete doors) and other supplements that have different results depending on how they are used.
You can not understand inventory management without the formula of combining objects. In Resident Evil 7 we will not be combining medicinal plants of all colors, but products that can be very powerful mixed with head. Yes, we keep the medicinal plants, but we also have gunpowder to be able to create more ammunition. Thanks to several enhancers that we will find, we can also combine these objects with other more classic ones to get, for example, more powerful bullets for our gun. The fact that the same bag of color that is used to combine with drugs or weapons elements forces the player to be thinking each time what is needed or needed in the future.
A world full of secrecy
There are several extras, some with more weight than others, that we can find in the surroundings of the Baker farm. One of them is the videos, VHS tapes that we can put on different TVs and not only watch, but live what happened in that recording. The first will be the classic one we saw in the demo with the two detectives succumbing to the evil of Jack Baker. But the others have a very important weight: overcome the challenges of the tapes, something optional, serves to know a field that we will visit shortly and also to identify traps and situations that would cause the death of the character and that can be avoided if we have done the duties previously. Especially brilliant is the last of them, for the great puzzle that presents us in an area that seems to have no elements to interact and how important it is to pay attention to what happens there. Otherwise, we will have important problems later.
Along with these videos we will also find all kinds of documents that provide a grateful background, especially when we enter the final outcome, to understand what is happening in that place. There are also other collectibles, old coins that allow us to buy powerful objects (steroids that raise the maximum life, super powerful gun, etc), photos that show us where treasures have been hidden or some dolls that we must destroy when we have the chance to do so. Although in general the places in which to find these extras are quite evident, some are very well hidden.
Stress, fear and ... Difficulty?
Scares and unexpected situations that occur when turning a corner or entering a room. The tension of the constant noises, the persecutors who do not cease in their endeavor. Walk slower than usual to avoid falling into any death trap. These are moments that occur in Resident Evil 7 and that manage to stay throughout the game, something that is appreciated because in other titles one is 'accustomed' to fear and then, all interest is lost. It does not happen here It is true that little by little you will better tolerate everything that is prepared at an audiovisual level, but there are always moments that catch us at odds and keep the player alert.
In any case, we are not facing an excessively difficult video game. It is true that in some puzzles, especially in the second half of the game until the end, one can easily get lost as long as they have not consulted the documents at hand and that make life much easier. Life is regenerated with medicinal plants and medicine bottles, we have storage points quite close to frantic and important places and an auto-save with checkpoints before confrontations with final bosses and situations that have occurred in the relevant game that maybe is not so necessary to have. Let me explain: The tension of the moment can vanish when one loses twice with a final boss and has no greater penalty than waiting at his door to try a third time.
That's why the Asylum difficulty is so interesting that is unlocked once we have overcome the game. This difficulty is defined in the game as "we are going to make your life impossible" and it has several peculiarities. For example, we need tapes to record our game. A classic mechanics of the original titles that makes that we can not be saving every two for three to be safe. In addition to this, several nearby checkpoints that made certain moments of the game accessible are also deleted. Harder enemies and less abundant ammunition are other features of a game mode that is not available until the game is finished once. Surely it would have been a great idea to allow these features to be implemented also in the normal way. In any case, after the shocking credits of the game, one feels impelled to start immediately a new game in the new difficulty. That is the best of the feelings that a title like Resident Evil 7 can leave to demonstrate to what extent it has been successful with the project.
Technical section
At the audiovisual level we are facing a proposal that shines with its own light thanks to several factors to be taken into account. The first is the artistic direction of the title, capable of recreating a grimy, unpleasant and terrifying place in equal parts. The scenarios are victims of evil and time, and they are accompanied by a short but perfectly recreated cast of characters. Lighting is the best thing that the game has, which works with a Resident Engine prepared for the occasion. The play of light and shadow, the places where there is no lighting and other details make it very colorful in this regard. It should be noted that it has some technical problems. The most prominent has to do with the textures, some at low resolution in close-ups and others that charge something later than the account.
