Emma Cockroft reviews Resident Evil 7: Biohazard…
I have been a long term fan of Resident Evil since its origins in the 90’s and am glad to say it played a prominent role in my childhood that would help cement my love for video games. (I even met my fiance on a Resident Evil forum many years ago!). However like many others, I was disappointed that the recent instalments to the series were rapidly losing their survival horror origins. It seemed that Resident Evil had gone off the rails and died a slow death, so you can understand my eye rolling scepticism when news of the 7th instalment was released. Resident Evil 7 in my opinion as a genuine fan, has blown my expectations out of the water and reignited my hope for the future instalments (As long as Capcom stay on this track).
We step into the role of Ethan Winters, an everyday guy who is searching for his missing wife in the deep south of Louisiana. Arriving at an abandoned house, events begin to unfold which leads us to the Baker estate. Here we are introduced to our three antagonists that are all a part of the Baker family. Jack who is the psychotic daddy, Marguerite the creepy and erratic mother, then there is Lucas the playfully sadistic son. Unlike some of the cookie cutter “bad guys” from previous games, these three are absolutely crazy and unpredictable which terrifies me. There are moments in the game featuring these characters where their depravity makes you wonder what the hell their motives actually are. It is these characters that hunt and toy with you throughout the game as you desperately try to locate your wife and escape. In this instance, I am reminded of movies such as Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Devils Rejects with a hint of the TV show True Detective. The gritty bayou atmosphere and scenery plays extremely well to this, and is a nice change of pace from the previous games high-tech and industrial basis. Although the game takes place on a singular estate, the scenery is always changing. One portion of the game will have you exploring the grand yet decaying main house, through twisting tight corridors, yet you may then find yourself walking across the unstable looking swamp walkways hoping there is nothing lurking within the water.
The biggest elephant in the room was whether Resident Evil 7 could successfully work as a first person experience (Lets ignore Gun Survivor and Dead Aim as they were arcade spin off’s). Stepping away from the third person over the shoulder view we are put into first person mode which as a horror game makes the game all that more terrifying and personal. Lights flash, floorboards creak, you constantly hear bangs and moans. Capcom have worked hard to scare us and those scares pay off. The game is not only full of several clever jump scares but every creak and every bang startles you and rapidly builds up the tension and creates a very scary atmosphere and really puts us on edge. What was that you just heard? A tree brushing against a window? Or was that someone above you banging? Was that a person at the end of a dark corridor? Doors to rooms only open a jar and I found I hesitated before stepping in a lot of the rooms for fear of what was lurking behind. So rather than just relying on scripted jump scares, the tension of knowing that one of the Baker family can be lurking around a blind corner or at the end of a long dark corridor heightens the sense of dread and eventually your own imagination becomes an integral part of the gameplay. So perhaps you haven’t imagined those creaks on the floorboards behind you, or the movement out the corner of your eye.
The story is gripping and you really do feel that Ethan is in the worst of situations. He is just a regular guy with no combat training or experience. As you progress through the game and find out more about what is really going on it compels you to carry on to find out more. The game is packed full of violence and gore but that did not bother me as much as the interaction I had with the members of the Bakers. A strong theme throughout the game is family which is thrown at you wherever you turn, from the numerous files you find to the various photographs and videotapes scattered about. Videotapes are an interested addition, which allow us to play as different characters and delve into past events that reveal more of the story.
We as the Player are forced to explore and interact with the environment instead of rushing through with all guns blazing which allows us to really take in the horror and isolation of our surroundings. Much like the original Resident Evil formula, there is a lot of backtracking. It is a lot easier to either hide and save what limited ammo you find or to escape through a door and make a run for it than to stay and face an enemy. Puzzles have been reintroduced and this element really does make it feel like old school Resident Evil. The puzzles are not too difficult but are not easy either especially when you are under pressure to complete them quickly.
As for the enemies the three main antagonists are each different and unique and really do install fear into us as the player. I think out of all three of them Jack was the one I was truly scared of. Right at the start of the game when I had no gun and no melee weapon and I was desperately trying to avoid him at every opportunity as he stalks you relentlessly throughout the house. This is not easy to do when your only escape is to somehow get around him through a tight corridor. There are new enemies introduced as well but I felt that in comparison to our main three these were not as bad and became a bit repetitive as the game went on, where as the encounters with Jack were all different and energising. One weakness with the later game is its lack of diverse enemies, especially since the series has a history of unique horrifying creatures.
Encounters with enemies can be frantic and rapid. At certain points I had to choose between flight or fight. Was it easier to run and save what little ammo I had? Or should I stay and remove this enemy that’s blocking a door which behind lies more ammo? This happened a lot as at first as the game did not throw a lot of items my way. It is only when I learnt to thoroughly search every nook and cranny that I realised that a good few items were hidden in boxes, behind photo frames, in baskets, on the bottom of shelves. A new feature is the ability to combine items to make more bullets and healing items which does prove very useful later on when you are running low on health. This can be a doubled edged sword though as you have to choose carefully what you want to make. Special ammunition is also on the cards and well worth saving the ingredients for.
The combat I found really returned to the series roots which for me was enjoyable. Capcom have removed the run and gun mechanics of the other games for favour of older methods which works very well. Aiming and shooting is not complicated and is highly satisfying when you manage to kill an enemy. Boxes can be smashed to reveal items but only if you have something to smash them with. Also introduced is a block feature which proved really helpful when I worked out how to use it but I did forget about this option and opted to run away instead. Or perhaps my panic got the better of me in these situations. Something else I found was that the style of gameplay changes pace as you collect more weapons. Perhaps I just felt more confident as I found more powerful guns, but as the game went on it eventually went from horror, to survival horror and eventually a blend of action survival horror.
The return of save rooms is a nice touch with the edition of chests and a tape recorder to save your progress on. The game does have an autosave feature but honestly this is something it does not need. I like the fact you have to save at every opportunity because you are scared of what you will encounter through the door at the bottom of the stairs and I found myself saving a lot. There are several nods to the series that hardcore fans of the games will pick up on from the use of healing items to the noises keypads make when you enter code into them. Even the map and certain areas are reminiscent of the Spencer estate from the original Resident Evil as well as its selection of classic weapons. In a way it feels like a love letter to the early additions of the series, yet it stands out as its own game that can please fans that are conflicted in regards to the old and the newer games. As I said earlier in my review, I believe this has given Resident Evil the revival it needed and I can confidently say that survival horror is not dead.
In regards to adding Resident Evil 7 to the franchise I will quote Jack Baker. “Welcome to the family son…”
Pros:
Isolated and terrifying atmosphere
Satisfying combat and weapons
Interesting characters
Room for replayability
Gameplay style changes pace towards middle and end
Cons:
Long load times
Lack of diverse enemies
Some plot elements are confusing with lack of explanation.
This was reviewed on PS4.
Rating: 9/10
Emma Cockroft