Note that the PC version surprised by the good finish that sometimes is not seen in games with a Japanese development. In the majority of equipment it works without fissures, although there have been reports of some framerate decreases in some AMD boards and in certain open spaces it may have some slump playing at maximum, elements correctable with future drivers or optimization patches. It is especially grateful to be able to change the FOV - field of vision - above 80, thus avoiding possible dizziness for the PC player who usually has the monitor much closer. The large number of graphic options, from resolution to effects, antialiasing, details of lights, shadows ... allows us to adjust the experience in an unusual but grateful way, in Japanese companies.
As it is also a soundtrack that accompanies with details in a perfect way, although it is the sound effects that take the cake. It is essential to play with headset in this title to have that endless tension thanks to floors that squeak by steps of strangers, breaths to our backs, screams, drops that fall, doors that do not close well ... A show for the ears that is worth a lot worth taking into account. The dubbing into Spanish is at a good level in general, although it is much better in English, and ultimately, Resident Evil 7 catches to know how to recreate a place as inhospitable and degraded as this.
conclusion
Resident Evil 7 marks a new reboot to the saga, as happened more than a decade ago with Resident Evil 4. Most proposals of the title are done excellently, recovering a slower pace in which the exploration is more important to empty a magazine before an enemy. The title directed by Koshi Nakanishihas no problems in being influenced by details and a staging that reminds other horror classics of film and videogames since, along with it, he knows how to offer his own point of view within the genre. The essence of Resident Evil is demonstrated in increasingly clever and larger-than-life puzzles that recall the great moments of the initial deliveries, labyrinthine areas in which to get lost, the need to go back on more than one occasion, the player's relationship with the context that surrounds him to know details of the plot, in mechanical brand of the house (inventory management, combination of objects, escape from enemies as an equal bet as valid to shoot) and in an argument and development of the same that responds perfectly to the "Resident Evil" concept. Yes.
Such is the change of course of the series that precisely its main virtue in the last decade, the shootings, is what less convinces of a game that scares you, leaves you restless and, above all, keeps you in tension from the first minute to the last. It is not a perfect title, and it is seen in some technical inconsistencies or in battles with uninspired final bosses. But it is the perfect title to return to terror through the big door. And with an end that opens wide the doors to a new beginning.**
The best
- Return to terror in style, with the essence of the past and successful developments
- Constant tension: setting, locations, enemies ...
- House brand puzzles that demand attention to detail, exploration and ingenuity, especially after the first half of the game
- Recover those feelings that escape is a valid option and that ammunition is not wasted
- The system of equipment management and creation of objects (enhancers, weapons, ammunition ...)
- The Baker family and its peculiarities
- Full of details and tributes to other great horror films and video games
- Some combats with final bosses, disappointing
- Not having certan characteristics of the asylum difficulty at the beginning of the game for the first time
A reference title in its kind, which stands out above its competitors and which you will enjoy from beginning to end, surely several times. A game destined to become classic over the years.
Gameplay 9
Horror game in first person that recovers the identity of the original titles: constant exploration, puzzles, backtracking, search of details and elements that help us move forward. It is combined with shootings that are not protagonists - something more in the final section - all in its right measure and with a great rhythm. There are always variations that are appreciated. Some puzzles have a great scope. A first game lasts about 10 hours, opening a more difficult mode with more classic features of the series.
Graphics 8
The artistic direction of the game is excellent. Tension is generated at each step we take by the atmosphere so well achieved, locations between horror and decay and a cast of well-achieved characters. The title works to good performance in all the machines, standing out in PC for the graphic options, the best finish and unique details such as the FOV. Failure in some textures at low resolution, some point drop and textures that also take time to load.
Sound 9
The soundtrack brings the fear and tension necessary at every moment, but where the title shines is in the sound effects. steps on wood, doors that open and close, indecipherable sounds ... It is mandatory to play with some good headsets to get fully into a terrifying world also through the ears. Good dubbing in Spanish, although the English voices have an even better interpretation.
1-6 IMAGECREDIT
THANKS FOR READING, ALSO CHECK OUT MY PREVIOUS REVIEW ON Lost Sphear, analysis
i complete resident evil 5 or 6 and 7 is still waiting
You definitely need to check it out @kelvinrock
Team gaming i really love the game